Topic: Do you buy games with or without your backlog in mind?

On this website I've seen people mention they have backlogs as small as 2-3 games, or as big as 30. Not only that, but it seems like most of those same people then mention in other comments sections about buying more games.

My question for people like this is do you factor your backlog when purchasing new games? Or do you pretend that it doesn't exist for "reasons"?

Another question i have for the people with massive backlogs is how did it get so big in the first place?

Life. My backlog is large because I don’t have a lot of free time for gaming and also I have been gaming for over 30 years. Not hard to accumulate thousands of games over 3 decades. Especially since I started working as soon as it was legal in my state. As such I don’t buy based on my backlog. I just buy what I want and play when I can.

Also Black Friday sales bloat everything.

That being said I’m entering my 40’s in a few years so I plan on pulling back hard after this gen of gaming. A lot of the past two gens has been disappointing overall and I’m not seeing the point of pouring endless money into the hobby when I have a significant backlog. I am working on fixing my retro setup and upgrading my PC. I will drift away at that point.

Funny enough...my backlog is "DANGEROUSLY" thin. I don't buy as many games as I used to. It was different in the 2000's but now it's because of cost of living, bills, & essentials that I can't buy games as freely as I could.

And I have to be careful about that. But I'm glad I don't have much of a backlog to speak of. Though I find it hard to believe how folks can get up to 30 games in a backlog is beyond me...

@DanijoEX-the-Pierrot
Most people I know say it's due to steam sales pushing them to buy games.

Sales are a strong incentive for people to save money, especially when people want to buy games in bulk.

I thought growing a backlog is mostly about maximizing gaming potential. Sort of like why Friday is so exciting, because that's when you have the whole weekend ahead of you, and maximum weekend/fun potential.

I tend to pick stuff up in sales quicker than I can play them so the backlog grows pretty quickly. One thing I do take into consideration now is that I tend not to buy something from an IP that I've already got in the backlog. Crash Bandicoot 4 for example is on my wish list and gets pretty regular discounts, but I'm not buying it until I've finished the N-Sane Trilogy (I've only played the first game so far) - same with Assassins Creed, Tomb Raider, Forza Horizon....

I don't think 30 games is a particularly big backlog though - I've probably added about 30 to the backlog this year already! I don't remember the last time I bought a full price game though. All have been on heavy discount, so probably haven't even spent the equivalent of a full price game per month.

If I had to take my backlog into consideration, I should not buy another game in the next 10-15 years.

I don't take my backlog into consideration - I do take sales into consideration, however. Rarely do I buy a full-priced (3rd party) game. My thoughts are that I target certain games, buy them when they hit a price that I'm comfortable with, and hope to play it some day. Due to the size of my backlog, I no longer care how many I haven't played - I figure at some point in time I will get to them. Most games I pick up either have reviewed well, or I have owned in the past and never beat, or beat & loved the game. It's a problem...

I try to keep my backlog as small as possible. Anything that is added to my backlog is usually something that goes on sale. I recently added a bit to my backlog these past few months when Koei Tecmo and Inin had some pretty nice deals going on.

I don't take it into consideration, the backlog is basically my retirement plan at this stage. If a game I'm interested in goes on sale at a decent price I'll probably pick it up with the hope of playing it in the future at some point. I generally only pay full price for a game if I'm going to play it straight away. But yeah I'm looking forward to retirement

Backlog? I hardly know her.

(And that’s not to say I don’t have unfinished games, I just honestly don’t care about it from a “I must finish everything!” perspective)

@Eel Doesn’t that mean you have a backlog but you pretend you don’t? 😆

As big as 30 lol

Oh, you sweet summer child.

Anyway, I am trying to limit my purchases on account of having a ton of games I already own. I'll still grab stuff I'm really excited for (SMT V: Vengeance looks dope, and I WILL be playing it this year), but yeah, buying a bunch of games when I already want to play a bunch of games I already own doesn't make a ton of sense.

As for why the backlog is large? Probably some combination of impulse control issues, PC gaming bundles, and the fact that, until recently, I often didn't play games as soon as I bought them.

My whole family games, and I also share digital libraries with them on Steam and Switch, which also doesn't help.

@Ryu_Niiyama it’s like an old high school friend or family member in Facebook.

For the most part I only buy Switch games if I'm ready to play them right away (though I do have a few I haven't played yet), but when it comes to older systems, if I come across a game I want for a good price I'll likely just buy it even if I don't intend to play it for a while. In those cases I think of it more as adding a game to the collection so I own it if it gets harder to find in the future, whereas most Switch games should still be readily available when I want them for the time being.

I mean, it factors in, in the sense that I probably could've bought more games on sale if I wanted to but I already have too many I haven't played. But mostly I just want to save money and I don't have a ton of games I NEED to buy anytime soon.

I don't enjoy going to gambling establishments like casinos. But I do very much like taking a gamble on the unknown when it comes to video games. Several thousand games purchased over the past 40+ years, often sight unseen, usually just due to some dope box art hitting my eyeballs. The real problem (not really a problem I suppose) is that I like to eventually replay the games that I thought were cool.

Too many games, not enough time to play them.

Nope! I don’t take my backlog into account when getting games. Mainly because I don’t know if stores will still carry them.

I'll join today's chorus and say that no, I barely consider my backlog when deciding whether to purchase a game. I relate to what several people here have said, that the games are their "retirement plan," that they enjoy trying their luck on mostly unknown games, and that scarcity/FOMO is a real motivator for physical game collectors.
Confronted with the opportunity to get a snazzy new release, often I feel like, "buy now, or forever hold your peace." Cartridges are a limited commodity, and the desirable ones almost always appreciate beyond what I'm willing to pay.

So in a way, if I see I game that I imagine I will like and have the disposable income available, I will purchase and add it to the collection, with nary a thought about the backlog. I'll make time to play these down the road.

I don't believe in backlogs. I just play whatever I feel like.