IGN Unveils Gaming Trends Platform, Illuminating the Impact of Mobile, Roblox, and Nostalgia on the Industry

IGN Entertainment has introduced Gaming Trends, a data-driven insights platform that leverages the company's vast global reach to forecast the future of gaming and entertainment. With 500 million monthly visitors across 110 countries, IGN's extensive reach provides a comprehensive snapshot of current trends. The initial study reveals several key findings, summarized below. Registration for Gaming Trends is free, and a video presentation, hosted by IGN's SVP of publishing, John Davison, offers additional data points that informed the study. Notably, 93% of Gen Alpha prefer playing on mobile, while 32% of Millennials also favor mobile as their preferred device. The study suggests that Fortnite has significantly contributed to the Nintendo Switch's recent success, with an estimated 81 million players on the Switch, surpassing the sales of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Meanwhile, the Unreal Editor for Fortnite has enabled creators to develop nearly 200,000 games, although this figure is eclipsed by Roblox, which boasts around 40 million user-made experiences. Daily concurrent user numbers on Roblox have grown from 3.8 million in June 2022 to over 25 million in June 2025, while Fortnite has seen growth from 1.2 million to 1.77 million concurrent users. The success of the Minecraft Movie, which grossed $950 million at the box office and drove player interest in the game, demonstrates the potential of film adaptations to boost game popularity. Similarly, the Five Nights at Freddy's movie became Blumhouse's highest-grossing film in 2023, with a sequel slated for release in December. A key difference between earlier attempts at game-based movies and TV shows and current efforts is that the people in charge are often dedicated fans of the games or original creators. The popularity of games merchandise has also become a significant business, with Oracle data showing that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was trending well with players, leading to the development of exclusive merchandise that sold 16% more than IGN's popular Fallout TV show merchandise. The study also reveals that younger generations tend to be loyal to specific experiences rather than platforms or genres, with game communities behaving like sports fans and celebrating content drops in games like League of Legends. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a rebound in interest in eSports, led by one-on-one fighting games. Every two years, IGN conducts a study on audience attitudes towards older games, and the findings indicate that people are increasingly looking back, with 71% expressing nostalgia for franchises from their childhood. While there is still room for new IP to breakthrough, subscription services are becoming increasingly popular, and old games on these services will always be new to someone. Nostalgia-based content has been huge on Humble, driving big increases in subscriptions. The 2025 summer showcases saw the announcement of 770 games, and the shift of GTA 6's release date to 2026 has led to a flood of games in the September to November release window. Some of the new titles that drove the biggest traffic on IGN include Resident Evil: Requiem, Metal Gear Solid Delta, and Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls. IGN Entertainment promises that there is more to come from Gaming Trends, with the next report reviewing the predictions above to see if they were accurate.