Title,
As a collector you know theres some titles that you buy and play IMMEDIATELY upon release but how long does it take you to get to games in your back log?

For myself, most games I will at least start right away and then get to a difficult or grindy part and then put it away until I really want to check it off my backlog. And when it comes to my backlog the time wildly varies because I like to randomly choose a game to play when I beat something or get tired of the games I am playing. So my length of time between buying a game and actually sitting down to beat it varies, from playing and beating immediately, to a few months or years gap to will I ever beat Hamtaro for GBC???

One of these days I'll play Tactics Ogre on the ps1

Years and years for me usually, unless its a newer title, because if I'm buying it when its newer instead of waiting, then its something I want to get to. I'm only just now getting to some GameCube and Saturn games that I've owned for years

Depends on the game, my interest at the time and what other games are vying for my attention at the time. Some games I play immediately, others wait for years and years.

My backlog is irresponsibly large, heh

I get in moods. Some games I really want and when I get them via trade, I'll play them immediately. Others I'll spend money on and wait a few years, whether it be for achievement purposes (a "me" thing), the estimated length to beat so I can gauge progress etc, or just what I wake up and am craving that day.

Hoping next year will be better with progress.

It takes me a long time to play a newly-acquired game unless I was particularly hyped for it or someone else is motivating me to play it. The problem is that everything sounds good when I add it to my collection, but when I have free time to play, I fall back on the same few games. I already know I like them and the appeal of playing them is stronger than starting something new. I face this struggle with books and anime, too; I hope to overcome it someday.

I've given myself a goal this year to focus on my physical backlog, and the stack that I'm using to track that includes exactly how long the games I finish have been backlogged. Up to 17 completed so far this year.

https://www.completionator.com/Stack/View/1678

Part of the inspiration for the goal was this post, so thank you Relu!

About 1/3 to 1/2 of the games within the first year I get them, the rest between 2 and 40 years after I buy them.

Like most, probably much longer than I should. I've made a personal rule that I must complete, sell, or remove from account 3 games for every 1 I buy. Having been on base for the last 3 months has been a good chance to kill some of my digital stuff though.

On the whole it can take me years to get to a game I've bought, this site has improved that dramatically though.

You play the games you buy?

Joking, but that should give you an idea of my situation lol so many games I wanted so badly but haven't touched.

Great question lol! It definitely takes longer than I'd like, especially if I buy a RPG. I have to build myself up to start those because I know it's going to be a commitment.

I got Chrono Cross back in December and I haven't started it yet but it's on the list lol! I also go the Middle Earth games a while ago. Currently Elden Ring bumped everything in the list hah!

I probably have the most inefficient way in going about this. I just buy games that look interesting or appealing to me (and ones that would make a fine addition to my collection), without the intention of playing them right away.
I have a backlog of games that I want to complete or re-complete, and the new purchases just get added to said backlog, so it would likely take me years until I finally get to playing a game that I recently purchased.

Currently I am going through mostly childhood games that I have not played in years and completing them 100% for the first time, so it will take me a while until I get around to playing anything remotely recent.

This honestly depends on how much I paid for an individual title. Usually when I seek out a console game, it's something that I'm thirsting for immediately and I'll play it the first chance that I get. Often times I won't even buy the game unless I'm planning to sit down and play it right at that moment (unless there's a 50% discount or something). Because console games are usually fairly expensive, I don't like to let them sit around for very long if I buy them on a digital storefront or at retail.

It's a whole other matter with digital PC games. I'll just load up on those by the dozen through bundles or Steam sales and play them "someday, maybe." Usually I get a bundle for a specific game, and I'll play that within a few months of buying it... but a lot of times I also forget that I own it. I'm also kind of addicted to Fanatical's mystery bundles...

Similarly, if I buy a game used for under ten dollars at a yard sale or something, I usually don't put any pressure on myself to play it anytime soon. For the most part, these are all replays from my childhood for which I've lost my original edition, anyway.

I only buy games at full price if I'm excited to play them right away, so in that case I tend to give games a good go within a few weeks tops. But for stuff I buy second hand or discounted, it's really anybody's guess. Looking at my list of completions for stuff this year, there's everything from games I've bought in the last year or two to a couple of PS1 and PS2 games that I bought all the way back in 2006.

Like a couple of people in the thread, though, I'm making a conscious effort going forward to get through my physical backlog and actually play the stuff on my shelf, and I don't expect to leave much in my current collection for sixteen years like I did with those 2006 buys. If nothing else, I'll be too old by then.