Xbox PC Now Says How Long It Takes Beat Games, Which Is Tricky

There are so many different ways people evaluate their video games, and few people agree on hard, hard and fast rules about what infuses their game time with real value. But what is certainly most controversial is the length of the game. And now “how much to hit” is a metric Microsoft just added to the PC version of the Xbox app.

of Updates from Microsoft’s Xbox Wire Blogthe company announced the addition of “HowLongToBeat” to its PC Xbox app, touting it as a basis for people to make decisions. It is a unique feature that

Aside from the obvious non-uniqueness (HowLongToBeat.com— necessarily the owner IGN-Owner Ziff Davis (who Microsoft has partnered with on this, has been around for over a decade and has such stats on Steam), by people who confuse length and quality, this It’s not an exaggeration to say that the metric can be completely misused.

To Microsoft’s credit, they haven’t committed to the worst side of such thinking: value = game length / price. The post explains that they see this as a way to decide “if you’re in the mood for something you can accomplish in a day or two, or if you’re looking for your next long-term game.” If I could convince the industry to stop using words like “Beat” and “Crush” instead of “Play,” I’d be amputating myself, but at least they’re also worth the brevity. It suggests that there is

read more: How to calculate the true value of a game from price and length

Replies and responses on Twitter were generally celebratory, with many pleading for the same to be integrated into the Xbox console. I’m here. There are some concerns, especially when it comes to people making short games.

“Not a big fan, tbh” BioWare Art Supervisor Ryan DownlingSoka said: Reply to Tweet of of the waypoint Patrick Klepek“I think ‘short game isn’t worth the money’ is already a big problem, and this will make it even bigger.”

but, Gloomwood developer Nate Berens said He believes that stating that the game was under two hours in the description helped prevent refunds.

Developer Kimo Lahtinen day repeat day When savage They told me they saw it as a positive. “Players are generally happier the more realistic their expectations are.”

The problem with such statistics, however, is that they can all too easily deviate from the truth. As a game critic, I know all too well how much even other game critics lie about how long it took them to finish a game. People shave for hours to be safe, as they can come under heavy attack from someone who has cleared in. We don’t want our players to do the same and look like they’re struggling. Does it count? When the doorbell rings? Not to mention the stupidity of relying on console or Steam clock times.

I just checked and you can set HowLongToBeat to whatever number you want. Told you it was done. I’m lost I finished it in an hour, but it took me 1,223 hours to get to 100%, which definitely added to the game’s overall stats. (Obviously I deleted this shortly after.) This is the only explanation I can think of. minecraft dungeons Currently, the length is listed as 5 hours. No.

At best, the HowLongToBeat stats give you a very general idea of ​​the kind of game you’re dealing with. 2 hours or 40 hours? And in general, it’s pretty good at this.Currently it tells you that on the front page elden ring It may take 52 hours to complete the main story, spidermanThe story provides about 17 hours. But there are far too many games where such measurements just don’t work.

for example, SpelunkyA game that most people can’t get off of the second world is cited as “19 hours” in its main story.endless game like sims 4 For some reason there is a number “67 hours”. Interestingly, the site also reports his MMO time. eve onlinewonderfully specific “2,896 hours”. (Because I’m curious, world of warcraft Its length is 2,364 hours. )

Then it inevitably becomes To do Prejudice against short games. If you find out that something is only available for a few hours, are you less likely to buy it? do you like all time classic fire watch, tentacle dayAlso ABZÛ Does it lose value because it’s less than 6 hours? Alongside similarly priced roguelites, their “beat” times are in the low single digits, so shouldn’t they, or their modern equivalents, be far more likely to be overlooked? Some people are excited to know that games can fit into their daily lives, but there’s a reason the industry is crumbling under the weight of never-ending live-service games. Maybe not, but people like the idea of ​​”more.” Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.

a twitter user @MOOMANiBE, observe another peculiarity of this update. Inside the Xbox Wire post there is a direct link to the new HowLongToBeat section. Collate information specifically about Game Pass gamesAs it happens, this is a very useful resource, but as the developers at Ivy Road Games point out, it also includes a front page section titled “Poorly Received”. Anacrusis 43%, Nonguns Doppelganger Edition Same.If you click on the latter, you’ll see that those numbers are based on grand totals 2 Review, 1/10, review giving another 7/10.for AnacrusisChet Farizek left 4 dead Follow up, 3 reviews 3, 4 and 6 out of 10. Doesn’t Microsoft want this to stay that way?

Whatever your opinion, so far the news is definitely going well online. It will be interesting to see how the developers feel about it in the coming weeks.