Buying Zero Games in 2018 (Or One or Two, I'm Not the Boss of You)

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I am considering buying zero games in 2018. I have more good games but I’m looking forward to playing than I have time to play over the next 10 years, so taking one year off shouldn’t be that hard.

Hahaha.

Of course I’m sure will be super hard. But I’m still considering doing it. Anyone else up for trying?

I guess if I do this it means it's ok to go hog wild on buying every last thing today since I won't get anything for a year, right?

Yeah, that's the ticket!

What if I promise to only buy 2 games? Fire Emblem and Valkyria Chronicles 4. Or I could pre-order them today...

Ha...haha hahahahahaha.

DSGamer wrote:

Or I could pre-order them today...

You've got him on a technicality.
I'll get my credit card.

I'm on board, but mostly because I don't have any time to play the games I do have. At this point there's nothing I really want other than Ni no Kuni 2 (and Yokai Watch 3, if and when it gets announced as being localized).

Then Nintendo is going to go and announce a bunch of stuff I want...

Yeah there's a thread like this every year, and I'm always one of the first to put my hat in the ring, and yet I always fail miserably (along with most others I might add). There was someone a couple of years ago who managed it IIRC but I can't remember who.

There's nothing I'm even looking forward to in 2018, and like you I have a tonne of stuff to play, but something always comes along and surprises me, plus I have a problem when it comes to buying DLC for games I don't even play... (EUIV I'm looking at you!)

May you all have more success than me!

I read this and thought maybe I could do it too then realized Monster Hunter is out in a few weeks. I’m out.

Interesting, and I'm willing to give it a try. There are just so many backlogged games that it would be interesting to see how many I could finish up.

I thought about it but then remembered I got a switch for Bayonetta and I really want to try monster hunter on PC. Can I play knowing that I will lose points in 2018?

DSGamer wrote:

What if I promise to only buy 2 games? Fire Emblem and Valkyria Chronicles 4. Or I could pre-order them today...

Good plan but I don't want to pre-order monster hunter until I see the port. Bayonetta though, I can count that as a spiritual pre-order and only lose one point!

I'm not doing 0, but I am hoping to do just two: the Civ VI expansion and Parkitect once it comes out of early access. I guess I could purchase both now and then actually buy 0 games next year, but I probably won't do that.

Edit: I did it, so now we'll see if I can actually stick to 0 for the entire year.

Top_Shelf wrote:

I guess if I do this it means it's ok to go hog wild on buying every last thing today since I won't get anything for a year, right?

Yeah, that's the ticket!

Full disclosure: I kinda-sort did this and bought Rocket League for Switch as well as Thimbleweed Park for Switch today.

The only game I'm really excited about for 2018 is Red Dead Redemption 2, but I don't own an X-box or PS4, so I'll probably be buying the (so-far) hypothetical PC version in 2019. Hopefully.

I bought a year of Humble Monthly, yesterday, so I guess none of those games would be purchased in 2018...

I'm strongly considering hopping back on this train. I did it to limited success a few years ago. Maybe limit it to Father's Day, birthday and Christmas gifts, but no buying games myself.

Six months is a good compromise.

I can’t do 0, but joking about pre-orders aside I only purchased 5 games last year. A couple more than that in 2016. I’m working through Valkyria Chronicles 1 and 3 right now and I still haven’t completed BotW or Mario. I plan on keeping purchases down to close to 0 in 2018.

jrralls wrote:

The only game I'm really excited about for 2018 is Red Dead Redemption 2, but I don't own an X-box or PS4, so I'll probably be buying the (so-far) hypothetical PC version in 2019. Hopefully.

Yeah, let's hope that's actually happening. If it doesn't I'll buy a PS4 Pro and get RDR2 and Horizon Zero Dawn, finally. Console exclusives should die in a fire.

I thought I had bought Cuphead to play during the Steam Sale but I just tried to pull it up and I guess I'm miss-remembering because it's not there. And without even a second's pause my mind went, "Well, just buy it - it doesn't count because you _meant_ to buy it in 2017!" Lol, Nice try mind! Passed on buying it and holding strong, 10 hours in, lol!

jrralls wrote:

I thought I had bought Cuphead to play during the Steam Sale but I just tried to pull it up and I guess I'm miss-remembering because it's not there. And without even a second's pause my mind went, "Well, just buy it - it doesn't count because you _meant_ to buy it in 2017!" Lol, Nice try mind! Passed on buying it and holding strong, 10 hours in, lol!

But if you edit your post to say buy no more than 2 games in 2018 it seems like most people will back you.

No chance. Switch will doom me again

Last year, I purchased fewer games due to a wedding.

This year, as I need dental surgery and a new PC, I will try to buy as few as possible, rather, I hope to spend more time with the games I already own.

May we all be successful.

Stealthpizza wrote:
jrralls wrote:

I thought I had bought Cuphead to play during the Steam Sale but I just tried to pull it up and I guess I'm miss-remembering because it's not there. And without even a second's pause my mind went, "Well, just buy it - it doesn't count because you _meant_ to buy it in 2017!" Lol, Nice try mind! Passed on buying it and holding strong, 10 hours in, lol!

But if you edit your post to say buy no more than 2 games in 2018 it seems like most people will back you.

Done.

But my own personal goal is still to buy zero games this year.

My issue is much like I believe GardenNinja and Clock posted about back in one of those monthly pile threads: retail therapy. A lot of times I end up using cheaper media for retail therapy, or more social/less time-consuming such as purchasing anime or something. However, the past week I ended up buying a crap ton of games on sales, most of them as a mild "this is useful for if I want to record a RamblePak episode of it" excuse. Repurchasing FFX for PS4? My PS3 broke so why not? And Rise of the Tomb Raider? Sure the Xbox 360 version runs fine but this is in HD!

The advantage is I don't have to add them to the pile, but it's still a lot of money spent.

In 2018 I'm hoping to keep to my Gaming Goal that I will only buy a game I know I want. Monster Hunter World looks fun but there's no guarantee it'll get real game time, and any effort to do a co-op game outside of Destiny the past two years has ended in failure. Dragon Ball FighterZ is only going to be worth it if I can play it multiplayer on the couch with friends, and if it's not on Switch then there's no way I can game with friends. So despite there being games in January releasing, there's only one I definitively know I want to play: Iconoclasts.

Which is where I'm hoping I can be a bit more productive. I want to play more indie games, indie games are cheaper, and they're usually shorter, too. So perhaps fewer AAA's and more indies this year for me.

Which isn't "not buying games", but is still a significant decrease.

I think I should get on board with this. Maybe I’m just getting burnt out but the first time in memory, I can’t think of a single game announced that I’m even that interested in. MH looks interesting but I know my schedule won’t allow me to be in a persistent group which this game needs. Same for Sea of Thieves. I’ll be excited for the next Elder Scrolls game but that will probably be 4-5 years from now since I thought I saw that they haven’t started work on it waiting for better technology (or maybe I misunderstood that).

More often than not, I’m buying stuff just to buy it. Or because it is the new multiplayer hotness even though I don’t do multiplayer very much. And I really find that cracking open a game sitting in the pile is a ton of fun (looking at you Endless Space 2).

I’m a little burned out. I got Skyrim on Switch last year and for the first time in a while realized I just wasn’t interested in playing a game with “video game-y” mechanics of a game like that. I’m still into other games, but I think I need a long break from buying any new games.

I did a pretty good job in 2017 of sticking to my resolution of not buying games at full price. I actually only bought two games at launch and one I got for like 20% off. So I went a year and only paid $60 for one game. Too bad it was Persona 5. I don't know why I grew bored of that one so quick.

All that being said, I will throw my hat tentatively in the ring. I can't think of anything I'm looking forward to off the top of my head plus I already have more games than I have time, like most people here.

jrralls wrote:
Stealthpizza wrote:
jrralls wrote:

I thought I had bought Cuphead to play during the Steam Sale but I just tried to pull it up and I guess I'm miss-remembering because it's not there. And without even a second's pause my mind went, "Well, just buy it - it doesn't count because you _meant_ to buy it in 2017!" Lol, Nice try mind! Passed on buying it and holding strong, 10 hours in, lol!

But if you edit your post to say buy no more than 2 games in 2018 it seems like most people will back you.

Done.

Well if we are already buying 2 games does it really hurt to get a few more?

Either way I intend to keep my purchase limited this year.

I would think if you purchase fewer games than you complete, then you've met the goal of reducing the backlog. I can't purchase none, because you'll have to pry monster hunter world from my cold dead hands.

Friendly reminder that I'd check your local library, some of them do stock video games. That would not count against your buying 0 game philosophy.

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