A new survey has provided some interesting statistics regarding the buying habits of video game players in the United States. This particular survey has been conducted by Circana, a company formed in 2023 by the merging of two others whose combined history spans over half a century in market research (NPD, formed in 1979, and IRI, formed in 1966). Circana’s Senior Director, Mat Piscatella, formerly worked at Activision and Warner Bros. Games, and states on his social media page that “I helped get one of your favorite games greenlit.”
While it has, at times, been reported that the video game industry rivals Hollywood in terms of sales revenues, it too has proven to be a highly volatile sector when it comes to bombs and hits. Statistics from Circana’s upcoming Q3 2025 Future of Video Games survey paint a somewhat bleak picture when it comes to the buying frequency in the U.S. By combining the latter three columns in the report it can be determined that roughly 63% of those surveyed only buy one or two games per year and just under a quarter will buy a game every three months or so.
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
It will be interesting to see how these numbers change by Q3 ’26, when we’ve reached the first anniversary of the latest industry-wide price hikes, which only recently began to go into effect. Base prices for video games have increased from $59.99 to $69.99 and now $79.99 in recent months, leading many to question how many games they can afford to purchase in a year. Throw in newly increased prices for Xbox and PlayStation consoles, and gaming costs continue to hit new highs that might affect the buying behaviors of gamers. All that being said, Mr. Piscatella’s sense of humor pushes forward (spend a minute or two on his Bluesky page and you’ll quickly notice it), despite the current industry trends as seen by the following clip from the 2000th episode of Games Daily.
“I just want to start every market presentation I do with this clip. Would save me so much time when talking about the state of the industry over the past few years.”
Mat Piscatella, Senior Director & Video Game Industry Thought Leader at Circana
Discussion (9 replies)
Join Discussion →I mean on reflection... this isn't wrong.
But I also install open source/free games (no sailing involved.)
Get a shit ton of free games during the year...
Have a TITANIC backlog of games.
And every blue moon buy a game set from humble bundle (tho less so lately because it's turned more into a market place.)
Aside from free game give aways (grab maybe a half dozen a year but usually end up playing none to one), I'll buy 1-3 for the whole year at some kind of discount, event if it isn't a huge one. So far for 2025 I've actually bought four and all on sale, SW Outlaws, Indiana Jones, and last weekend I grabbed Horizon Remastered and Spider-Man 2 from Steam. There's a small chance I might grab Oblivion Remastered if it goes 40% off before the year is out but that's a big if. At this point there's nothing I'm willing to pay full price for, that's for sure.
I'd love nothing less than buying a dozen games a year, but there are simply not enough games that seem even remotely worth my time. Even the ones I did end up buying recently just weren't good enough to finish. The last game I actually finished was almost 2 years ago now. Nothing from 2024, and nothing from 2025 so far.
I initially loved Expedition 33, but the gameplay was a bit too repetitive to invite me back.
That was on my list for a time, but the more I watched different videos, the more I got that vibe from. The same for several other games that came out this year as well.
Edit: Just saw this - https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/clair-obscur-expedition-33-is-getting-a-big-update-with-a-new-environment-bosses-and-more/
Well I have not bought a lot of games the last couple of years, I find the current games pretty lackluster, this year I bought Doom the dark ages, Mortal Kombat 1 and BL4 ir memory serves, last year the wow and DIV expac, nothing else comes to mind directly.
I do get some console games gifted to me for birthdays and x-mas
Most of the games I play are either gifts, or a friend's/family member's copy. I would buy more games if the prices were a lot more appropriate. I tend to not buy games until they experience some pretty hefty discounts. But as someone who has been gaming since the Atari 2600 days, there are just waaay less games that interest me these days. Which is fine cuz there are still many games that came out in the last 40+ years that I haven't gotten around to yet. There's always sh1t to play.
^^^ this
I might buy 1-2 AAA titles at launch every year. Otherwise I wait until they are heavily discounted or free on Epic.
This is about how often I buy games. Granted, there are years where I probably buy less and a few where I buy more. But on average, I think that's about right for me. I don't play that many games because I don't like most of them. The games I like, I play the fucking shit out of. I think I bought Stellar Blade and Doom Eternal this year. That's it.
That said, I do play Star Trek Online and The First Descendant. So I have spent some money on those here and there. But generally, those are free to play games.