Finishing games is for chumps

CNN recently had a report that 9 out of 10 gamers won't finish the game they're playing. That's a pretty high number, but when I thought about it, it sounds kind of right. Off the top of my head the last 10 games I've played are. Red Dead Redemption, Shadow Complex, Dead Space, Portal, Bioshock, Trials HD, Black Ops, Battlefield: Band of Brothers, Lego Harry Potter, and Tecmo Bowl: Throwback. Out of those 10 the only ones I've finished are Red Dead Redeption, Portal and Bioshock.

CNN goes on to talk about how busy the average gamer is these days and how short of attention spans we all have. When you think about it, it makes a lot of common sense. Even if you're a hard core or casual gamer are you really going to spend the 20+ hours to beat Red Dead Redemption or Mass Effect 2 when there are cool games coming out every week, especially around the holidays?

I guess the publishers don't care that much as long as you buy the game. But here's the thing, when Raptr (a company that tracks gameplay) reports back to Rockstar that 90 percent of people who bought Red Dead Redemption don't finish it, how's that going to effect the sequel? The logical conclusion is that it's only going to lead to shorter and shorter games, with an increased emphasis on multi-player. Why pay the money to develop a 40+ hour game when no one's around after the 10th hour?

Multiplayer is great, and I'm not going to rag on games with simple concepts. I love a good mindless multiplayer battle. It's just kinda sad to think that publishers might look at these numbers and think that we need more Call of Dutys and less Bioshocks.