It’s no secret that bargain-savvy gamers the world over are guilty of buying more games than they’ll ever have time to play. Each Steam sale is greeted with excitement and regret as the pile of unfinished games inevitably grows. Well, it would seem that many Steam gamers are too busy to even try some of their purchases, with new research indicating that 37% on the games purchased on the PC’s top platform have never even been booted up.

The extensive user data was compiled by Ars Technica who used Steam members’ public data and a computing system to gain a wide random sample that allowed them to create a reasonable average.

To be fair, we’re probably all guilty of seeing a game on sale on Steam or if you’re a console gamer one of your regular retail sites, and bought it because we know (or do a great job of convincing ourselves) that it’s not going to be that cheap again for a while.

PlayStation gamers rarely get treated to sale prices that would make Steam gamers jealous, but Sony are helping gamers rack up their own collection of unplayed titles thanks to the generous Instant Game Collection that’s a part of PS Plus membership. I’m so sorry Borderlands 2; I’ll play you soon I promise.

The percentage of games that actually get finished is undoubtedly even lower. For example, PS4 gamers can now look at a percentage rating of players that have earned specific Trophies on any PlayStation title. Search for Trophies relating to finishing the campaign mode in a game and you’ll find them to be shockingly low, even for titles that have been around for months.

Are gamers just throwing their money away then? With players being unable to sell on their digital Steam games, it really is just dead money if they don’t play them. Or are we all just building up that pile for that rainy day or when we have some time off work? Well, why not have a look at your ‘pile’ whether it’s a selection of PS3 discs or a Steam library and see if you’re still even bothered about playing some of them or if any have had a sequel (or two?) out since. All good things to consider next time you spot a bargain on Steam or elsewhere perhaps. Anyway, I’m off to finish Arkham Origins. Maybe.