The global market for video‑game software has been expanding at a steady compound‑annual growth rate of roughly three percent over the past four years, and analysts expect that momentum to persist for another four‑year horizon. Yet, despite this healthy financial trajectory, player behaviour is strikingly conservative: about two‑thirds of gamers say they gravitate toward familiar franchises or sequels, and only one in five actively looks for brand‑new experiences. These insights come from Bain & Company’s annual Gaming Report, which gathered responses from more than 5,300 individuals across a wide range of regions and demographics.
The survey asked participants about their satisfaction with the current slate of releases and uncovered a pervasive sense of disappointment with what the firm labels the "unfocused middle" – games that are overly generic, safe, and shallow, and therefore fail to capture attention. To illustrate this phenomenon, Bain & Co compared two recent releases. "Baldur’s Gate 3" succeeded by aiming at a narrowly defined audience of role‑playing enthusiasts, delivering deep narrative and complex mechanics that resonated with that group.
In contrast, "Concord" entered a crowded hero‑shooter arena and struggled to persuade players who were already invested in free‑to‑play ecosystems to spend the full $40 price tag. The comparison underscores a broader pattern: titles that zero in on a specific player archetype tend to perform better than those that try to appeal to everyone. When the firm examined public data on the first 100 games launched since 2023, it found that 83 % of titles with a clear focus on a particular player segment reached commercial success, while only half of the unfocused releases did the same.
This stark disparity suggests that market differentiation, rather than sheer budget size, is the key driver of profitability. Player preferences themselves are highly fragmented. When respondents were asked which type of experience they favored – story‑driven adventures, open‑world sandbox or user‑generated content, or competitive multiplayer – no single category attracted more than 26 % of the vote.
About 20 % said their choice depends on mood or that they treat the categories as roughly equal, and another 17 % indicated they prefer other or niche genres. The data paints a picture of a diverse audience whose tastes cannot be summed up by a single dominant genre. The report also highlights two major forces reshaping the industry: escalating player demand for richer experiences and the rapid adoption of generative artificial intelligence. Younger gamers, in particular, are concentrating their playtime on a limited set of platforms such as Roblox, which Bain & Co describes as having become "the centre of gravity for the entire gaming ecosystem" over the past five years.
This concentration amplifies the importance of understanding the specific motivations of that core audience. On the AI front, developers are increasingly leveraging generative tools to accelerate content creation, level design, and even narrative scripting. However, the firm warns that without a well‑defined target player, AI can simply scale a misguided concept faster, increasing risk rather than mitigating it.
As one Bain analyst put it, "the developers that come out ahead over the next several years won’t be the ones with the biggest budgets or the most sophisticated AI capabilities. They’ll be the ones that commit – earlier than their competitors – to building for a player they can describe in a single sentence." Player sentiment toward AI in game development has softened over the past twelve months. Forty‑two percent of respondents now feel more comfortable with AI’s role in the industry than they did a year ago, another 44 % say their view is unchanged, and fewer than one in seven express increased discomfort.
Acceptance is especially high among teenagers: 59 % of players aged 13‑17 report greater comfort with AI, while 33 % say their opinion remains the same. Bain & Co interprets these findings as a signal that studios hesitant about AI’s reputational risk have a window of opportunity, particularly with the younger cohorts that will dominate the market in the next decade.
AI can also serve as a powerful analytics engine, helping developers decode engagement patterns, surface the elements that resonate most with a target audience, and create tighter feedback loops between creators and players. Personalisation is another emerging lever.
By using AI‑driven tools to tailor communications, advertisements, and in‑game content to individual players, studios can boost spending, especially among teens. The report notes that 86 % of teenagers report making at least one gaming‑related purchase each month, compared with just over half of players in their 50s, 36 % of those in their 60s, and 27 % of those in their 70s.
These purchases encompass new games, downloadable content, subscription services, and streamer tips, but exclude hardware such as consoles or VR headsets. Direct‑to‑consumer sales are also gaining traction. Nearly half of all gamers say they buy directly from a developer’s web store at least once a year, and 27 % do so repeatedly.
The trend is strongest among the youngest cohort: 40 % of 13‑ to 17‑year‑olds reported multiple direct purchases in the previous year. Anders Christofferson, global lead of Bain’s Video Game sector and partner in its Media & Entertainment practice, sums up the strategic implication: "The question for gaming executives is no longer solely about reaching more players.
It’s about reaching the right players, in the right way, and gaining greater ownership over that relationship. 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." In summary, the Bain & Company Gaming Report paints a clear picture: the industry’s growth is solid, but success hinges on focus. Developers who identify a specific player segment, harness AI to deepen insight rather than merely speed production, and deliver highly personalised experiences are poised to thrive. Meanwhile, the broader player base remains fragmented, with no single genre dominating preferences, and younger gamers are both the most concentrated in their platform usage and the most receptive to AI‑enhanced experiences.
These dynamics suggest that the future of gaming will be defined not by the breadth of a title’s appeal, but by the depth of its connection with a clearly defined audience.