So much for Portal 2 being too short. Fans of Portal 2 may be surprised to learn that a lot of people who own the game aren't playing it very much.
Little more than half the players who bought the game on Steam have finished it and more than one in ten of them haven't even gotten to that very first puzzle in the solo campaign, according to the service's achievement-tracking stats. Only 55.7% of players had earned the final achievement of the solo game. Only 89.0% had even earned the first achievement, which can be acquired with virtually no effort after the game starts.
Those numbers drop even further when you look at the co-op achievements; 51.1% percent of Portal 2 owners unlocked that initial co-op achievement, and only 21.7% percent teamed-up long enough to finish all of the co-op puzzles.
It took our reviewer a little more than nine hours to beat the solo campaign and a half-dozen more for co-op. For most people, that's not a single-sitting serving, so a general dip in the achievement completion rate is to be expected. People have school, work and social activities outside of gaming to get to. On the other hand, nine hours isn't so long that gamers, especially fans of the original wouldn't have enough time to dig into the game.
Looking back at the stats, the biggest drop-off in Portal 2 progress occurs after the game's fourth achievement, which 79.6% of gamers have attained. Only 73.6% get the fifth one. There are eight mandatory achievements to earn after that, before the game is done.
By comparison... Portal 2 isn't the only excellent game being underplayed by Steam users. Only 73.9% of the people who own the first Portal on Steam have earned the game's first achievement; 48.5% finished it.
The Portal series' numbers are wonderful compared to indie favorite World of Goo, which has been finished by a mere 18.6% of the people who own it on Steam. 25.8% have finished Trine.
Then there's the co-op campaign. I can understand that people may be hesitant to try it; there's a certain type of experience fans equate with the game and interacting with others doesn't really fall into that category. Still, for every player that has fully completed co-op, there are two players who don't appear to have even tried it.
I don't mean to sound standoffish or judgmental of the people who want to take their time. Its just always interesting (and surprising) to see the realities of how people ingest games versus the way they are spoken of by the media and in forums.