[Buttons840]

From a player perspective, you're wrong. Go play something like Outer Wilds, you'll finish it in a few hours, and the game will never be the same after you finish, but it will leave an impression as strong or stronger than 10,000 hours in Factorio.

From a game publisher perspective, you're right, you want to create "lifestyle games" that players can put 1,000 hours or more into. These games are more likely to sell because YouTubers and streamers will find a niche publishing content for these endlessly repayable games, and that will attract a lot of eyeballs and drive a lot of sales. If your game is "just" an incredible story and experience, then a lot of people will experience it by watching their favorite streamer play the game, and then they will never play it themselves. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIqz5xmQKnc

[sandworm101]

Outer wilds is not a 30-hour game. Ive replayed it many times. It is full of interesting, replayable, content.

[BreakfastB0b]

You’re confusing Outer Worlds with Outer Wilds, both confusingly released around the same time.

Outer Wilds is an indie game where exploration and knowledge is the entire point of the game. It unfortunately has zero reply value as once you’ve pieced together the mystery and how to end the game it’s over. I say unfortunately because it’s honestly the best game I’ve ever played and I sometimes wish I could receive just enough blunt force trauma so I could experience it for the first time all over again.

[Buttons840]

Your description of Outer Wilds is accurate. The game is over once you've figured it out, but I suppose the art remains. Sometimes I want to load the game just to look at the world, just to enjoy the world; nothing to figure out, just look at it, like a painting.