Alright, quick show of hands—how many of you have grabbed a game on Steam and then… never actually played it? No judgment here. But developers? Yeah, they notice these things. One developer even tried shaking things up, contacting folks who’d bought their game and then, well, forgot about it.
The truth is, most gamers don’t see a game through till the end. Could be like, a tough grind or who knows, life gets in the way. Take Elden Ring—about 24% of players didn’t even unlock the Roundtable Hold, which is like the main hub. Souls games can be brutal, though, so maybe that’s why.
But then there’s another group—the never-starters. Back in July, Julien Eveillé, who used to be with Arkane, hit social media about this. He’s behind Threshold, this mind-bending horror game. You’re at a mountain train station, blowing a whistle, and things go nuts fast. Super short game, gets rave reviews, yet 10,000 owners haven’t even launched it.
Honestly, Eveillé is like, “Thanks for buying it, but um, how about playing it, too?” He’s urging players to check out Threshold’s unique difficulty setup. Spoiler alert: the game’s ending varies by country. If you’re in the US or China, brace yourself—it’s tougher than in, say, India. Why? It’s wild—the game factors in daily animal deaths in each country. More meat-eaters mean more critters in your game’s finale.
Eveillé highlights that in France, 3 million animals are killed daily. And though he’s not vegan, he uses this feature to nudge players into confronting some uncomfortable truths. By game’s end, you might see millions of critters because of your country’s numbers.
Chatting with Polygon, Eveillé isn’t shocked by inactive players, and jokes about his own backlog of unplayed Steam games. He figures maybe ten more people played after his social media nudge, but tracking that’s tough.
“You’ve got a tiny window to make your game pop,” he reflects. “Months later, it fades from memory, no matter what’s said.”
He’s happy folks are catching on to the difficulty aspect now. It wasn’t something he shouted about, preferring players discover it. Not the best marketing move, he admits, but he’s content—didn’t expect Threshold to hit big anyway.
