Topic: Have you ever experienced video game burnout/fatigue before?

Hi everyone,

As this is a Nintendo site, everyone on this site is probably here because they love playing and discussing games on Nintendo systems — that’s the case for me. But lately I have been feeling fatigue/burnout from playing video games, where I don’t feel interested in playing them no matter which ones I play. I have a somewhat sizable collection of Switch games with different genres and play styles, like Mario Odyssey, Zelda BotW, Pokemon Let’s Go, Smash Ultimate, Rocket League, and Splatoon 2, yet I still feel uninterested in playing them. That probably is because I’ve been playing some of them consistently everyday, and thus need a break from playing video games in general.

I’m curious about other people’s experiences with video game burnout on this site. Has there ever been a time when you experienced burnout/fatigue from playing video games — no matter which game you played, you just didn’t seem interested in playing it?

this happened to me last year, and I'm still dealing with it.
I admit, my experience is very different from a lot of people's, and probably coming from a very different
place.

so, for the past year and a half, I've been fighting an uphill battle with major depressive disorder. it's basically sucked me dry of any desire to engage in anything that used to bring me joy.
between May 2018 and December 2018, I didn't touch a single game for even a second. the thought of playing a game did nothing to excite, entice, or entertain me.

when Smash Bros Ultimate came out, I started playing that. and it was the first game I played by myself, for myself, in the 6 months before it released.
it's also been the only game I've played on my own since.

I miss playing games regularly a lot. but I still can't be fussed to boot one up, just because it's so hard to find the inspiration to do so.

I have burnout from certain games, but the easiest way for me to get around that is to simply play a different game, maybe from a different genre.

I don't exactly suffer from burnout as a whole though. Chances are, there's a ton of games in my backlog that I need to get around to, so I just play them whenever I want to.

Of course being busy sucks though. Really the harder part is finding time to game.

@shadow-wolf Anything can be done too much. I don't think I have ever burned out entirely, but I have certainly burned out on specific games. Hearthstone comes to mind. I have played it for years now. But last year I rage quit hard for several months.

I also tend to binge play the Civilization games, then not touch them for months.

Last time I experienced video game Burnout, I loved it so much I bought Burnout 2. I was gutted 3 never came to the cube

@GrailUK Burnout Revenge was the best one

@CharlieSmile Yeah, you maybe right! I loved them all. It was theseries that broke the curse of 'please don't damage our cars' that lasted years. It felt like Outrun was back!

This has happened to me a few times in my life. When the 16 bit era ended and the 3D era began (Saturn/N64/PS1), with a few quality exceptions, I was not impressed with the majority of games. So I stopped playing for a while. It most likely had to do with not feeling great while playing those early 3D games. Then I was briefly drawn back in with the Dreamcast. But after the Dreamcast was done, I could barely picked up a controller until the Wii. I had a lot of fun playing games with my son but that is not an option anymore. My daughter mostly likes to watch people play games, but she will play occasionally. I thoroughly enjoyed Breath of the Wild, but that was about it. I just cannot find the energy or want to play games recently. I will play some Splatoon with my family. Although, I continue to buy games, I am currently in a dry spell too. I seem to hit a wall. I am always looking for the next game that will draw me in. I might have to pick up Zelda again, it has been a few months. I have been watching my wife play, so it feels like I have been getting the Zelda experience through her.

I do appreciate that the Nintendo once again embraced wired controllers. Wii/WiiU wireless only days (with only a few exceptions) was just too much for me.

I have had periods where my interest in gaming has waned, but this doesn't bother me. Sometimes I simply prefer watching a good movie or reading some good manga. I know my interest in gaming will always return.

That's like me I have to go on a sabbatical before returning to the games again. I do have other things in life that needs attending to that pays the bills as well. And my hours of work is rough so being too tired isn't good for gaming excitement. And if I start BoTW I can kill 4 hours easily.

Burnout from one game? Yes. Warframe, four years straight. No regrets but I've had my fill.

Burnout from the hobby? No. Even after 35 years I'm still not done. Too many games, not enough time in the day.

I go through occasional genre burnout. For example, I'm currently on a bit of a JRPG break since they were a lot of what I played these last few months. I am playing Super Paper Mario I guess, but I consider it enough of a departure from the norm (as it's a RPG/Platformer hybrid) that it feels different and fresh.

For actual game burnout....I don't experience it often, but I have had periods of time that range from a few days to several months just because I needed a break. Besides adulting, I also read a lot and program in my spare time and like to make more time for those hobbies occasionally. ....The latter is harder for me to get into these days since I'm already doing it at my job though. I'd almost say that I experience coding burnout more often.

I've been going through this for years tbh.

I don't even think its related to fatigue as much as laziness or inconvience really. For instance I spammed playing pokemon for the longest time, but that was due to how convenient the PSS system while you played during gen 6 was, with gen 7 I haven't really had a drive to play because I'm either sitting there bored waiting for somebody to pop up or feeling unproductive not being able to do much (can't battle while just playing the main game breeding, and can't do that while looking for a battle). On one hand I could say I'm fatigue of the franchise at this point, but on the other I think its just too much of a hassle for me to enjoy compared to say, spending the time playing smash or PC games instead.

I don't have this issue as much with other games though. Like I'm spamming a lot of competitive games and getting in and out of matches, smash i think was one of the revivals to bringing me to console games again but its kinda a competitive issue of "should i spend timing grinding ranks on this game, or this other game I'm better at already?"

Only when ive played a single game heavily do I burn myself out. Then I just move onto something in a different genre.
But ive never burnt myself out on video games altogether.
TV on the other hand...

@ReaderRagfihs I think you're right. Playing in short bursts definitely feels more satisfying to me as well versus longer sessions. Not sure why in my case.

@CharlieSmile Sorry to hear that, I can't imagine what you're going through. But it's good to hear that you were able to play Smash for yourself! I hope that opens the door for you to start playing and enjoying more games again.

@EvilLucario Yeah that's what I normally do as well, but this time my feelings of fatigue seem to envelop video games in general. For now I just seem to be much more interested in more "passive" entertainment like TV and movies instead of playing games. It's almost like they all are starting to feel a bit "samey" and boring for whatever reason. This extends to games like Bayonetta and DKC Tropical Freeze so it does seem to involve all genres of games.

@Heavyarms55 That's a good point. I've found myself with more time than usual so I have been playing games more often than usual. As you said anything done too much can be fatigue-inducing, like eating too much of a particular food. Which is probably why I enjoy short bursts nowadays more so than long sessions.

@GrailUK Lol. I have heard they were good games, although I never played them myself.

@Hikingguy I see what you mean. Similar to you, I'm looking for that next game to draw me in too. I thought Smash and Pokemon Let's Go would do it but neither of them held my interest for long. Granted I still am playing them so it's not like I stopped altogether, but I'm not getting quite the level of interest and satisfaction as I expected to get. I downloaded Okami a while ago, I wonder if that will pique my interest again in games. I expect the next Zelda game to draw us both in, but I hope that we can find a game to hold our interest before then!

@bixente What you're describing seems to be exactly what I'm currently going through — a strong desire to watch TV or movies or do any other entertainment instead of gaming. As you've experienced, it'll probably return for me too, although it's best for the time being to take a break.

@SwitchForce I can understand where you're coming from. When I'm exhausted after work I much prefer watching TV over playing games. In that case it feels like gaming requires too much attentiveness and alertness, and I don't really feel like actively "doing" something — I'd much rather passively enjoy something, which TV and other forms of entertainment let me do.

@Magician Sounds like you're keeping yourself busy, which is good. I have more free time currently than I had in the past, so that might be directly responsible for the fatigue I feel for the hobby in general.

@Blitzenexx I see what you mean. I think what you've described is what I'm feeling, where I just need a break to pursue other hobbies. Which isn't a bad thing as you probably already know, as it'll let me pursue other hobbies and develop more as a person (which you've experienced already). I can see why coding would give you burnout, sounds like it can be tedious at times!

@Araquanid Similar to you I'm experiencing fatigue with Pokemon too. I think in my case it's just due to the RPG tediousness and rhythm that has more or less been the same in every Pokemon RPG game. And a big factor is that I'm also burnt out of Kanto so the Let's Go games just aren't doing it for me. But I hope they streamline things again in Gen 8, that can help reduce series fatigue for you and make it feel less tedious for me.

@GeeEmm That was normally the case for me too, but lately gaming in general has just felt very boring and "samey" to me. Maybe a break with pursuing other hobbies would reignite that interest again.

Gosh diddly darn, that’s a giant text wall.

Sometimes i felt bored with Animal Crossing New Leaf 3DS due to keep maintain the villagers stay in.

Also, sometimes i felt bored to play DDR Arcade every Sunday at my local Game Arcade as my ritual weekly.

I have never felt burnout from playing video games since I started in 1992.

I doubt that I will ever feel such a thing

Yup, halfway through the PS2's lifetime I got fed up of badly controlling 3D games and having cluster headaches. Didn't play another game untill the Wii/DS generation when I was reminded how good Nintendo was at making me happy.

Video games are a waste of time anyways, so if you’re feeling burned out it’s probably a good opportunity to take a break and do something else for awhile.

I got burned out after the SNES era and took a break for almost 20 years. Wasn’t until the Wii U came along that I jumped back into gaming.

Breaks are good. And if you’re feeling disinterested in gaming it’s your mind’s way of urging you to do something differently for now.