Steam Study Finds Players With Over 200 Hours Post More Negative Reviews
The study suggests that long-term players are not uniformly satisfied, and that monetary and time investments may strengthen negative sentiment, aligning with the sunk cost effect.
Reporting from 1 source: Automaton.
A study from Indian Institute of Technology Bhagalpur researchers analyzed 559,290 Steam reviews and found that negative review rates drop after early playtime but rise again for players with over 200 hours. The 'playtime-sentiment paradox' appeared in 5.24% of reviews, with an average playtime of 976.2 hours.
The study, published in the International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, analyzed 559,290 English Steam reviews across 60 titles from 12 genres. Negative review rates were 45.6% for players with under 2 hours, dropping to the 18% range for those with 2 to 200 hours, then rising to 28.2% for those with over 200 hours.
Researchers defined the 'playtime-sentiment paradox' as negative reviews from players with over 200 hours. They found 29,308 such reviews, averaging 976.2 hours of playtime. Even with a 500-hour threshold, 2.70% of reviews remained negative, suggesting the effect is not tied to the specific cutoff.
The study also found that players who purchased games had higher paradox rates than those who got them for free, leading to an inference that sunk costs may strengthen the paradox.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.