I consider the time to completion a lot when purchasing a game, but that’s because I’m almost 40 and my play time is severely limited. I’ll usually just play a quick NBA2k or something that will let me burn off steam for 30 minutes.

But I love RPGs. For instance, even though Witcher 3 is exactly the type of game I enjoy the most, I knew I didn’t have the time to commit 5 hours a day to it. But I knew this from experience and from reading reviews. I waited a while, and when I had a vacation with no plans, picked it up, when marathon sessions into the witching hour wouldn’t make work or family suffer.

But I can see why publishers would be reticent to notify people of the playtime on the box. If a game is 100 hours, and people think they only have 2 or 3 hours to play a week, they feel they wouldn’t be able to finish before the next console cycle.

Great read, Ben. I’m 25 hours deep into Witcher 3 now, and only 4 days left of vacation. I don’t think I’ll make it.