Over 60% of American Gamers only buy one or a maximum of two games per year
Free-to-play, live service, and video game subscriptions have really changed how we consume our hobby.
Our gaming habits have changed significantly in recent years, with many people only playing live service titles for very long periods of time and others preferring subscriptions such as Game Pass, which gives them a wealth of new and old titles to enjoy.
Mat Piscatella, director and lead analyst at market research firm Circana, has shared excerpts from a Future of Video Games survey via Bluesky (thanks VGC) that show how American gamers' behavior has changed. It turns out that 63% of all gamers only buy a maximum of two games a year, many fewer.
The distribution looks like this:
- 18% of players buy a new game every six months
- 12% of players buy one new game per year
- 33% of players buy less than one new game per year
Only 4% of players say they buy more than one game per month, while 10% buy about one game per month and 22% buy one game per quarter. These are extremely important to gaming companies, and Piscatella notes that they are the reason for the cost of new full-price titles:
"Hyper enthusiastic, price-insensitive players are really keeping things going, especially in the non-f2p gaming space."
So it's a clear minority of players who buy a lot of games, and one might suspect that they would rather spend their money on free-to-play, play live service for a very long time, or subscribe to services.
Which category of buyer would you place yourself in?
