An official market research firm survey finds that most video game players buy two or fewer new games per year, which may be surprising news for many avid gamers. While gaming retains its massive appeal as a form of entertainment media, the market landscape of the video games industry has been shifting greatly over the past few years, and if the survey results are accurate, they could indicate more big changes on the way.
It's not a bold claim to say that gaming is getting to be a more expensive hobby than it used to be. Games like Mario Kart World on Nintendo Switch 2 have shocked fans with their price points, and subscription services have gotten more expensive.
Young Americans Are Spending Considerably Less on Video Games
A new report states that young Americans ages 18 to 24 are spending less money on video games and lists the reasons behind this move.
Most Gamers Buy 2 or Fewer Games a Year, Survey Finds
The survey, conducted by Chicago-based market research firm Circana for the third quarter of 2025 and shared by the firm's industry thought leader Mat Piscatella on Bluesky, found that about 18 percent of gamers buy a new game about once every six months, with an additional 12 percent saying they only purchase one new game per year. Adding that figure to the 33 percent of respondents who indicate they make their gaming purchases even more infrequently than in that amount of time shows that only 47 percent of gamers are likely to buy three or more new games each year. On the extreme opposite end of the spectrum, only four percent of gamers in the survey said they usually buy more than one new game per month.
Hyper enthusiast, price-insensitive players are really keeping things going, especially in the non f2p gaming space. According to Circana's Q3 2025 Future of Games, only 4% of US video game players buy a new game more often than once per month, with a third of players not buying any games at all. — Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2025-10-02T16:54:18.096Z
Piscatella stood by the results of the survey, noting that if the figures seem off to the people reading them, it's probably a personal bias of "hyper enthusiast" gamers, who are much more likely than casual gamers to follow video game industry trends on social media. He did not directly list a reason behind the infrequent purchasing habits of the majority of respondents in the survey, but his post does note that the figures don't take free-to-play games into account, as there is no mandatory purchase price associated with them. The survey question also does not seem to address games played on for-pay subscription services like PlayStation Plus or Xbox Game Pass.
The survey results come at a rough time in the video game industry, as the rising cost of games, consoles, and gaming subscription services could point to even fewer new game purchases in the future. At the start of October, Microsoft announced a $10 price hike for Xbox Game Pass' Ultimate tier, just about two weeks after the news broke that Xbox Series X/S console prices would be going up. The issues certainly aren't specific to one company, though, and another Circana report from over the summer found that young American gamers spent about 25 percent less on games in April 2025 than they did in the same month in 2024.