Sign In
Support
Start Selling
Do you own too many video games?
Since man first picked up a joystick, people have been complaining about video games. They’re too short. They’re too long. They’re too easy. They’re too difficult.
These are gripes gamers have had for years. But recently, a new complaint has arisen: I own too many games and I don’t have time to play them all.
A quick Google search turns up gamers saying that the amount of games they own makes them feel ‘overwhelmed’, some to the extent that they now lack the ‘desire’ to play anything.
It’s understandable because hundreds of games are released each year. Buy a few new releases and a couple of games on sale and before you know it, you’re sitting under a mountain of games you might never play – especially if you’re older and have less free time.
If you’re drowning under the weight of your gaming backlog or suffering from a severe case of option paralysis, here are a few tips on how to cut your collection down to size and avoid the angst of having too many games in the future!
Don’t believe the hype
New game releases are major events nowadays, with countless trailers, a tidal wave of blog spots and reviews and celebrity endorsements all contributing to the hype.
The result? Hundreds of people waiting outside a store at midnight to get their hands on the game before anyone else.
It’s hard not to get swept up in the hype surrounding a new game – I’m even thinking about No Man’s Sky as I write this – but you have to resist. Otherwise, you’ll end up buying everything that comes out and find yourself cash-and-time poor.
The easiest way to diffuse the hype is to remember that games don’t go anywhere. You’ll still be able to buy it a few months, or even a few years. And hey, it’ll probably be much cheaper too.
It might help to lay off YouTube and gaming sites for a couple of weeks before and after the game too.
Resist the bundles and flash sales
Thanks to the internet, video games are cheaper than ever. The awesome Humble Bundle offers whole bunches of games for a fraction of their original cost, while Xbox Live, PSN and Steam regularly slash prices for a limited time.
Most people can’t resist a good bargain, especially if that bargain is only available for a limited time, so countless gamers snap up discounted games like a squirrel gathering nuts for winter.
But time is limited, and so a lot of these games just end up sitting on the digital shelf (or the literal shelf) gathering dust and increasing the mental burden owning too much stuff creates.
Before you buy anything in a sale, ask yourself whether you were ever bothered about this game before, or if you’d buy it at full price. There’s no point accumulating games that you’re only half bothered about.
Only buy when you’ve got nothing to play
It makes perfect sense, right? You finish one game, then buy another. Simple.
Of course, playing just one game can be pretty boring, so line up a multiplayer shooter or a sports game on the side and you’re set.
If you apply this rule to your game playing habits, you’ll become much more selective with what you play and hopefully enjoy your game time a lot more.
Buy games like you’re a kid
Remember when you had to save up allowance if you wanted to buy a game, or wait for your birthday or Christmas? And how much you appreciated the games you’d saved for so long to buy?
Instead of splashing out your hard-earned wages left, right and centre, try setting up a ‘games fund’ and pay $5 into it each week. When you’ve got enough, treat yourself to a new game. Not only will this reduce the amount of games you buy, but you’ll become more selective when you buy too. Plus, it’ll help your finances too!
Don’t force yourself to play anything
Looking at comments online, you’d be forgiven for thinking that gaming is a second job instead of a hobby.
People regularly share tales of struggling through a game just to finish it, so they don’t feel like they’ve wasted their money.
The thing is, when you do this, you’re actually wasting valuable time you could spend doing other stuff – like playing games you enjoy.
Video games are supposed to be fun, so don’t force yourself to play anything. If you’re not enjoying it, cut your losses, sell the game and play something else.
Sell games you don’t play
We’ve said it before and we’ll probably say it a million times more too: if you’re not playing a game, either because you haven’t started or you’ve finished it, there’s no point clinging onto it.
Sell it as soon as you can to get the best price possible and make space for new, exciting games instead (but not too many, obviously)!
If your video game backlog is overwhelming, sell games with Decluttr today. If you want to make more cash, sell texbooks and sell CDs online too or sell Tech, such as an Apple Watch trade in, check out our sell my phone page or sell iPhone . It’s fast, easy and FREE: just get an instant price with our site or FREE app, ship your games for FREE and we’ll pay you the day after they arrive with our super fast next day payments.
