The worldwide 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 that momentum to persist for the next four-year horizon. Despite this healthy macro‑level growth, player behaviour remains heavily skewed toward the familiar. In fact, the latest Bain & Company Gaming Report, which gathered responses from more than 5,300 gamers across the globe, reveals that two‑thirds of players gravitate toward sequels or titles that feel known to them, while only about 20 percent actively seek out brand‑new games.
Survey participants expressed a clear frustration with what the firm calls the "unfocused middle" of the market – games that are overly generic, safe, and lack depth, making them indistinguishable from the surrounding crowd. To illustrate the point, Bain & Co contrasted the market reception of two recent releases.
Baldur’s Gate 3 succeeded by honing in on a narrowly defined audience that craved deep, narrative‑driven role‑playing experiences. By contrast, the hero‑shooter Concord entered an already saturated segment dominated by free‑to‑play titles and struggled to convince players to part with a full‑price $40 purchase. The comparison underscores a broader pattern: titles that target a specific player archetype tend to outperform those that cast a wide, unfocused net. In a data‑driven analysis of 100 games launched since 2023, Bain & Co discovered that 83 percent of the titles that were deliberately focused on a particular player segment achieved commercial success, compared with just 50 percent of the unfocused releases.
This stark gap suggests that precision in audience definition is a more reliable predictor of financial performance than sheer marketing spend or production scale. Player preferences for game genres are also highly fragmented. When respondents were asked to choose their preferred experience – story‑driven adventures, open‑world sandbox or user‑generated content, or competitive multiplayer – no single category captured more than 26 percent of the vote. About one‑fifth of gamers reported that their choice varies with mood or that they consider the three categories roughly equal, while another 17 percent indicated they either do not fit into those buckets or prefer other types of games altogether.
The data paints a picture of a diversified audience whose tastes cannot be reduced to 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 in game development. Younger gamers, in particular, are concentrating their playtime on a narrower set of platforms, with Roblox cited as a prime example. Bain & Co describes Roblox as having become "the centre of gravity for the entire gaming ecosystem over the past five years," reflecting its outsized influence on how players discover, share, and spend within games.
On the AI front, developers are leveraging generative tools to accelerate content creation, level design, and even narrative scripting. However, the firm warns that AI alone does not mitigate risk unless it is applied to a clearly defined player target. As one Bain analyst put it, "it lets you scale the wrong bet faster." The companies that are likely to thrive in the coming years will not necessarily be those with the deepest pockets or the most sophisticated AI pipelines, but those that can articulate their ideal player in a single, concise sentence and then align every aspect of development – from AI‑driven asset generation to marketing and distribution – to that vision.
Player sentiment toward AI in game production has softened over the past twelve months. Forty‑two percent of surveyed gamers now feel more comfortable with AI usage than they did a year ago, another 44 percent say their comfort level is unchanged, and fewer than one in seven respondents report increased discomfort.
The trend is especially pronounced among younger cohorts: 59 percent of players aged 13‑17 say they are more at ease with AI this year, while 33 percent see no change in their attitude. Bain & Co interprets these findings as a green light for studios hesitant about the reputational risks of AI adoption.
"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," the firm noted. Moreover, AI can serve as a powerful analytics engine, helping developers decode player engagement patterns, surface the features that resonate most, and create tighter feedback loops between creators and their communities. Personalisation is another lever that can boost revenue, especially among teenage gamers. Tailored communications, targeted advertisements, and bespoke in‑game content have been shown to increase spending.
In the Bain survey, 86 percent of teenagers reported making at least one gaming‑related purchase each month, compared with just over half of players in their 50s, 36 percent of those in their 60s, and 27 percent of those in their 70s. These purchases encompass new games, downloadable content, subscription services, and tips for streamers, but exclude hardware such as consoles or VR headsets. Direct‑to‑consumer sales are also gaining traction. Nearly half of all gamers said they buy directly from a developer’s web store at least once a year, and 27 percent do so repeatedly.
The propensity to purchase directly is strongest among the youngest cohort: 40 percent of respondents aged 13‑17 reported multiple direct purchases in the past year. Anders Christofferson, global lead for Bain’s Video Game practice and partner in its Media & Entertainment division, 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 that studios that are pulling ahead are those that have made a deliberate choice about who they are building for and have aligned every resource – AI tools, distribution channels, and personalisation strategies – behind that answer.
In summary, the Bain & Company Gaming Report underscores that in a market where overall revenue is growing modestly, success hinges less on broad appeal and more on precise audience targeting, thoughtful use of AI, and deep personalisation. Developers that can define their ideal player succinctly, harness generative AI to serve that player efficiently, and cultivate direct, tailored relationships are poised to capture the lion’s share of future growth.