Have you ever had video game burnout?

If so, how long did it last? And was there a game that got you out of your slump?

I think nowadays with many games not being so innovative, it‘s easier to have burnout. But then you have games like Elden Ring that change things up.

I lost all faith in video games after playing Uncharted: Drake's fortune. The game was so bad, it took a week for me to be able to play and enjoy video games again.

8th gen games gave me a lot of burnout for being the same thing over and over. 6th and 7th gen brought many great games and IPs, although some have not aged well.

I feel like right now a lot of 9th gen games are just 8th games but with higher resolution and textures. Some studios are better at implementing famous game mechanics and mixing it up neatly. Some do it and it's a train wreck (Ubisoft).

I was pretty burned out then along came Xbox with Halo/Forza/Gears, and all became right in the world of gaming.

lol :P

I get burnt out easily from competitive multiplayer games. It feels like I'm working a second job rather than having fun. I stopped playing online games and only focus on single player titles now.

I spoke about this in another thread but I was kind of bored with gaming for the last year and a half.

Discovered that it was most likely because I had been using trainers except for the one game I was actually enjoying; The Division 2

I was robbing myself of all progression and challenge so it became so mundane.

Definitely. I am kinda experiencing it now. Most games feel the same as the games released on the ps3/360 with just a higher resolution. Very little innovation happening. The focus on cinematic in single player games which I mainly play has really put a damper on gaming. I don't want to be pulled out of the experience of playing a game to watch 10-15 minutes of dialog. Unfortunately, this is the norm these days with the exception of Fromsoft and Nintendo

Absolutely. It's been going on for I'd say close to 5-7 years and likely won't subside as gaming continues its popular trends. I've articulated my views on this board many times...

Gaming is in a state of diminishing returns... Yes there are several different franchises in different genres, but after 35+ years of gaming very few of them stand out as special... Why? We've played them before. Endless 3rd person action/shooter, FPS, JRPGs, platformers , rogues, at what point do you admit to yourself that each game is like every other game you've played with different art design or with only slight varience of everything else on the market.

Remaster and remakes are the ultimate submission in art.... Period. The industry is showing signs that is creatively void of new ideas. It's no surprise... You've been playing halo games for decades as if we need another one. You've been playing uncharted games one after the next and yet all the developer can muster is remastered collections and remakes of their franchises we've already played.... Remakes are a clear and present sign that present development of games is not about taking the hobby to new levels but to cash in on your nostalgia for old ip. They're total cash grabs.

Music industry does this too... Pearl jam ten remastered! Whoaaa..... But really, it's the same album with tweaks. Still, if your a self perceived pearl jam fan you're gonna go buy the remastered album because they've got you on your rose tinted glasses for the band. The industry preys on folks like that. None of it is art.... Its purely grabbing at your wallet.

So, where do we go from here? Easy, be SELECTIVE! I don't believe the industry will break away from established norms. It's too expensive and too much of a risk. Gun and sword games are here to stay.... Despite a hobby that can do and be so much more.

My approach in the age of gaming fatigue is to Wait to buy ip at prices that are reasonable. The last of us remake is not a 70 dollar game, it's a ten dollar game to me. I've already owned two versions of the game and beat it 3 times. The fatigue is in the disippointment that a talented developer would rather cash in AGAIN on the same game rather than build something entirely new. It's a sad reality, but not one that I have to part with good money for.

I also feel like there are only a few games a year worth really spending time with. Elden ring, botw, God of War.... These games feel fresh, focused and they prioritize the gameplay experience... That's the winning ticket to solve gaming boredom. Play the special games and don't subscribe to the yearly installments of any game promising "all new features!" it's garbage.

Also, if you're ignoring indie games then you're missing the risk takers of the hobby. That sounds really boring to miss.

Yep! That is how I feel about Sony games. Burnt out. I felt that they were more willing to take risk before but now my PS5 sits unused most of the times.

Xbox gets more play time because I enjoy the indie games on Gamepass. When I am really bored I may try one of the triple A games on Gamepass but I am not that desperate yet.😂

I will be migrating my play time to PC in a few weeks with Monster Hunter Rise.

@TheEroica: I think it also depends who you talk to.

• Video game veteran: man, I’ve played this @%^# before!!
• New generation gamer: hmm I heard of this game, let me see what all the hoopla is about.
• Rabid fanboy: oh snap! I love TLOU!! Hell yea I‘ll buy it again!
• Lapsed gamer: I didn’t have the system back then or I was busy with college.

It’s been a VERY long time since I’ve felt burnt out on gaming, probably way back in the Atari 2600 and some in the NES eras. These days there’s just way too much that comes out that I enjoy playing that I can just jump to and have fun with at any given time.

Lucky if I play games 2 hours a week now.

Yeah, actually fairly constant burnout over the last few years. I think I was just gaming not only too much, but too many different games.

I've since adopted a policy of limiting the number of games installed at once, and limited the number of games installed per genre. Using those two parameters, I still get my diversity, I limit my game time, and I actually finish my games.

Pretty happy with it so far. I get bored, I don't just jump to another game; I stop, get up, and go do something else.

It definitely does matter who you talk to... Everyone's perspective matters. I can only describe the gaming fatigue from my own perspective though. I loved the mid 2000's... 07 was an amazing year. It was like we were taking the groundwork of gen 6 games and really making them into modern day experiences. Gears of War felt fresh as hell when it launched. So did assassins creed!

But here we are two generations later... Our expectations are that we get "another AC" or "another gears" etc.... How about leaving franchises behind and making something we haven't seen? Or played!

A game I know I'll buy is Stray.... I've never played a game like that so I'm intrigued. No guns, or overly dramatized violence. It's exactly the type of game that shows how great gaming CAN be when we don't try providing the exact same experiences to the masses.

Rather I feel a Netlix effect, there's lots out there worth playing but games being meaty these days it's hard to commit to something that's going to drain another 60 to 100 hours out of me. I spend a good deal of time staring at my back list thinking about what I should play next.

Got burned out playing Days Gone the second time to get the Platinum trophy, way too long and boring of a story with an obscene amount of cutscenes (atleast I could skip them). Also got burned out playing Warhammer: ChaosBane grinding to get the Platinum, didn’t realize it was just a weaker version of Diablo 3 before I bought it lol.

I have been disinterested in what gaming has offered for almost a decade now. But it's not centralized to gaming only, but music and movies as well. I really believe (I don't really believe) the world ended or merged with another dimension in 2012. Something happened to the world or me, and ever since I have had to deal with anhedonia. So whether it's the "I've played this before" syndrome, personal mental problems, a cosmological event, or all of the above... I don't know. But I do know that despite my continued interest in the idea of gaming (movies and music as well), my actual enjoyment has been more and more elusive.

@lamprey263: The only time I really had a backlog was around 2013, and to help with that neverending indecision I wrote them all down and randomly numbered them. I then started with #1, and continued until they were all done. Worked for me.

Burnout can happen for all kinds of reasons and might not even be related to the hobby in question you are losing interest in.

Back when I worked rather physically demanding jobs, especially as a firefighter/EMT, I found myself regularly "burned out" on games and having no drive to play anything. I'd get the latest and greatest as they came out, had games I was drooling over for so long, and yet couldn't get myself to play.

Even when I got back from Iraq and had stuff like Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Red Dead Redemption waiting for me to dive into those runs were short lived before I found myself just putting something on the TV so I could basically do nothing. Mind and body were wiped out to the point I couldn't even focus on a TV show let alone retain a game enough to actually play and beat it.

When this happened I always found it best to be able to take time off work and everything to basically recharge my batteries and let my mind reset. It was a way to break that groove of wake up, go to work, come home so tired all I can do is eat something, take a shower, go to sleep, and wake up the next day to repeat it. By the time I hit any day off all I did was sleep or lay around cause I was gassed.

But when it comes to games themselves burning you out like playing too much or just getting tired of the current state of things that's when I like to remember there's so much more to gaming than what the modern era has to offer and basically having what I refer to as "video game comfort food" that I know well enough and enjoy enough that I can basically turn off my brain while playing often leaving me free to engage in something else like a comfort food series or whatever.

Break away from whatever is wearing me down and play something that is just fun. Throw on Super Mario World, Stardew Valley, Morrowind, Civilization, you get the idea. Also don't be afraid to play something on easy and just go nuts on the CPU for awhile. Nice easy time where you're having fun and all that.

Hope that helps someone.

Here's what I'll say about this issue I normally see elsewhere.

As you grow older, you add priorities to your life. Unless you are bereft of other hobbies and emotional investments, it is rare that one hobby remains your sole interest. And if it did, you may go on a hiatus. And as your experience grows, you have fewer of the novel experiences that drive your early interest. You may find that a life change leaves you with more time or longing. You may find that a new innovation piques your interest. Or you may just drift in and out of the hobby, or lose interest altogether. Those are all fine, as long as you don't say something like "I outgrew games" and gaming is my life passion. Always have, always will be till my body tells me, I'm done!

Just consume them on a very casual level now, which was such a radical shift on how/what games I play now. But in this case, having a gaming PC really helps a lot for my case as I put all my games into one basket with better benefits.

I totally recommend Stray as it was a nice relaxing/viewing game. But anyway, I find a lot of people would find it healthier if they treated gaming as a hobby and not an everyday ritual so you won't get burnout/hiatus. Play a game you find interesting, move on - come back when the next thing comes around.

Feel the same way, took a couple years off gaming and just recently started again. Have a whole lot of past games to play and they are now cheap to buy, With PSN+ Extra I get access to newer games, like Stray, which is fantastic for the reasons you outlined.

Last game I finished was RAGE 2 and I took like year to beat it. It was fun but I honestly couldn't do it in a long sitting maybe 2 hours a day. I will go months without playing my PS4/Series S which is weird as I have a huge backlog from years ago. But I guess as you get older gaming loses it's charm? I been busy with life in general so gaming has definitely taken a backseat. I have a Switch Lite that gets more playtime as I pick it up anywhere.

No, and i don't know how this could even happen. If your job is to stream games 8+ hours a day, i could understand, but when its just playing em randomly when you feel like? I don't see how this could happen unless you're getting too old for gaming in general, and is losing interest.

edit: wtf everyone is burnout in this thread🤣🤣🤣

I've never really stopped playing games but at some point I started to feel a bit overwhelmed. That's when I decided to basically stick to what I love and if I don't like a game I simply ignore it.

For example; the past younger me would've felt forced to play a game like Elden Ring just because many people liked it. The Current me tried it and stopped caring about it as soon as I realized it's not for me.

Also games are just a hobby, hobbies take somewhat of a backseat as you grow older. Things change. Etc.

Not really burned out on games. Wish I had more time to play them.

Such a wide variety to play. My biggest issue is actually sticking with one game to the end of it.

I'll start a game, be enjoying it, like. 3rd person game sp, then I'll hop on an RTS get side tracked, next time I play I'll start playing a racing game. Then I'll start another RPG. Then I'll go back to something like rocket league or wow.

Then I end up having a backlog of 50+ games that I just look at like... I should probably go back to beat those. But don't have the time.

Hop on rocket league because I have 30 min window to game and don't want to spend it in a RPG where it takes 30 min just to remember what I was doing in the game...

This is my shitty gaming cycle.

Partially created by ADD and not having a ton of time to play but still loving gaming.

Yep, not only burnout but I'm losing interest in gaming in general there's outside factors from real life that plays a part of it. But also gaming IMO just isn't as good as it use to be for many of reasons. Also bumping up the price to $70 bucks just makes it even worst. Yes, I could wait for a sale but by that time I probably already would of lost interest in that said game. I feel I already reached the peak of gaming at least for flat screen but future VR gaming I think will be where it's at it's just going to take years to get there.

I worked with a guy who was a gamer and at one point he made an effort to abstain from playing games (and other certain activities) for a while out of worry he'd go numb to them if he didn't give it a break. I think he was trying to regulate his dopamine so that he didn't need to work harder and harder to get satisfaction from the things he enjoyed doing. Understandable. That's certainly a kind of effect of addiction. Sometimes people abstain from social media for instance out of similar concerns. People get their dopamine however they can and can become addicts all the same. Some people become exercise addicts, some people are social whores. Exercise can be healthy but not as much when not done in moderation. Social activity is healthy, not so much when people freak out during a Covid lockdown, and not so much when people can't go 5 minutes without checking into Facebook.

Curious too about something I heard about music and whether it applies to something like gaming. People typically as they get older they become more disinterested in new music and tend to listen to the stuff they enjoyed in their younger years. This is less of a pronounced issue for people who developed an appreciation for more varied taste in music styles because they can associate the characteristics of new music to characteristics of the larger variety of music they've come to appreciate. If it could be the same for gamers, I would imagine people who never bothered to branch out beyond their comfort zone before the effects of aging set in are going to find it difficult to be interest in newer stuff.

I also think it could be quite hard to appreciate anything these days because gamers as a community rarely celebrate fun things to play, the negativity in the community constantly tears down everything. I miss the days content for gamers was more about informing people about "hey, here's a game you might not know about that you might like". And the games that are celebrated are so universally celebrated, and even still those games are not for everyone, it can probably make people feel a massive disconnect to the community, the offerings.

Studies have also shown that people's gratification from playing games can be influenced by the opinion of others. Important to just be mindful of that, again since we live in an age where gamers are extremely temperamental. It's also well known as far as online community engagement is concerned, bickering communities with polarized views are by far the most engaged. While communities like System Wars are seen by many to be toxic, I actually like it since people are transparent about their bias, and overall I find that the people share the same passion for gaming overall regardless opposing views, we can sometimes share lots of common ground.

It really helps though to have friends who share the same interests. Lots of games just don't have the same dynamics if you can't enjoy them with friends and just isn't the same with random players. If I didn't at least have a few close friends to play a lot of these games with, I'd probably have lost a lot of interest in the hobby a long time ago.

It was during 7th gen after 2008-2015 was by far worst era. there were some good games like Alan wake, Deus Ex HR, Metro 2033 but everything was bad from there.

until Doom 2016 released most games back then was trash. FPS become COD clone, third person becomes AC clones, cover shooters, regen health, etc. it was all norm.

2016 was beginning of new era. Doom 2016 bring back old school FPS, Hitman become best stealth game since early splinter cell and early hitman. Prey 2017 was System shock 2 style immersive sim we needed after trash BioShock infinite become.

People need to remove nastolgia glasses and see how decline 7 gen and early 8 gen era was. when games like shadow of mordor won GOTY speak all of it.

@sargentd: I wish I had more time to play too, but I've found myself not prioritizing the time I have for more games. I feel like it's finding a balance. I game in the mornings usually. When I wake up. Once the day gets rolling I cant game anymore.... The meta is my actual life and it's more worthy of my time.

Yea, I've gone through some periods of burnout before.

I used to play every big open world game that came out (ie. every Far Cry, Assassins Creed, Shadow of Mordor, Horizon ZD etc.) and just got massively burned out on that style of open world game. Now I only buy those types of games occasionally - skipped FC6, Ghost of Tsushima, Horizon Forbidden West in the last year or two and have no desire to play them. Other times i'll try one that looks interesting and drop it after a short time.

Burned out on CoD style multiplayer about a decade ago.

I think around 2019, I had general burnout from reviewing games, so I stopped doing that at the end of the year and that has helped. I also had a concussion in early 2020 that prevented me from playing games for several months which helped bring the love back when I returned to them.

I have quite a different approach now compared to when I reviewed games - I used to feel compelled to play all the big releases. Now I just play the games that actually interest me, and if I'm not enjoying them, I stop playing them.

solid, I recommend you go out and get some fresh air. You must be tired of playing all those remasters on the ps5 again and again. The tlou remastered patch version 4 must be stressing you out the most.

the sad sack ps5 gamers are getting burnout from playing all those remasters and remakes

This is what you meant to say. Enjoy my correction.

then PlayStation it has so many great single player games. if you don't have one already.

you now what is funny? xbox has so many remakes aswell. but no one sees it because they are multiplat now.

for one all the halo's got a remaster

alan wake, mass effect, and more.

its just xbox let those developers go at the end of the 360 life but they was all exclusives at one time.

heck at the series x launch they used gears 4 or 5 not sure which one to show off the graphics of the series x. which remaster graphics like raytracing and more.

so xbox has remaster aswell not just sony.

at least sony comes out with games and remakes and remasters. so why not if they are launching new games as well.

I've been feeling it the past few weeks / months.

The majority of bigger releases either don't appeal to me or are something that I might enjoy but have played better. And it feels like every other game is a remake/remaster.

Most indie aren't that interesting either... oh look the 6 millionth procedurally generated 2d game or survival game number5242675 ... or artsy fartsy game with minimal gameplay number3275231.

Going through it now. It's probably a good thing releases have been a bit slow.

I sort of agree with this, most multiplayer games can make you feel pretty restricted.

I guess I'm sort of in a gaming slump right now. I'm not really in the mood to play most of them as of late.

Definitely. Earlier this year, I didn't play a video game for weeks -- and I didn't miss it. I wanted to take time out from video games to focus more on my spiritual life. I'm back to playing games now; and I can balance gaming and spirituality just fine.

It's not burnout, I just think most new games are not worth my time and there's little point in upgrading my computer for AAA insipidness.

Yeah, for years. I barely play video games much anymore. But every once in a while, there's a game that catches my interest and gets me back into gaming... Before I take another break from gaming.

Not lately. I don't have enough time to play them like I used to to even get tired of them

Off and on. Sometimes it's actual burnout, though usually it's just having better ways to spend my time. Tbh only really got heavy into gaming again because of Covid, then slowly got back to playing not much of anything this past year.

Echoing others here, but yeah there is a bit of a "been there done that" to it all. Not on some downer shit, there's more good stuff out there than I could possibly have time to play. Though for the most part the highlights are few and far between. Might get something from a genre that is so much better than everything that came before it. Might get something truly new and unique. Though usually at best you're getting a mix of existing ideas in an interesting enough way to feel fresh, well executed enough to be worth your time. Often times the industry is just cranking out lesser versions of stuff we were playing in gen 6 or prior. Dead horse, but yeah the AAA space. Games packed with mid-at-best riffs on combat, stealth, platforming, "puzzle solving", etc. A hodgepodge of mediocre gameplay elements.

So while there's plenty of good stuff out there, very little in the way of "must play" games. Easy to move on to other interests and that's fine.

More of a personal issue for me, but a lot of the games I enjoy the most, the shit that I don't get tired of playing, just requires too much of my time. Could seemingly play fighting games forever for example, though playing them casually doesn't do it for me. If I can't go all in, don't want to play them at all.

this should be funny, what exactly are those xbox remakes and remasters?? Halo master chief collection was a 3 in 1 thing, update from pre HD, because those games all released in 2003 and 2004 to full HD. Also, the game has been free on gamepass from the beginning, and its pretty cheap to buy on steam or anywhere else. Alan Wake remaster wasn't an xbox thing, its a 3rd party developer, and they also released on the ps5. Mass Effect is EA lol

Gears of War 5 they did "remaster", but its a free update, a simple patch...so nobody should complain.

constantly

The last few years. More and more things take up my time, and I can't engage in some games like I did. I probably play ~10hrs a week or so nowadays.

I recently took a 2 1/2 week break from Warframe, after looking at my mods screen one day and thought; "ya know what? 121 Ayatan Anasas is enough," and quit playing Sorties. I did play a ton of Total War: Warhammer II during that period, though, and I returned to Warframe for Khora Prime.

I also took a month break from gaming altogether after completing Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 1, 2 and 3 in sequence, because they were both so exhausting.

Yea, I’m excited to play Stray, but right now I have Xenoblade 3. But it will be there for me when ready!

Lol, PS5 has been on fire this year. GT 7, Forbidden West, God of War Ragnarok. Plus, Elden Ring played best on PlayStation! But I have to admit, Switch is having an underrated year!

This just means that your genre of choice is too narrow and/or you placed too much faith in one game.

If there's anything I learned from being a gamer, it's that you should find passion in playing games that give you the experience you're looking for, instead of having faith that some unreleased game will give you said experience. That's not gaming. That's hype.

Yes I had a video game burnout when I turned 18 in 2011. Arkham City was the 'last' game I enjoyed. I noticed I had burned after 40 hours of Skyrim I got bored af. (I have 400 hours in Oblivion and Skyrim was my most hyped game)

didn't really play any games at all between 2011 and 2018.

The only exception was true masterpiece titles like The Last of Us 1, Bioshock Infinite, Metal Gear Solid 5, God of War and Red Dead Redemption II.

so two 15 hour games in 2013, the 2 years without playing a single game, MGS5 for about 180 hours until I got sick of it (GOTG contender) then I went on a 3 year break without touching games until GOW (40-50h) and RDR2 (110h) came out. Nothing else except those 5 particular games could entertain me for even 30 minutes.

So for 7 years I played a total of 5 games for a total of 350-400 hours. so about 50-60 hours per year for 7 years

in 2021 alone I had 1200 hours of which 600 hours were Fromsoft games alone.

This year I'm already at almost 400 hours in Elden Ring. I literally played as much Elden Ring as I played every single game combined from 2011-2018.