Can a game be too short or too long? It’s a debate that will seemingly never go away in the gaming community and has sprung back up again thanks to Mafia: The Old Country’s reported runtime. Hanger 13’s latest Mafioso tale will run at about 10 hours for its main campaign and about 15 if you include all the side missions. And personally speaking? I couldn’t be happier.

With its $50 price tag and “short” runtime, many have taken to social media to say that it is too short to justify that price. My position has always been quality is my number 1 priority. I would rather see a 10-hour game with a fantastic story than a bloated 50-hour campaign that drags simply because they want to pack more content into a game. 

Now I totally understand that some gamers want that and they equate length to the value of a game. While Mafia isn’t a full priced game, some say if they are spending $60-70 they better get a ton of hours out of the game. That makes sense to them, and I won’t tell them they are wrong. I will simply say there is a place in the market for both types of games.

I’m at a point in my life where my time is more precious than ever. I have a wife, 2 kids, a full-time job and run this website. My passion for gaming is burning more than it ever has, I simply don’t have time for many long games anymore. Quite frankly the thought of them at times is daunting. 

By the time I get home from work, spend time with the wife and kids and see them off to bed I have all but a few hours of gaming. Most nights I stay up until 1-2am just to get “me time” in. Booting up a game like Mafia: The Old Country knowing that if I really focused on it I could beat it in a handful of days makes me extra hyped for it.

Then I look at a game like Assassin’s Creed: Shadows. I was really looking forward to it, purchased the collector’s edition and booted it up when it arrived. After a couple of nights of playing I just had a hard time getting up for it. It wasn’t that the game didn’t grip me, it just felt so overwhelming to think about this game that will take me the next month to finish.

Likewise for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Monster Hunter Wilds…I could go on and on. These are all fantastic games that I really want to play, and all of them I did play for a little bit. If they were shorter experiences, I likely would have trekked on and made it through. 

Too Much On The Market For Longer Games

The other big problem with longer games for me these days, is there’s simply too many games to get to, especially during certain parts of the year. Remember back in February when a massive new release was coming out seemingly every day? When each of those titles is 30-40+ hours it can once again be tough to get through them. If 2 or 3 of those games are shorter 15ish hour experiences, I’d be far more inclined to get through them all.

And again, this isn’t a knock on longer games. When Diablo 2 Resurrected came out I put hundreds upon hundreds of hours into it. I recently put over 60 hours into Stalker 2. So it’s not a case of I only want short experiences, it’s just that I appreciate them so much more in my older, busier age.

Looking at all the games I have completed this year, it is clear that I just prefer these shorter experiences now. South Of Midnight, Doom: The Dark Ages, Lost Records are just some of the games I’ve had the joy of completing this year. All of them are sub 20-hour experiences. 

All of this is to say, that as much as people want these massive experiences and bang for their buck, there are plenty of people that still want a more focused, smaller experience. And with Mafia: The Old Country doing just that, I hope it can do well and show other AAA developers and publishers it’s ok to focus on a shorter title. A 15 hour experience is simply an offer I can’t refuse.