Poll - How Many Physical Games are in Your Collection?

[Anayo]

Does anyone else find themselves wanting to collect more for one particular era of gaming? I'm really enamored with the Sega Genesis/SNES generation for some reason. Like to the point where I'll sell/trade good stuff for other consoles in order to get more 16 bit stuff.

[dsheinem]

So waaaay back in 2015, I tried to do a quick count:

I own or otherwise have legal access to over 3,000 released games or compilations over 40 distinct platforms (that number doesn't count the individual games in a compilation such as Atari Classics or Sonic's Genesis Collection, etc. - I have most of those that have been released in the past 15 years or so too). About 2/3 of all this is owned in physical form. I also now know that I own close to 100 books about games (only about 15 of which are strategy guides).

So yeah, the numbers thus far are pretty insane - probably a good 30-40% more than what I thought I had. Only a very small percentage of the collection is sports titles or other cheap "filler" titles because I have tried to emphasize quality over quantity...but now I think I have both.

This isn't to brag or anything - rather this thread and this exercise has made me stop and think a bit about the past, present, and future of my collection and its place in my life. If one of the goals of these resolution threads is to take stock of what your own relationship is to your hobby, what you are or are hoping to get from it, etc. then this particular year's thread has succeeded and prompted some serious thinking...

Since then I have dramatically reduced my physical collection...but grown my digital collection. Today, I'd guess I have roughly around 500-700 physical games with an eye towards getting rid of about 1/3-1/2 of those in the next year. Digitally, though, I have about 1100 games on Steam, 250 on GOG, and another 30 or so across other digital PC platforms. I'd also guess I have at least 1500-2000 games across various PSN/XBL/Nintendo digital distribution platforms. So I am probably in the 4000-5000 club cumulatively, though only a small(ish) portion of that is physical.

[Exhuminator]

Does anyone else find themselves wanting to collect more for one particular era of gaming?

One particular era, no. But I do only buy games I can't perfectly emulate. Hence I only own 6th gen and above games physically. And it's not just a cost / storage space thing either. I like being able to play a wide variety of 5th gen and below platforms on my phone (with a bluetooth controller mind), I love the quality of life advantage of that. If I were instead having to use legit hardware to play each of those platforms, the result would be far less ergonomic, and not always portable.

So I am probably in the 4000-5000 club cumulatively, though only a small(ish) portion of that is physical.

If I were to include all the digital games I've purchased, I'd be sitting somewhere around 2500.

[Sarge]

Oh, geez, digital would put me at least up to 3000. I've got something like 1170-ish on Steam alone (thanks, indie bundles!), over 200 on GOG, and a whole bunch on Humble Bundle as well. And I'm not sure I've even counted my legit PC stuff any time recently.

[dsheinem]

Oh, geez, digital would put me at least up to 3000. I've got something like 1170-ish on Steam alone (thanks, indie bundles!), over 200 on GOG, and a whole bunch on Humble Bundle as well. And I'm not sure I've even counted my legit PC stuff any time recently.

Isn’t the Humble Bundle stuff usually Steam codes? I know I have a couple dozen Humble monthly games that were direct diwnloads not on Steam...but most are Steam keys, I thought.

[ElkinFencer10]

I'd be right at about 3000 if we included digital.

[Sarge]

A lot do have Steam codes, yeah. Not all, though. It wouldn't add a ton, but at least a bunch of them are DRM-free.

[wclem]

Physical games:
I am over 6500 games at this point, including a full N64 and 32X set. Over 90% on NES and Genesis. I try to collect what I call non sports sets with disc based systems. So my numbers are not inflated by tons of Madden type games. I have sports games but they are only about 10% of my total collection. They used to dominate my collection but I have been able to reduce that. I have a few hundred doubles I am not counting also.

Digital Games:
Sitting somewhere over 1000. Over 700 Steam and easily over 300 more with Gog, Playstation, Xbox, and Wii - WiiU games. About 2 dozen on Origin too.

This is a long term thing and luckily many of these were bought before prices went crazy. Me and my wife both collect so it has become a family thing. This is something we share together and with others. We never had a goal to amass so many, it just kind of happened. For us this is fun, not an investment, just for the thrill of finding things. We enjoy sharing this hobby with others. We have given countless games away over the years to people starting out in the hobby or just people who want to play games.

This is not a contest or bragging thing for us. We enjoy the reactions of people when they see the collection and share it with them. We have been so very fortunate to have the chance to do what we have done. Both of us have never cared about the value though cheap finds are always exciting. Many of these games have been played, and hopefully one day I get far enough to have at least tried them all! Above all, we are in it to play, not make money or to show off, just to have fun!

[bmoc]

I need to show this thread to my wife so she knows that I'm not that bad. I have around 300 physical. Add maybe 100 more if we are counting Xbox Live Games with Gold and other digital games.

My backlog has gotten so bad that I've asked her not to get me any games for Christmas this year.

[Reprise]

Slightly off topic, but how the hell do you guys with large collections (over 1000) find space to store all those games and consoles?

I'm rapidly running out of room (currently owning 692 games). I dread to thinj what I'll do when my son is old enough to move into the second bedroom where half of my collection and games currently reside. It's also where all my books and comics are. my wife keeps reminding me it can't be my 'geek room' forever.

Then there's the rest of my collection downstairs in the cupboard under the stairs. At the moment, that's bursting at the seams.

I know the design of houses in America are different, with rooms generally being far more spacious, whilst here in the UK, most modern builds are built with room sizes being much smaller, so maybe that's a factor?

I need to buy a bigger home haha.