The global market for gaming software has been expanding at a steady compound annual growth rate of roughly three percent over the last four years, and analysts expect this momentum to persist for the next four-year horizon. Yet, despite this overall growth, player behavior remains heavily skewed toward familiar experiences. According to Bain & Company’s latest annual Gaming Report—based on responses from more than 5,300 gamers around the world—about two‑thirds of players gravitate toward sequels or titles they already know, while only one in five actively seeks out brand‑new games.
Survey participants voiced a clear frustration with what the firm calls the "unfocused middle" of the market: games that are overly generic, safe, and shallow, and therefore fail to capture attention. To illustrate this phenomenon, Bain & Co contrasted the reception of two recent releases. Baldur’s Gate 3 succeeded by zeroing in on a narrowly defined, highly engaged audience, whereas Concord entered an already saturated hero‑shooter space and struggled to persuade players accustomed to free‑to‑play models to part with a $40 price tag. When the researchers examined public performance data for 100 titles launched since 2023, they discovered a stark disparity.
Focused games—those that deliberately target a specific player segment—achieved commercial success in 83 % of cases. By contrast, titles lacking a clear focus succeeded in only half of the instances (50 %).
This suggests that a well‑defined audience is a far stronger predictor of financial outcomes than sheer production budget or marketing spend. Player preferences across genres are also highly fragmented. When asked which type of experience they favored—story‑driven narratives, open‑world sandbox environments with user‑generated content, or multiplayer competition—no single category attracted more than 26 % of respondents. About one‑fifth (20 %) indicated that their preference shifts depending on mood or that they view the categories as roughly equal, while 17 % either selected "none of the above" or mentioned other, less common game types.
The report identified two major forces reshaping the industry: escalating player expectations and the rapid adoption of generative AI. Younger gamers, in particular, are concentrating more of their playtime on a narrower set of platforms, with Roblox highlighted as a focal point that has become "the centre of gravity for the entire gaming ecosystem" over the past five years.
On the AI front, developers are leveraging generative technologies to accelerate production pipelines. However, Bain & Co warns that AI alone does not mitigate risk unless it is applied to a well‑defined player persona.
As the firm put it, AI "lets you scale the wrong bet faster" if the underlying target audience is vague. The consultants predict that the studios that will thrive in the coming years will not necessarily be those with the deepest pockets or the most sophisticated AI tools, but rather those that commit early to building for a player they can describe in a single sentence.
Player sentiment toward AI in game development has shifted positively over the past twelve months. Forty‑two percent of respondents now feel more comfortable with AI usage in the industry than they did a year ago, another 44 % feel unchanged, and fewer than one in seven respondents report increased discomfort. Acceptance is especially pronounced among younger gamers: 59 % of players aged 13‑17 say they are more comfortable with AI this year, while 33 % say their view has remained the same. "For studios worried that AI adoption carries reputational risk with their player base, this data suggests the window to move is open, particularly with the audiences who will define the market over the next decade," a Bain & Co spokesperson explained.
The firm also highlighted how AI can deepen developers’ understanding of their audiences. Emerging analytical tools can sift through engagement patterns, surface the elements that resonate most with a target segment, and create tighter feedback loops between creators and players.
These insights translate into concrete monetisation opportunities. Personalized offers—ranging from tailored communications and advertisements to bespoke in‑game content—have been shown to boost spending, especially among teenagers. In the survey, 86 % of teenage gamers reported spending money on gaming‑related activities each month, compared with just over half of players in their 50s, 36 % of those in their 60s, and 27 % of players in their 70s.
"Gaming‑related activities" encompass purchases of new titles, downloadable content, subscriptions, and streamer tips, but exclude hardware such as consoles or VR headsets. Direct purchases from developers’ own web stores are also on the rise.
Nearly half of all gamers said they buy directly from a developer at least once a year, and 27 % do so repeatedly. This behaviour is most pronounced among the youngest cohort: 40 % of respondents aged 13‑17 reported making multiple direct purchases in the past year. Anders Christofferson, global lead of Bain & Co’s Video Game sector and partner in its Media & Entertainment practice, summed up the strategic implication: "The question for gaming executives is no longer solely about reaching more players. It's reaching the right players, in the right way, and getting more ownership over that relationship." He added, "The studios pulling ahead are the ones that have made a deliberate choice about who they are building for and are aligning every resource behind that answer; AI, distribution, and personalisation alike."