What Even Is A Video Game Backlog In 2026?

We’ve written a lot about backlogs on this site. Those long lists of games we want to play or finally get around to finishing. I have a backlog. It’s very big. It’s scary to think about. And I also recently realized, after returning to Diablo 4, that in 2026, a backlog is becoming an outdated concept as forever games take over the industry and live-service titles get killed, making it harder and harder to actually finish a game, cross it off your list, and walk away.

For decades, competitive multiplayer games have existed, and the concept of a game that can’t be “finished” has been around for about as long as games themselves. But when I talk about the games that undermine the very concept of a backlog, I’m not talking about online-only PVP titles like Arc Raiders or Team Fortress 2. I’m instead talking about the growing list of live-service games, many of which can be played solo, that have campaigns with “endings” but also keep growing, that are all fighting for your attention and receiving an endless wave of updates and expansions.

I finished Diablo 4 in 2023 and really enjoyed it. With that completion, it was crossed off my backlog. But since then, it has received numerous seasonal updates, adding new content and narrative elements. It has also received an expansion and is getting another one later this year. I booted the game up last week to check it out again and realized that, well, shit, Diablo 4 is back on my backlog. I completed The Division 2‘s main campaign once upon a time, but since then, it’s expanded into a bigger game with more missions to finish and more story to experience. That one is probably never leaving my backlog, despite me having over 300 hours in it at this point.

Then there are those live-service games, like BioWare’s Anthem, which I had on my backlog for years, always telling myself I’d get to them and finish up the main story one day. Well, in Anthem‘s case, I waited too long, and now the game is dead, the servers permanently shut down. And while I could just scrub it from my mental backlog of games, I know it will linger around like a ghost. A memory of what I could have done. There are a lot of live-service ghosts hanging out in my mental backlog these days. It’s getting crowded.

A part of me wonders if the entire concept of backlogs is pointless now. Even single-player games that aren’t technically live-service titles, like Ubisoft’s Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, are often updated with new features and content. It might just be time to try to build a new backlog in my head and reserve it only for offline single-player experiences that I’m confident won’t be expanded upon or killed in the future.

At the very least, if I do rebuild my backlog, I’ll have a more manageable one. I mean, it will still be extremely long and nearly impossible to complete. But at least this new list–which will be devoid of live-service titles and “forever games” that, ironically, can go away forever with little warning–won’t be literally impossible to finish. And that’s nice. I guess.