How do you folks keep from buying duplicates/keep up with thousands of titles?

[BrunoPuntzJones]

I use pretty much every service out there. I spend more time buying games than playing them it seems.

I guess I could use Steam to keep up with non-Steam games. Been playing games since the early 80s and have a pretty good collection. Sometimes I forget what I already own and end up buying duplicates.

Usually I just look through my Steam library (where the majority are) and even then I sometimes miss them.

Any suggestions?

 

[local]

95%+ of the games I have bought since 2005 are on Steam so it is pretty easy for me. My games from the early 90's I still have in their original boxes somewhere but I don't need to worry about accidentally buying another copy of Gunship 2000 these days either.

You could make an inventory spreadsheet to keep a list of everything in one place then reference it before purchase. Probably a pain to setup but you only have to do it once.

 

[Midwayman]

I always just make sure I get the steam versions of games. GoG, Uplay are annoying since its sold both places. Origin at least isn't sold on steam. Or if you're talking really old stuff I think you can manually add games to your steam library. Not sure if they'll show up as purchased in the store though.

 

[DeathReborn]

I keep a database with all relevant info including purchase price, date, DLC etc so I can keep track of what I have and haven't bought.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

I'm 99% on Steam, remaining is either a Blizzard product (individual launcher), Origin (individual launcher), or something I probably don't care about. I haven't bought a physical disk in ... a decade? or more? In fact, a few physical copies I have, I've just gotten re-releases of on Steam (usually for a buck or less).

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

I guess a database will have to be the way to go.

And remember Steam wasn't always the juggernaut it is now. Impulse, Direct2Drive, Microsoft, etc were all just as used 15 years ago.

Has anyone used collectionz? It looks to be a pre-made database, but looks to be $50 and you get one year of updates. Kinda high...but would have more detail than a hand-made DB.

I'm not in front of my home pc, can you add non-steam games without having to actually link to a file? Like if I just wanted to put a placeholder for a game but don't actually have it installed. Will it do that?

 

[ImpulsE69]

I just..you know...LOOK when I think I might buy a game. I've certainly been about to buy a game I already own but hadn't played yet and forgot it was there, but I certainly don't think it requires a database 😛 Not sure how this is that difficult to figure out.

 

[shortylickens]

I check GoG to make sure I didnt buy it there first, then I use Steam. Steam will let you know if you have it already and stop you from buying it again unless as a gift.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

And remember Steam wasn't always the juggernaut it is now. Impulse, Direct2Drive, Microsoft, etc were all just as used 15 years ago.

Eh... Not really. Nobody was ever the juggernaut that Steam is now. Impulse was a sad shade, even at its 'peak' if it can be called such a thing. Same with D2D. Both were relatively minor players when they were relevant (10yr ago), even compared to Steam at that time (my first Steam game was added in 2004).

Microsoft's only just now becoming a me-too, thanks to their mandatory store and in-OS advertisement carpet bombing.

 

[Anubis]

by simply having willpower i guess?

iuve never purchased a game on any of steams sales and in general only purchase games i plan on playing

and im not on any other service

 

[OCNewbie]

I essentially have this same issue. Often I'll swear that I've purchased a game before but can't remember which service I bought it from. I'll check through the various services I can think of, but can't find the game in question. Part of this is due to me buying bundles of Steam keys, but not always adding all the keys at the same time to my account. At least I think that's part of the issue, but it remains a bit of a mystery to me.