Welcome back to XboxEra’s third annual backlog challenge for 2023!
Whether you’re a returning challenger or new, feel free to join! Even if you don’t feel like you’ll make much progress (with Starfield heading our way, I don’t blame ya), we’re here to have fun kicking our backlog’s ass (or getting your ass kicked instead)!
Here’s the gist of it: Take out as many games from your backlog as possible, while minimizing new additions to your backlog.
Each game successfully completed from your backlog gives you a point (+1).
Each newly purchased game detracts a point (-1) .
The competitor with the highest score by December 15th, 2023 will become the XboxERA 2023 Gaming Backlog Champion.
Games on Xbox Game Pass or any other subscription service are worth zero points aside from the following exemptions:
The game is already part of your backlog, in which case it is treated normally
You purchase a copy of the game at which point it becomes a -1 until beaten
Any games received as a gift from your friends/family/dog do not count, as you did not make the conscious decision yourself to add it to your backlog.
Length does not matter. Regardless of whether the game is a couple of hours long, or a 100+ hour RPG, it’ll be worth +/- 1 point. Additionally, feel free to play multiple games at once.
As for DLC, significant DLC will be worth +/-0 .5 points for each individual DLC. You can complete multiple DLC for one title. Since not all DLC is created equal, we’ll leave it up to the council (the competitors) to decide whether a DLC should count for points.
Expansion passes that are purchased count as -0.5 per DLC.
Grace period: Starting December 15th, 2023 through December 31st, 2023, any purchases made will not count against you for the next competition. However, this also means that any games completed during this period won’t count either.
These rules aren’t perfect, so if needed, we can modify them as we go. If you have an issue with any of the rules, feel free to bring them up.
How To Play:
Sign up by commenting below! The contest will begin on January 1st, 2023, but challengers can still join afterwards.
Once you’ve beaten a game or bought a game, comment the name of the game and system, then give yourself or remove a point. Scores will then be tallied on our leaderboard.
We run on an honor system. This is meant to be a fun competition, so come on, don’t cheat.
A game doesn’t need to be 100% completed to have it count. Your definition of “completed” is up to you, but if the game has a story, then at minimum it should consist of beating the main campaign and seeing the credits roll. If needed, we can discuss and have the council come to an agreement as to what counts as “completed”. And again, any length goes.
I think for now I’ll just watch and enjoy from the sidelines, with the occasional chiming in. Good luck to all entrants, and hoping everyone has a great 2023!
I bought God of War Ragnarok and Horizon Forbidden West on PS5 and a bunch of stuff for my Steam Deck (Tales of Arise, Pentiment, and a bunch of others I can’t recall right now).
I am almost done with GoWR and will then move on to Horizon Forbidden West. After that I will probably tackle P3 or P4G on GamePass - though I own P4G on vita and never played it, so I guess I can get credit for that.
Looking forward to a great year - but I’ll be shocked if I come anywhere close to my backlog tally from 2022. Too many great games coming out this year that will demand time (and maybe purchases…).
Yeah… I might have got a bit carried away with the sales. Blame the PS5 for most of it, fun with a new system and all.
I think I’ll get through quite a few backlog games this year after all. Starfield is the only truly big game that will take a lot of my time this year, as we know of now at least.
Love the Steam Deck. I have never been a big hand held guy, so it is a bit of an adjustment, but I already owned hundreds of games on Steam (many of which I have not played), so I had a big built-in library.
Yeah, same here… Never really found hand helds interesting. I do have a big Steam library though (Of course I do lol) so that coupled with it being a Game Pass machine is a bit tempting. I don’t really want to game on PC anymore so a Steam Deck is a good compromise.
The main thing stopping me from buying a Steam Deck is that it would take time and attention away from my backlog on other existing platforms. It’s not like it’ll magically unlock more time in the day for me to play stuff! I already have a backlog hundreds of games deep, between all of my systems and my Steam library. Of course this isn’t even factoring in Game Pass!
That said, I do want one and I’m sure I’d get a lot of use out of it.
This is a very practical and level-headed approach to the purchase decision. I have the exact same issue, but I thought buying the Steam Deck would help me chip away at my Steam library by allowing me to play at times I otherwise wouldn’t be able to (while watching football on the weekend or in bed at night). That has worked out to some extent - but I probably haven’t played it quite as much as I thought I would.
It was a lifesaver on my recent extended trip to stay with my elderly parents.
Overall, I’m happy with the purchase but it certainly has not magically created more time in the day for gaming.
I was going to jump into the fray, but then I realized that I would lose because I would end up with negative points. I probably buy 10 games for every one I finish.
Crap I thought the gamepass challenge thread made by @EldenDarkwraith was a gamepass backlog challenge and I made a post about the games I’m going to finish and my following plans to clear my gaming backlog…turns out I read it wrong and all that I posted dont even count for the actual backlog challenge :,v
In any case. I’ll start with a +1.5 now that I have completed Overlord (2007) and its expansiom Rising hell (2008) on steam!
That is one of the benefits of the competition, it makes you think twice about buying too much. Even if you go crazy in the grace period at the end of the year (ahem…), it will help with keeping the worst shopping sprees at bay.
