US Gaming Trends: 2026
The video game industry enters 2026 at peak cultural power, with a global audience projected at 3.6 billion and sales set to reach $188.8 billion.
Trusted by leading global brands
Collapse All
-
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- What you need to know
- Global video game market size
- Outlook for Gaming Trends: 2026
- Men of all ages are driving hopes for more gaming in 2026
- Another year of by-the-book hardware updates could make new disruptors exciting
- Shareable promotions tap young gamers and men’s interest in multiplayer
- Gaming fans today are likely to continue their love into their older years
- Opportunities to enhance loyalty with retention-centric strategies
-
THE MARKET
- Consumers and the economic outlook
- Global and US gaming market
- Entertainment Software Association essential facts
- 2025 global video gaming revenue’s slow and steady growth of 3.4%
- Graph 1: global video game industry revenue, 2022-28
- Switch 2 success drove 5.5% year-on-year growth for consoles in 2025
- Graph 2: global video game industry revenue share (billions), by device, 2025
- The post-COVID-19 paradigm shift in the gaming industry
- Market drivers
- Netflix and Paramount fight to acquire Warner Bros. including gaming divisions
- 2026 looks like a rough year for consumer tech sales
- Massive cuts coming to Meta VR and metaverse division Reality Labs
-
THE CONSUMER
- Anticipated gaming changes compared to last year
- Gaming is the #1 source of entertainment for more than half of players
- Graph 3: playing video games is my primary hobby (% agree), by gender, 2025
- Players anticipate 2026 will look a very similar to 2025 for them
- Graph 4: anticipated change in time spent playing video games in 2026 compared to last year, by gender, 2025
- Graph 5: anticipated change in money spent on gaming products/services in 2026 compared to last year, by gender, 2025
- While 2026 will look a lot like 2025, many players are cutting back spending
- Graph 6: “I have been cutting back on my video game spending due to recent price increases” (% agree), by age, 2025
- Men of all ages are driving hopes for more gaming in 2026
- Graph 7: plan to spend “more” time playing video games in 2026 compared to last year, by age and gender, 2025
- Graph 8: plan to spend “more” money on gaming products/services in 2026 compared to last year, 2025
- Most preferred gaming devices
- Younger gamers are getting priced out of the hobby? Not exactly
- Graph 9: attitudes towards gaming time and spending (% agree), by age, 2025
- Mobile isn’t just the top platform in terms of players and spending, it’s preferred
- Graph 10: most preferred gaming devices, by gender, 2025
- Older gamers overwhelmingly prefer mobile gaming
- Graph 11: most preferred gaming devices, by age, 2025
- The average mobile player isn’t as enthusiastic for the hobby
- Graph 12: plan to spend “more” time and/or money gaming in 2026, by most preferred gaming devices, 2025
- Graph 13: playing video games is my primary hobby (% agree), by most preferred gaming devices, 2025
- Purchasing behavior
- The good news about rising prices, everyone seems happy with what they already have
- Switch 2 likely drove the home console category success in 2025
- Graph 14: purchases made in the past 12 months, 2025
- Another year of by-the-book updates could make new disruptors exciting
- Graph 15: new hardware and single copy game purchases made in the past 12 months, by gender, 2025
- 18-54 year olds of both genders will likely remain the top purchasing demographic in 2026
- Graph 16: gaming product/service purchases made in the past 12 months, by age, 2025
- Multiplayer experiences
- In most situations, friends just make things better
- Shareable promotions tap young gamers and men’s interest in multiplayer
- Graph 17: in the past three months I spend most of my time playing…, by gender, 2025
- Fun with friends tends to drops off with age but gaming doesn’t stop
- Graph 18: in the past three months I spend most of my time playing…, by age, 2025
- Most played gaming genres
- Gaming genres help players seek out new games
- No games are exclusively a boys or girls game in 2026 despite some preferences
- Graph 19: most played gaming genres, by gender, 2025
- Older gamers stick to mobile because that’s really all they need
- Graph 20: most played gaming genres, by age, 2025
- Gaming fans today are likely to continue their love into their older years.
- Graph 21: attitudes towards gaming franchises (% agree), by age 2025
- Major gaming franchise engagement
- It’s impossible to overstate how impactful some old games are right now
- Rising costs should push publishers to rethink their back catalog of old hits
- Gender-based advertising in games is a thing of the past
- Graph 22: major gaming franchise engagement, by gender, 2025
- Skyrim Grandma was an exception, older gamers typically avoid action heavy games
- Graph 23: major gaming franchise engagement, by age, 2025
- Younger action focused gamers prefer first person camera perspectives
- Graph 24: “I prefer games with a first-person camera perspective” (% agree), by age, 2025
-
INNOVATION AND MARKETING
- Clair Obscur wins Game of the Year 2025 and sets a new records for nominations and awards won
- The Game Awards has surpassed the Superbowl in viewership and still growing
- Graph 25: viewership stats comparison between The Game Awards and The Superbowl, 2025
- Valve’s new Steam Machine prepares to hit the deck
- AI is already changing the way players view video games
- Alternative input technologies excel when positioned as budget-friendly alternatives to high-end systems
-
APPENDIX
- Market definition
- Consumer research questions
- Consumer research methodology
- US generation groups
- Abbreviations and terms
- US video game consumers
- Gaming device usage and frequency
- Graph 26: gaming device usage and frequency, 2025
- Mintel gamer segments – device and frequency
- Graph 27: Mintel gamer segments – device and frequency, 2025
- Console brand usage
- Graph 28: console brand usage. 2025
- Mintel gamer segments – motivations
- Top reason for playing video games, aside from the entertainment value
- Graph 29: top reason for playing video games, aside from the entertainment value, 2025
- Gamer segments – Achievers and Explorers
- Gamer segments – Socializers and Competitors
- Mintel gamer segments – motivations
- Graph 30: Mintel gamer segments – motivations, 2025
"Despite economic pressures, gaming remains the top entertainment choice for many players, often key recurrent titles they already own."
Brian Benway, Senior Tech and Gaming Analyst
US Gaming Industry – Trends and Insights
- The video game industry enters 2026 at peak cultural power, with a global audience projected at 3.6 billion and sales set to reach $188.8 billion. The Game Awards drew larger US viewership than the Super Bowl in 2025, highlighting gaming’s shift from fringe pastime to mainstream media juggernaut.
- Industry dynamics in 2025 were defined by the release of the Nintendo Switch 2, which drove a 5.5% rebound in console sales and helped halt declines across the hardware category. Simultaneously, the market faces a tightening hardware cycle, as surging AI datacenter demands threatens to inflate component costs and cause supply shortages.
- With inflation biting, player spending is pivoting to free-to-play titles, subscriptions and classic hits, bringing heightened focus to evergreen platforms like Fortnite and Roblox.
- The clearest opportunity for the next two years lies in maximizing retention and recurring spend within enduring franchises and lower-budget indie titles that are driving outsized cultural influence at low production costs.
- The greatest threat emerges from hardware component shortages and elevated prices due to AI industry pressures, risking a slowdown in future hardware refresh cycles. In a maturing sector, industry leaders must now shift strategy from chasing player acquisition to optimizing lifetime value and platform loyalty.
This Report Looks at the Following Areas:
- Analysis of the US gaming market entering a mature phase with a focus on player retention
- Impact of rising component costs and hardware shortages on gaming
- Shift towards free-to-play titles and persistant older games due to inflation
- Role of indie games and low-budget titles in cultural influence
- Player demographic spending and engagement patterns among popular titles
- Influence of AI-driven demand on gaming hardware and market dynamics
- Examination of major mergers and acquisitions shaping the gaming landscape
£ 3,695 excl. Tax
Secure direct checkout
Instant PDF download
Portal access included
Need help deciding?
Get in touch
Trusted by global industry leaders
We use Mintel Reports, mostly for financial services and ecommerce markets, plus a few retail and technology ones.
As a leading payments provider, we value additional insights into consumer behaviour, opinions and trends that are shaping the many different markets we operate in. Mintel is a very good and very quick way for us to obtain those insights.
We use Mintel to get a view on where a particular market is going, which can support us in product development and help us identify opportunities or indeed risks, it is a very useful barometer of a market’s potential.
Andrew Neeson, Market Intelligence Manager, VocaLink
We have such a great working relationship with Mintel on lots of different levels. As an insight partner, they have helped us to develop our business planning in specific categories as well as supporting our creative process but they’ve also been super helpful with facilitating our events in their inspirational offices near St Paul’s.
They’re an innovative company, with a client-focused team that always delivers.
Abby Carvosso, Group Managing Director, Bauer Media Group
Mintel helps us when we want to know something quickly – it provides fast answers to our questions. If we need to get a view of what’s going on in a particular market it’s very useful.
When carrying out background research, I find Mintel an excellent starting point.
The fact that it covers so many markets is a big plus for me– instead of having to buy specialist products in each area we are interested in, especially when we only require a brief view on a particular market, we can go to Mintel for help as a one-stop shop. I find Mintel a useful and valuable resource.
Ben Zeidler, Director - Research and Analytics, Tenth Wave
We utilize Mintel Reports, Trends and Comperemedia to mine for insights across the numerous business verticals that Epsilon serves, such as CPG, automotive, telecom, healthcare/pharma, retail and financial services.
By integrating Mintel insight into new business opportunities, we have been able to gain the competitive edge necessary to advance partnerships with global brands and key business players.
For our organization, it’s about depth and breadth. Having one without the other doesn’t enable success in our business.
Virginia Harvey, Secondary Research Manager, Epsilon
Working in a customer-obsessed organization means that data and insights have to be at our fingertips. Mintel’s reports help us support anecdotes with real quantifiable insights. The summary sections (which I really like) helps save time by giving a birds eye view of the content before spending time combing through the pages.
Our business review discussions are strengthened by the relevancy of the reports to help us better understand our customers. In addition, the customer service received from the team (especially in crunch periods) makes the process of understanding customer behavior even better.
Ngozi Ngonadi-Nkwoji, Senior Marketing Manager, Amazon
