There’s always been chatter about how many players actually finish games – particularly long ones, like Ghost of Tsushima. Sony has certainly stumbled on some secret sauce when it comes to its first-party software, however, as completion rates are through the roof for many of its titles. The statisticians over Ungeek noted that a whopping 50.2 per cent of players have unlocked the Mono No Aware Trophy in Sucker Punch’s historical sandbox, which is awarded when you beat the main storyline.
Now obviously this data only takes into account users who have synced their Trophy data with the PlayStation Network, but even then it’s a phenomenal result. In fact, it’s among the highest competition rate for any open world game on the PlayStation 4 – only fellow exclusive Marvel’s Spider-Man is higher, at 50.8 per cent, but that’s also a shorter game. The likes of Red Dead Redemption 2 and Watch Dogs 2, for comparison, sit below 30 per cent.
So, what does this tell us? Well, perhaps most importantly, that Jin’s story captivated players through to its conclusion. But in addition to that, we can surmise that players really enjoyed the game, and didn’t tire of the core gameplay loop as they progressed through the campaign. A sequel seems inevitable, as Ghost of Tsushima has proven to be a ginormous commercial hit – did you finish this game, and would you be interested in a follow-up?
[source ungeek.ph]
Comments 87
It's like Albert Einstein used to say; if you make a good game, people will play it.
Yep. That's what he said.
I always get fascinated by trophy data like this.
I'm clearing some backlog. I've only finished the first chapter. Will get back to it as some point. Been playing that control game .
I'm actively working on it. Don't especially want a sequel, but ah well, almost definitely Sucker Punch's next game.
GoT was my first platinum ever. It's a masterpiece.
This game properly scratched that old Tenchu itch I've had for years.
Would love to see another title. It doesn't even need to be set in the same era. There's the whole history of the samurai to play with.
Of course I wouldn't complain if I got to play as Gin again either.
It truly is a masterpiece that I completed it twice. Also apparently mayor of Tsushima apparently wants to make all of the devs at suckerpunch and sony ambassadors of the island! Really shows how good of a game Suckerpunch made.
@B_Lindz same here!
One of the (very very very very) few games I've platinumed. Typical a special place reserved for select lego games.
@Enuo
That quote of his ranks up there 'The definition of insanity is putting microtransactions in your game over and over and expecting different results each time'.
The average playthrought is 30 hours? I'm still in the beginning of third island (I'm waiting for ps5 before playing the third island back then) and already clocked 75 hours after 100% the first and second island 😅
@wiiware I had the same thought! My playthrough was over 90 hours, and I didn't spend all that much time just sightseeing either. If the average is 30, that must mean that a lot of people just absolutely flew through the game, too. I can't understand that mindset. How do you even enjoy it?
50% is considered good? Wow, a lot of people start but never finish games.
I've yet to start it. Been concentrated on bringing my completion rate up as it is beyond woeful. But I'm looking forward to playing it on my PS5 hopefully soonish rather than later.
I bought the game again for my digital PS5 since I owned a physical copy on PS54. Only managed to get 2-3 hour in and got bored. While it a pretty looking game... It more or less your normal Ubisoft-style generic open world with more interesting combat. It also doesn't help that I don't care much for Samurais, so even that couldn't help keep my interest in the game past the opening hours.
@Floki Damn! You from the future?? Well, at least it's nice to know they'll have backwards compatibility with the PS54.
@Floki Maybe it is kind of ubisoft style but more focused experience with engaging story. Ubisoft's games lack good side quests and story.
Looking through my platinum trophies the other day I noticed that Ghost of Tsushima had a 13% and was pretty shocked, triple A titles usually hover around 4% or less, at least for the humble 12 I have.
I have 3 platinums..diablo 3 was my first,ghost was my 2nd and ac:odyssey was my 3rd...i have so many games i should at least try and platinum but i have to accept the fact that some games (sekiro,bloodbourne) are just always going to haunt me...ghost is an epic game and one i will always cherish..
Well this sent me down a rabbit hole of looking up story completion trophies on other Sony published PS4 games
Days gone- days done 31.4%
Uncharted 4- charted explorer 39.1
last of us 2-what I had to do 60.6%
Detroit become silly- 48.6%
Gravity rush 2- fin 17.7%
Gravity rush remastered- 26.4%
Shadow of the colossus- 17.1%
God of war- last wish 50.8%
Death standing- Lou 28.5%
Horizon zero dawn- 34.1%
The order 1886- a knight no more 43.4%
That's actually really high. Most games don't have a 50% completion rate.
One of the few games I platinumed and the 3rd Sucker Punch game I platinum. 1st was Infamous 2 and 2nd was Sly cooper. I just love love their games.
It's nice considering the interesting side quests constantly distract from the main story.
Also not everyone has a PSN account. I used to play a lot of games without one. I even played TLOU on PS3 without login in.
@JapaneseSonic I had to put it on hard because of that, and some of the fights were difficult that way. I saw someone play some lethal, and that’s something. There’s no bit of health left after an attack, that last buffer. You just die. It’s really a game you need to up the difficulty on if you want to have a challenge, which is there if you do that.
@Unlucky13 I know right? There's just so many things to unlock and the game is just too beautiful to flew through it. Heck in the beginning of the game I even didn't run or galloping the horse, I just walk around slowly by foot or by horse gawking at the amazing amazing scenery in the game lol.
@JapaneseSonic Yeah I agree with this, the game is too easy after getting the health upgrade, but after introducing the rage mode (if you can kill enemy without getting hit), the challenge of the game is not to get hit at all, not to die. Before the rage mode I'm playing the game on hard difficulty after the health upgrade, I'm back on normal difficulty again after the rage mode.
I wish there's middle ground on the difficulty, I like the difficulty of early part of the game without all the upgrade. Oh and also, the standoff become really difficult and unfun at the 2/3rd of the game, the enemies are too hard using too many fake attack.
The game was good but not great, too much open world box ticking bogged it down. Players can easily get bored while taking a break from the plot and drift off. Low completion rates are always championed as the death of SP and justification for moving towards games-as-a-service and MP focus but there's obviously more to it than that.
Just goes to show for all the hype and 10/10 scores games like red dead get the buying public obviously disagree.
It amazes me how many people start but never finish a game. I always play through to the credits and if I really can't put the game down I'll get the platinum with my initial playthrough. Otherwise I move onto something new and hope to return for those other trophies one day!
A good game and only my 2nd Platinum after Spiderman; though one that I felt was longer than it needed to be.
The game definitely had something that kept enticing me to continue. Yet when I look back on it now it’s not as fondly or memorable as other games. Parts of it were but it felt like there was a lot of filler. If many of the character side quests had been halved in length and the Legend exp rate was faster, I think it would have felt a less bloated game.
Oh and the final moral choice felt so out of place to me. Really broke the flow for me. I expected it but felt it cheapened the ending.
I decided early on that I wanted the platinum. Took me seventy hours. But, strangely, the last six trophies were all obtained in the last hour of the game. I thoroughly enjoyed it!
@Arugula yes mate. Fingers crossed for a sly game ps5 gen...
I lost interest after the second half the map opened up, I had taken my time and I was way over powered all ready by then and the missions just became repeative at that point. There was nothing gameplay wise to pull me through the rest of the game, if I was to carry on it was only for the story and by that point it was just a bit meh. Great game while the new car smell was around but after that it just got too repeative. It needed some more weapons customisation and deeper RPG elements.
Looking forward to the next one if they expand on everything. If they followed Nioh and had the same polish as this and as well as all of Nioh's awesome depth of loot and customisation it would be a perfect game.
@TwomanybuttonS interesting that days gone is so high, it's clear that game was under rated so much. One of my top 10 games of the PS4 (that I can remember anyway it was pretty recent that I played it)
First ever platinum trophy for me! Absolutely adored this game!
My favourite game of last year. Beautiful to look at, great fun combat, interesting story and some memorable side missions.
The trophy system always surprises me. On WRC9 the only 7.9% have driven more than 500km which you'd do in your second season. Only 11.3% have reached level 20 which doesn't take too long either.
A few years ago I think they had similar data from uncharted, but it was sort of represented as a case for how SP campaigns aren't feasible and all that usual talk back then that single player was on it's last legs. I do believe that if you have a SP game with a great story, one should let the backlog rest and just commit to the end. Ultimately makes for a happier gamer.
@Arugula I'm still working on my playthrough. Not enjoying it that much. It all gets boring and very samey after a while. The side quests are all too alike, dull and interrupt constantly. The endless stream of fights is becoming routine and a pain in the butt after the first few hundred of them or so. And the story is plain simple and non interesting/ existing.
It's rather sad that this is a high percentage for single player campaign completion and on Xbox it's even more sad with single player campaign completions mostly around 20% though makes sense as Playstation audience does appreciate single player a lot more than Xbox.
@Boxmonkey That's because the public generally have poor taste.
😉
Interesting stats, I am shocked that anyone would complete this game in 30 hours. What's the point? Over 100 hours for me.
@Col_McCafferty does the epilogue count towards completing RDR2 story line though, people might not complete that?
Loved the game and have completed it twice so far and will probably go for a third on harder difficulty at some point. Hard to pick between Ghost and The last of us 2 for best game of 2020 in my view.
@InvaderJim Ah that's a good point. I guess it does although not sure why anyone wouldn't complete the epilogue especially if you want to see justice served on a certain individual.
Really enjoyed this game and the platinum was relatively straightforward. I think Sony games for the most part get the trophy list just right.
I'd definitely replay GoT again in a year or two.
Game of the year 2020 👑.word up son
If this was the exact same game but made by Ubisoft and had their optional microtransactions store in it, do you reckon it would be admired as much? Genuine thought.
@ApostateMage Ubisoft have made some very good games, not sure why they have this reputation as a trash developer. Very harsh imo but then again I forget that there are quite a few gaming snobs on this site.
To address another point, GoT was never meant to be a Nioh or a Soulsborne game. It probably wouldn't have sold so well if it was. Not every game has to become really hard to complete.
Made it about 2/3 of the way through and then hard stop. Pretty standard for me and open world games unfortunately 🤷🏻♂️
@Shepherd_Tallon lol, its nothing like tenchu! Sekiro is a lot more closer to tenchu considering they are both shinobi both use grapple hooks as they wish instead of when prompted. GOT is a samurai game thats actually quite dull only reason so many completed it is because covid has had people locked away.
It always surprises me how few people actually complete games, i hope Ghost hold up well as it will only go down.
The older games get the lower the completetion percentage will be as more people are able to pick them up on the cheap to give them a try as opposed to those that have invested more.
The vast majority of games that i have bought i have completed, but those on plus i may just play for a while to see if i enjoy.
I got bored after the first island. I found the game repetitive and easy even when I tried to play it on lethal mode. The story wasn't really interesting enough to keep me engaged. I usually complete most of my games but I didn't even bother bringing that one over to my ps5 that game wasn't for me.
The most completed game in PS4 history is a major achievement 👍 Bravo
@Col_McCafferty ubisoft make good games true but they also love microtransactions and that's why people don't like them. Paying £90-100 for ac valhalla and the season pass to then to have the best gear locked behind a pay wall isn't fun and quite a trash approach. They don't care anymore its all about squeezing as much money as possible for them now and it really shows in 99% of their games.
@Mariosmaster1 Do you need that gear though in order to actually play the game? Are you unable to unlock other outfits and weapons during your playthrough?
If it's only cosmetic then I'm not sure what the issue is. Odyssey received similar criticism but I managed to obtain the Platinum without spending a single extra penny.
If you're being forced to spend more in order to enjoy the game then that's not good and Ubisoft deserve their fair share of criticism.
I also kind of agree with some of the naysayers of Ghost but also with those that loved it. It can be repetitive and compared to some other Sony stories it seems more straightforward perhaps than others BUT it's also beautiful, I enjoyed the different ways you could approach combat and some of the side characters/quests were interesting. I especially liked the little animated shorts before each Mythic Tale.
I have played it only to opening scene, there you run with a horse over the field after you get wasted from the bridge or such. I didn't like the aesthetics, it look too plastic for me. I am planning to come back to the game, but it's weird, because I bought the game on day 1 and it just keeps laying on the shelf.
It's the least played Sony exclusive I have ever bought and I am sure I have bought all of them. I guess, the samurai setting is just not for me.
Always slightly amazed looking through my trophy list and seeing really low percentages for early trophies. I can understand not finishing games but not finishing the first chapter takes some doing (I'm not talking brand new games here).
I purchased this game and I always complete any game I purchase. I'm careful about choosing the games I purchase and I haven't been disappointed with the PS4. I don't always complete games I get free through PS+ though. There are games from older generations I didn't complete though because I got stuck or they were too difficult.
@Col_McCafferty It's not cosmetic the weapons and armour are better than anything in the base game. Cosmetic dlc just changes somethings appearance not its stats . I shouldn't be expected to pay extra at a massively over inflated price for better gear from release day of the game when i'm already paying £60 for the base game and £30 for the season pass thats something that you expect to unlock in game or from dlc later down the line. Its not about needing it to finish the game its about the principle of it. They literally hold stuff back we used to get included just to charge more its ridiculous really and its the reason why people don't like them. I'm not getting into a debate about it im trying to explain something you wasn't sure about.
It didn't take me long to get bored with the temples, poetry, foxes, and hot springs. But the stories were so,good I had to see them all. I especially like Ishikawa's and Norio's. And the main story was good enough for me to see it through.
@Mariosmaster1 Really? Nah that's not good, I can understand why people are cheesed off about that.
I'm sure it's still possible to complete the game but still, very naughty!
I wasn't arguing about it mate, just asking the question as I haven't played the game yet and won't until I can play it on PS5.
@Mariosmaster1 Thank you for your reply and for your "lol"
Stealth, creeping around fortress rooftops in feudal Japan, emergent gameplay and strategies that happen on the fly, playing the game as a shinobi instead of as a samurai, I guess these are the things I had in mind when I said it scratched my Tenchu itch.
But I mean, considering Sekiro was originally conceived as a Tenchu game, and it was made by a dev who has made Tenchu games in the past, yes, of course it has more in common with that series. In fact playing Sekiro also scratched my Tenchu itch, even more so than Ghost did. It's one of the reasons I loved it so much.
But hey, you didn't like Ghost, that's okay. There's nothing wrong with that. Not every game is for everyone. We don't need to play them all, or to even finish all of the games we do play, and we don't need to justify why we do or do not like something either.
But over half of the people who played Ghost liked it enough to finish it. And while I can't say that all of the ones who did finish it would have done so if there was no pandemic, unless you have access to some pretty precise data, you can't really say that "many" of them wouldn't have bothered finishing it if there was no pandemic either.
Such an amazing game. I'm glad I was able to pre-order the collector's edition. I ended up finishing the game on PS5 and getting the platinum trophy also. Hopefully Sucker Punch will be working on a sequel soon.
@JapaneseSonic Maybe although my last AC game was Odyssey and I enjoyed going from island to island and they weren't each the same.
Also, I played the game as Kassandra and she's pretty charismatic or at least I thought so.
@Shepherd_Tallon Tenchu was made by Acquire and published by Sony in Japan in 1998 Activision didn't make it in the west they were just the publishers. The fromsoftware version in 2009 was just a remake. GOT is open world Sekiro and tenchu are more open stages than world the game play is very similar too with historical fantasy and Japanese mythology. Only thing GOT shares is a grapple hook a sword and throwing stars that's like comparing Age of Empiires to Elder scrolls because of the time period or gear. Lock down and lack of games due to covid is the reason this has a high completion stat you can believe coincidence if you want though I don't care I have heard it as one of the worse Sony exclusives on the ps4 yet it has the higest completion rate and covid is irrelevant sure, sure.
@Mariosmaster1 All valid points (mostly). You know stuff, we all do. But what can I say - The thing reminded me of the thing it reminded me of. I didn't know I was doing remembering wrong. And Sekiro was originally conceived as a Tenchu game soooooo... Oh, you don't care. My bad.
Then again, if you really didn't care, would you have replied?
But look, we're just two chumps in an internet comment section, so really, who gives a feck what we think? I guess I'm disappointed because honestly we could have had a nice conversation about game design here, but it seems like you have to hit your passive aggressive/condescending/unconstructive comment quota for the day.
I mean starting a reply with "lol". Come on. Do better.
How about engaging with people you disagree with instead of condescending to them so you can show us all how many facts you know.
You have a nice day though. Feel free to hit the ignore button under this comment.
Note to self - You've engaged in a BS passive aggressive/condescending/unconstructive back and forth with a stranger on the internet. Slap yourself. Twice. Once for feeling the need to respond, and twice for typing "Note to self" and explaining to yourself why you need to be slapped.
Loved it so much I beat it twice. Top 5 all time fave for me.
@JapaneseSonic That, my friend, is a very fair observation 😂
I got a little misty at the ending. It was just...perfect.
Ghost of Tsushima is a [expletive] masterpiece! I hadn't been so satisfied with an open-world game since playing through Breath of the Wild.
My top open world games are Ghost of Tsushima, Breath of the Wild, and Days Gone. Why these are my top games is because they actually made me care about the world I was in. I wanted to spend as much time on those games as I could. I was invested in the characters, doing side quests, and exploration. I didn't just want to get through main story and be done.
Hi there fellow gamers.
I am, and very proudly so, one of those who, not only finished the game on my PS4, but also got the Platinum trophy for it.
And I´m playing my second run on my PS5 on Lethal difficulty.
Ghost of Tsushima was my game of the year personaly and it will always be one of my favourites because it was, m ore or less, the game I´ve always wanted to play. And it was amazing.
Even though it is kinda strange and a bit weird, but quite a few players never actualy finish games that they bought.
It´s strange because you paid money for something that you didn´t see trough the end.
But think of it like this: some of this gamest are pretty big open worlds with quite a few activities to complete. Sometimes players just get a little "lost" with all of that and don´t advance on the main story.
Heck, even I did that with Skyrim. I played the first 10 hours of the game without even getting the very first shout.
Why? because I was to "busy" exploring the massive world map, just by going north. Ridiculous, right?
So, that might be one of the reasons why not so many have completed GOT. But I did. And I want MORE 😜
Cheers, stay safe and happy gaming to us all
GOT was my first platinum and have gotten 4 more since. If it wasn’t for the bugs, Fenyx would be a masterpiece as well. I love open world with a great story.
I'm 35 hours in and still on part 2 of the island
I played it end to end and got the Plat, though I am weird like that. It's a great game, bogged down slightly with some bloating in terms of collectibles and a narrative that I thought conflicted with gameplay choices but I can see why so many have completed it.
I also wonder, judging by comments, that a trophy system that rewards playing all aspects of the game rather than silly challenges or multiple run throughs helps player engagement?
I dumped way more time into it than 30hrs, but that was also because I really enjoyed stuff like the photo mode that was far too easy to spend time on.
I got my plat on normal and then did another play through on lethal. I might end up getting back into the Legends DLC (I tried a couple of missions solo), but will otherwise be looking forward to an eventual sequel.
I'm going to finish it this week
played it, platinumed it, finished it on new game +, and got to level 20 on legends mode and finished all the legends levels solo on bronze level.. from 3rd level on it was just too difficult (for me) to do them solo on silver.. but overall played about 90 hours.
as for a sequel.. i don't know, it depends where they take it. Jin's story feels pretty self-contained to me.. i felt the same about the last of us. as much as i liked GoT, i'd be just as happy for sucker punch to try a new IP than do a more-of-the-same sequel, though that's not how the game industry rolls unfortunately. i would like to see more of Yuna's story, but the combat heavy gameplay doesn't really lend itself to that. on the first play through, i played with the japanese voiceovers.. on new game+ i tried it with the english dub, and hated it, so switched back.. the inflection/emotion in the voices for the main protagonists just seemed so much better on the japanese dub.
@leucocyte I haven’t tried the dub, but did sub because fuedal Japan. I just wish the lip sync wasn’t awful for the sub, embarrassing really. Honestly, the story would have benefited a lot from less stiff animation.
@Boxmonkey More people finished a 30 hour game versus one that over 100 I’d you take proper time to enjoy it? Who would have thought 100 hours would make less people complete a game no matter how great it.
They aren’t comparable at all. RDR2 is an absolute masterpiece.
@haoie with the amount of games that come out pretty much monthly not surprising that people don't finish alot of games
@Jaz007 wouldn't say that. there are plenty of games that are 70+ hours that alot of people have completed. but I will agree with you about this it is hard to compare them as they are both masterpieces But have vastlydifferent play styles imo even though I lean more towards ghost of tsushima because it has a little to no filler and red dead near the end had a lot of filler
@smokee9008 A 70+ hour game that over 50% of players have finished? Do you have any examples?
I am only an hour in shamefully. My backlog is immense.
The combat in GoT is sublime. I probably won’t play it again, but I enjoyed my time with it and had a blast exploring Tsushima. Looking forward to the sequel.
Fantastic game, my GOTY.
@Unlucky13 @wiiware The completion thing doesn't bother me, I also start many many games I never finish for a variety of reasons. Sometimes I just don't enjoy it enough of it's not worth the effort the difficulty requires. Sometimes something newer and shinier grabs my attention, and then I go back and finish the game 8 years later and realize it's one of my all time favorites and I binge all the sequels and spinoffs and get depressed when they're all finished. Sometimes I don't want it to end, because I simply don't want it to ever end.... (Vesperia, Torna, some others) - if I leave it unfinished the journey never ended in my mind.
But the 30hour thing I think accidentally stumbles into that secret as to why the Sony cinematic games have achieved such critical mass. The majority of players aren't playing games the way sort of traditional gamers do, exploring for all the secrets, living in the worlds, getting all the upgrades, seeing all the content. They're just blasting through in a straight line from beginning to end like a movie, and churning through them to see the story. It explains a lot of the mass market appeal, but also bodes possibly ill given Sony's current trajectory. Armed with that knowledge I could easily see them reigning in the time and money spent on building deep explorable worlds with tons of things to find and see, and focus on more or less a corridor story for maximum cost effectiveness to deliver to the majority of the target audience.
I'm one of the people dragging the score down. I started it to get a feel for it after waiting years for it, and haven't actually got to it to truly fully play it in my backlog. I just got around to FFXV and Mankind Divided for crying out loud! I'll get there someday, this was one of my most anticipated PS4 games, now at 60fps.
@Col_McCafferty @ApostateMage As a card carrying member of your official snob club, I have to say we actually agree on this one. Ubi is actually one of my favorite publishers and it seems to me that this internet mob created reputation of them as a trash developer is a fairly new phenomenon. I'm not sure when that started. They used to be one of the premium publishers, and I still view them that way. Maybe it was after Unity that their reputation never recovered.
@Mariosmaster1 I've never paid for a piece of gear in a Ubisoft game, and I've played a ton of Ubisoft games. I generally look at the junk they're selling on the store and wonder who actually does buy that stuff? They're mostly cosmetics or overpowered "easy button" accessories that totally and completely break the gameplay balance (but some people find that fun and choose to pay for it.) Everything you need that's really balanced in the game is in the game, and if they offered no microtransactions store, you'd never miss it - it's not the Diablo 3 Auction House. I do tend to buy the gold editions for games I know I'll like a lot because their DLC is actually quite sizable, and the DLC tends to rarely go on sale until the game is quite old. But the gear - in game they have a lot of collectable gear variety in their games. Yeah they sell some other that's the "best" on the store, but typically it's "best" in a game-breaking god-mode sort of way that doesn't belong in the in-game items. When I do get the bonus broken weapons in a Gold edition I tend to intentionally avoid using them. It's always obvious that it broke the actual feel of the game. Not selling the stuff might be better PR optics, but selling it, the way they do it, never feels like they ripped stuff out of a game to sell it back to you. It feels like genuinely additional stuff of questionable desirability they'll sell if you want it. They're selling an Adventure Time skin pack for Immortals: Fenyx Rising. Seriously. Who asked for that?
@Col_McCafferty...... The gaming industry has done a crime on AC Odyssey, you can critisise everything about the game but the world building is a technical achievement that should be standard going forward.
It is the first 3d game where every piece of land you see on the screen you can go to.
Open world games should be like at minimal AC odyssey world.
@zohaibshehzad Immortals nails it. Best Ubisoft game I’ve ever played!
@GREGORIAN I agree. Odyssey is an absolute masterpiece. I'm in my 40s, I've been a gamer since the 80s, and I primarily play single player RPGs. It is one of my very favorite games of all time.
I enjoyed Immortals. Its cute, and fun. Well written and clever. But its like a minor league version of Odyssey.
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