What is an optimal money spent/hours played ratio for you?


For instance, i bought the Witcher 3 in 2016 on Steam for somewhere about 25 euros (i was abroad so i couldn't use zlotys) which is about 100 zlotys. Overall, i would say that this was the perfect purchase. I have over 600 hours on Witcher 3 on Steam (plus a couple dozen on GOG, but that was a separate purchase) so this means that my ratio of money spent/hours played is 1/6. That's a perfect purchase.


Generally, though, i am happy with a 1/1 ratio. For instance, i bought Red Dead Redemption 2 on Steam a few weeks ago for 167 zlotys. I now have 153 hours in it and i am not close to having done everything availaible.

So, to conclude, 1/1 ratio is pretty good. 2/1 ratio is acceptable, but anything below that is unacceptable


What about you?

Does it mean you wasted money on CP2077?

I don't go over $20 for a game. Most of the games I play are local multiplayer games. So I end up playing those for years. I still play Doom (1993), Solider of Fortune, UT99, The King of Fighters 2002, Street Fighter 2, Fatal Fury Special and games like that so for me these were all solid purchases. Recent games like Streets of Rage 4, Mother Russia Bleeds, River City Ransom: Underground and Xeno Crisis will be staying on my hard drive for years because of their pick and go nature to play with my family and friends.

SP wise, I don't do too many of them but I don't mind spending $20 on a 5 hour game, if I'm feeling it. I try to stay under 20 hours per SP games, I don't like too many long winded SP games. The best purchases SP wise for me recently were games like Ruiner, Saturday Morning RPG, Rouge Legacy, The Great Perhaps, We. The Revolution, Cayne, Butcher, Gunmetal Arcadia Zero and Slain: Back from Hell.

Guybrush Threepwood would be proud of you. ;)

It depends on the game. Quantity doesn't = quality and there are plenty of short "one day games" like Portal, Limbo or Costume Quest that have been worth it even at less than 2/1. Such rigid ratios also fail to take into account future replays or modding. Personally I find one of the most tedious things is where modern games devs will keep hearing about "ratios" on Steam forums, etc, and then start designing their new game to them, inflating a naturally shorter game out with cheap padding or "sidequest spam" until it feels more tedious to play than if it were just designed to feel right without worrying about length ratios.

No. I used a gift card that was awarded to me.


But if i had spent real money, yes.

it really depends on the game.

Some games I get a lot of play out of, others very little. I imagine a game I would play extensively I would expect to pay more for.

I really hate microtransactions and subscription models but rather like expansion packs and dlc.

I agree with everything you said; I just wanted to add: replayability/mods aren't relevant for everybody. The same thing with multiplayer. Some games have a 2 hour (possibly mediocre) campaign and a big focus on (online) multiplayer - a lot of value for money for people that play 100s of hours online - maybe not so much if you don't care about that aspect.

A game with 50 hours of quality content and a 100 hrs of "sidequest spam" still sounds good to me - IF the spam can be easily ignored. Even a gift can be wasted money - not for you, but for the gifter. (I don't know, I've never given somebody a gift card)

Give me something "personal" or I'd rather get no gift at all. (but that's just me, and my life)

if i have spent equivalent to a dvd purchase and get roughly the same time or longer out of it, i cant complain.

This. Some people may enjoy various side-content stuff, even when it's really pointless, nothing wrong with that, and even I sometimes do, but something like having to get every single Riddler trophy in Arkham Knight to get the "real" ending was just a terrible idea.

I didn't know that! I've only finished Asylum and City. I skipped the most frustrating Riddler riddles - and that was perfectly fine (I'm only a little OCD ;-)
I'm not going to defend Arkham Knight for that choice, but these days it's not the end of the world if you can just watch all possible endings on Youtube (and maybe download/archive them).

Well, I spent $60 on CP2077, and I've pit in 120 or so hours.... I'll be doing a new play through after this one, and another after it is content complete. I think I got my $60 worth so far.

I keep promising myself I'll do them all when I replay the series next time, but the truth is I probably won't. I think they were a cool idea on paper, but there's just too many, and they require too much backtracking.

Sure, it's not a game-breaker, but it still robs that moment when you reach the end of a certain... je ne sais don't-ruin-the-moment-you-fuckers when you've beaten all the other side-quests, you beat the main story... and you now have to go to YT for the ending :P

I entered some silly small competition and won it. See nothing wrong with that. Now if it had been gifted to me by my brother or something then yes i would have regretted spending it on Cyberpunk

The Arkham games have the best kinds of achievement that I've ever seen - you get all kinds of little pieces of lore. But as far as I remember, not for everything. Some things were just trophies, a list to complete.
The most frustrating challenges/riddles in Arkham City were:
- The advanced fly though hoops.
- "Be the boomerang, flying though the maze".
That's cool! I never win anything - so I don't bother anymore. Also, many (online) contests these days are excuses to gather personal data.