The global market for video‑game software has been expanding at a modest but steady pace, growing at a compound annual rate of roughly three percent over the past four years. Analysts expect this trajectory to continue for the next four years, keeping the industry on a gentle upward slope. Yet, despite this healthy growth, player behavior reveals a striking reluctance to explore new experiences.
According to Bain & Company’s most recent annual Gaming Report—based on a survey of more than 5,300 gamers from around the world—two‑thirds of respondents say they gravitate toward familiar franchises or sequels, while only one in five actively seeks out brand‑new titles. The report highlights a widespread dissatisfaction with what Bain calls the "unfocused middle" of the market. These are games that aim to appeal to everyone but end up being overly generic, safe, and shallow, failing to capture the imagination of players. To illustrate this point, Bain compared the market reception of two very different releases.
"Baldur’s Gate 3" succeeded by targeting a highly specific audience that craved deep role‑playing mechanics and narrative depth. In contrast, "Concord" entered a crowded hero‑shooter segment and struggled to persuade players, many of whom were already invested in free‑to‑play ecosystems, to part with a $40 price tag.
When Bain examined public data on a sample of 100 titles launched since 2023, the findings were stark: 83 % of games that were sharply focused on a particular player archetype achieved commercial success, whereas only half of the unfocused, broadly marketed titles met their revenue targets. This suggests that precision in audience definition is a more reliable predictor of financial performance than sheer budget size or marketing spend. Player preferences for game genres are also highly fragmented.
When asked to choose between story‑driven experiences, open‑world sandbox or user‑generated content, and competitive multiplayer, no single category attracted more than 26 % of respondents. About 20 % said their choice varies with mood or that they treat the categories as roughly equal, while 17 % indicated they prefer other types of games or could not name a favorite at all. This dispersion underscores the difficulty of catering to a monolithic audience. The Bain report also identified two major forces reshaping the industry: rising player expectations and the rapid adoption of generative artificial intelligence.
Younger gamers, in particular, are concentrating their playtime on a narrower set of platforms, with Roblox cited as a prime example. Bain describes Roblox as having become "the centre of gravity for the entire gaming ecosystem" over the past five years, drawing massive daily engagement from a demographic that values social interaction and user‑generated content.
On the AI front, developers are increasingly leveraging generative tools to accelerate production pipelines, create assets, and even generate dialogue. However, Bain warns that AI alone does not mitigate risk if the underlying game concept lacks a clear target audience. As the firm puts it, AI "lets you scale the wrong bet faster." The real competitive advantage, according to Bain, will belong to studios that commit early—before their rivals—to building for a player profile that can be summed up in a single sentence.
Player sentiment toward AI in game development has warmed over the past year. In the survey, 42 % of respondents said they feel more comfortable with the industry’s use of AI than they did twelve months ago, another 44 % felt their comfort level remained unchanged, and fewer than one in seven expressed increased discomfort. Acceptance is especially high among teenagers: 59 % of players aged 13‑17 reported greater comfort with AI this year, while 33 % said their opinion stayed 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 spokesperson explained.
The firm also notes that AI can provide deeper insights into player behaviour. Emerging analytics tools can sift through engagement data, surface the elements that resonate most with a target segment, and create tighter feedback loops between developers and their communities. These insights translate into more personalized marketing and monetisation strategies.
Tailored communications, targeted advertisements, and bespoke in‑game content can be delivered to individual players, a practice that Bain found to boost spending, especially among younger demographics. In the survey, 86 % of teenagers 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 gamers in their 70s.
"Gaming‑related activities" encompass purchases of new titles, downloadable content, subscription services, and tips for streamers, but exclude hardware such as consoles or VR headsets. Direct purchases from developers’ own web stores also emerged as a notable trend. Nearly half of respondents said they buy directly from a developer at least once a year, and 27 % do so repeatedly.
The propensity to buy directly is strongest among the youngest cohort: 40 % of 13‑ to 17‑year‑olds reported multiple direct purchases over the past twelve months. Anders Christofferson, global lead of Bain’s Video Game sector and partner in its Media & Entertainment practice, summed up the strategic shift: "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 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." In conclusion, the Bain & Company report paints a picture of an industry where growth is steady but player loyalty is increasingly anchored to familiar experiences and well‑defined niches.
Success appears to hinge less on massive budgets and more on the clarity of the player vision, the strategic use of AI to deepen that vision, and the ability to deliver personalized value directly to the most engaged segments of the audience.