Games are art – it’s not just their size that matters

Domagoj Belancic

15.4.2026

Translation: Patrik Stainbrook

Games are more than just their scope – a plea against reducing the video game artform to its trade value.

Capcom’s new sci-fi shooter Pragmata is already one of my favourite games of this year. It’s also a very short game. After a mere 12 hours, the credits roll and I set the controller aside. And I’m fine with that. It feels just right – tight pacing, no fluff and a focus on what matters most: the fun of playing.

The length and scope of video games continues to spark heated debates. And I’m sure the short playtime of Pragmata will be yet another topic of discussion – especially since Capcom’s charging full price.

60 francs or euros for 12 hours of playtime? A deal-breaker for many. To me, however, this debate devalues games as an art form. And that just makes me sad.

The length of a game isn’t an indicator of quality

To me, the debate over game length is problematic on several levels. I’ll start with a basic assertion before venturing into philosophical territory.

Not every game has to be a 100-hour epic.

I’m convinced Pragmata would be a much worse game if Capcom had padded it out with unnecessary content and mechanics just to hit a certain playtime target. Narrative-driven, linear action-adventure games like Pragmata or the more recent Resident Evil: Requiem have to be short; otherwise, they don’t work.

The compact nature of these games is a logical consequence of the intended game design and storytelling. Pragmata’s so good exactly because it quickly surprises me with new gameplay mechanics and story beats. No sooner had I got used to the brilliant multitasking gameplay – perfectly mixing hacking minigames and shooter sections – than the game introduced a new concept that turned everything upside down. There’s no point in dragging out this tightly orchestrated experience.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying all games should be limited to a maximum of 12 hours from now on. The opposite in fact – I love diversity. To me, the appeal of a JRPG lies in knowing I’m diving into an epic adventure. I want complex game mechanics, epic stories, countless side quests and grinding. Cramming that experience into the length of Pragmata makes just as little sense.

In short, we shouldn’t view the scope of a game as a general indicator of quality. Genre and design determine game size. Some genres are designed to gobble up as much time as possible. Then there are genres that deliberately offer a compact, condensed experience.

Neither is «better» than the other. And, more importantly, we can’t value one over the other.

The commodification of art is just sad

As I peruse comment sections and user reviews these days, I see more and more people weighing the length of a game against its price. Longer games are better. Duh. Some even go so far as to calculate a game’s value «per hour of play».

Titles like Pragmata (6 francs per hour) naturally fare worse than XXL games like Crimson Desert with its 89 hours of playtime at 0.8 francs per hour. There’s the even more radical view that a game should cost no more than one franc per hour of play, or people won’t buy it.

I understand the reasoning behind this – gaming is an expensive hobby (thanks, AI boom!), and it makes sense to think carefully about what you spend your money on. But this way of thinking is problematic in several respects.

First, game scope and production costs aren’t correlated. Even a short game can be extremely expensive to develop. Offering an ambitious, graphically intensive title like Pragmata at a budget price (or, even more extreme, for 12 francs across 12 hours) makes no financial sense for the publisher.

Second, short, story-driven games like Pragmata, which feature optional challenges and New Game Plus modes, offer plenty of replay value. This is often overlooked in calculations.

And third, the most important point for me, breaking everything down into raw numbers so bluntly simply can’t be the answer.

With this seemingly rational approach, video games are reduced to mere consumer goods. Goods with an exchange value. It’s no longer about the experience itself, but about staying occupied for as long as possible. This makes me sad, and it goes against everything I love about games. No other medium has evoked such strong emotions in me or created so many wonderful memories – regardless of the game’s length.

The commodification of this artform and its reduction to a rational exchange value leave me with a dystopian aftertaste. Games are more than just their size. For movies, no one would claim that three hours are generally better than an hour and a half. Or take literature. Is a 1,000-page book worth more than a 500-page one?

It’s about the quality of the content, not how much you «get for your money.»

Encouraging a change in thinking

Misguided discussions like these around value for money also send the wrong signal to publishers. A lot of companies are picking up on gamers’ biggest desire – more «bang for their buck.» As a result, even single-player experiences get bloated with unnecessary content and live-service mechanics.

Every Assassin’s Creed game needs to offer ever more content to keep player engagement as high as possible, even months after launch. The time Ubisoft’s customers spend with the product is more important than the content itself. Just pack in as much as possible and convince the biggest possible slice of your user base that it’s worth spending 70 francs or euros on the latest Assassin’s Creed adventure.

Is this really «better» and «worth more», just because it keeps you glued to the controller longer?

One last thing: I don’t mean to attack anyone personally with this post. I get it. Gaming hardware is getting more expensive. Games are getting more expensive. Everything’s getting more expensive; the world’s going to hell. It makes sense to think about what you’re spending your hard-earned money on.

My hope is simply that this article encourages people to rethink their views and spark discussion. Because, to me, games are so much more than just the number of minutes I get for every franc I spend.

Domagoj Belancic

Senior Editor

Domagoj.Belancic@digitecgalaxus.ch

My love of video games was unleashed at the tender age of five by the original Gameboy. Over the years, it's grown in leaps and bounds.

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