Ben Affleck lost 3 years to Starcraft, has strong Valorant opinions, and mourns RTSes as a genre, so there’s solid odds he’s one of our regular commenters
Actor Ben Affleck revealed on the October 12 episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast that he spent three years intensively playing StarCraft after achieving fame. Following his breakthrough success with Good Will Hunting in 1998, where he co-wrote and starred alongside Matt Damon, Affleck said he largely withdrew from public life to focus on the real-time strategy game.
“There was a game called Starcraft that probably took the most life out of me for a period of time,” Affleck explained. “I had just gotten famous, and all I did was stay home for three years and play Starcraft.”
The revelation highlights how deeply the acclaimed strategy title captivated players across different demographics and backgrounds. Affleck’s extended engagement with the game underscores StarCraft’s significance in PC gaming culture, particularly during the late 1990s and early 2000s. While the full extent of his gaming interests remains unclear from these excerpts, reports suggest he holds opinions about modern competitive games like Valorant and has expressed concerns about the decline of the real-time strategy genre more broadly.
The anecdote demonstrates that even major Hollywood figures found themselves drawn to immersive gaming experiences during their formative years of fame, choosing extended gaming sessions over other pursuits available to them.