Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsThe gaming boom did not simply vanish because people stopped playing. Matthew Ball’s 2024 analysis points instead to a post-pandemic reset: much of the apparent U.S. spending growth was concentrated in 2020, inflation eroded later gains, and game-making costs rose. Deloitte’s 2025 outlook adds pressure from expensive development and competition from entrenched franchises. Recovery is possible, but the cited evidence describes potential drivers—not proof that a broad rebound has begun.
What happened to the gaming boom?
The pandemic pulled forward a surge in U.S. video-game spending. Comparing 2023 with 2019 without accounting for when that growth happened can make the market look as if it kept expanding at a steady pace. Ball’s January 2024 analysis says 91% of the nominal increase between those years occurred in 2020.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
His figures cover U.S. consumer spending on game software, hardware, and accessories, excluding Web3 and NFTs. They are not a measure of every global revenue stream in the games business.
Free tools Windows power users keep installed
One-click scans. No signup required.
| Measure | Ball’s reported figure | What it indicates |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. consumer video-game spending in 2023 | $57.2 billion, up 1.1% from 2022 | Nominal spending edged up year over year. |
| 2023 spending compared with 2021 | 4.1% lower in nominal terms | The market had not regained its 2021 spending level. |
| 2023 spending compared with 2019 | 27% higher in nominal terms, with 91% of the increase occurring in 2020 | Most of the four-year gain was concentrated in the first pandemic year. |
| Inflation-adjusted revenue in 2023 compared with 2022 | 2.1% lower | The small nominal increase did not translate into real growth. |
| Inflation-adjusted revenue in 2023 compared with 2021 | 14.3% lower | Real spending was substantially below the pandemic-era peak. |
Ball’s comparison also notes that U.S. consumer prices rose 19% from 2019 over the period he examined. Inflation is why nominal totals can rise while purchasing power-adjusted revenue falls. These figures are estimates cited in his analysis, not a current global industry census. Read Ball’s January 23, 2024 analysis.
#1 Best Overall
Why weak spending growth is only part of the story
A market can remain culturally important and still be difficult for studios to grow profitably. Deloitte’s 2025 outlook describes 2024 as a year of high-profile launches that failed, cancelled live-service games, studio closures, and layoffs, even as the number of gamers and time spent gaming grew. It characterized global revenue as mostly flat and highlighted high development costs as a continuing strain. Deloitte’s 2025 video-game industry outlook is a broader industry view, complementary to Ball’s U.S. spending figures.
Costs matter because a studio’s prospects depend not only on how much consumers spend, but also on what it takes to develop, launch, and support a game. Deloitte describes escalating costs around a narrow tier of premium franchises. When budgets and ongoing support demands are high, a failed launch or cancelled service can carry serious consequences; a growing audience alone does not guarantee that each company can capture profitable growth.
Rank #2
Why is growth elusive when players are still gaming?
Matthew Ball’s official index for his 2026 presentation asks, “Why, then, is growth (and even revenue) so elusive?” and “Why are player counts retreating across much of the developed world?” Those are questions posed in the index description, not independently validated measurements here. The distinction matters: revenue, player counts, time spent, jobs, and studio economics measure different things and can move in different directions. Ball’s official presentation index lists *The State of Video Gaming in 2025* (January 14, 2025) and a newer presentation dated February 16, 2026; the index’s framing should not be mistaken for detailed evidence from those presentations.
Recommended Free Tools
Established games make social play a barrier to switching
Deloitte identifies a challenge that helps explain why new releases may struggle even when people continue to play: successful games have strong fandoms and social networks. A new title may need to persuade a whole group of friends to move together, rather than win over one player at a time. That stickiness benefits incumbent games but raises the hurdle for challengers.
Industry job cuts need a defined denominator
Layoffs are evidence of strain for affected companies and workers, but a headline number needs context. S&P Global Market Intelligence reported that the companies in its analysis cut 1,554 positions in 2024, equal to 2% of their total workforce. That is a finding for the analyzed companies, not a complete count of job losses across the global games industry. S&P Global Market Intelligence’s 2024 layoffs analysis.
What could support a recovery?
Deloitte’s outlook points to several possible sources of renewed growth: new player experiences, new technologies, generative AI applications in development and operations, and independent studios creating differentiated games that can reach audiences. These are opportunities, not guarantees that any one will restore the pandemic-era growth trajectory.
Rank #4
- The Game Console 2.0: A Photographic History from Atari to Xbox
- No Starch Press
- ABIS BOOK
- New experiences: Games that give players a reason to try something beyond familiar franchises could attract attention, though they still have to compete with established communities.
- Technology and AI: Deloitte identifies technology and AI as potential contributors, including applications in development and operations. Their ability to improve production economics or create compelling player experiences is not established as a broad industry outcome.
- Independent studios: Smaller or independent teams may find an audience with differentiated games. Reaching that audience remains a challenge, particularly when players’ time and social ties are concentrated in incumbent titles.
- Immersive hardware: VR adoption has been slow, and AR hardware still faces challenges in Deloitte’s assessment, so neither should be treated as a proven near-term growth engine.
Social play cuts both ways: it can make established games durable, while making it harder for alternatives to build a group of players at once. A recovery would also have to show up in the measure being discussed—real spending, player counts, engagement, or studio economics—not just in the arrival of new technology or a promising release.
How to judge claims that gaming has recovered
Ball’s and Deloitte’s perspectives point to a useful way to assess future recovery claims: identify what is growing, where, over what period, and for whom. A rise in nominal U.S. spending does not by itself establish real global growth; a rise in time spent does not prove that studios are earning sustainable returns.
Best Value
- Measure: Is the claim about nominal revenue, inflation-adjusted spending, player counts, time spent, jobs, or studio economics?
- Geography and period: Does it compare the United States or global markets, and does it distinguish the pandemic spike from subsequent years?
- Growth mechanism: Is growth coming from more players or time, higher spending per player, new platforms and experiences, or improved production economics?
- Who benefits: Are gains reaching incumbent franchises and platforms, or also independent studios and new entrants?
Until those distinctions are clear, “recovery” can mean very different things. The evidence cited here supports a post-pandemic reset and real pressures on industry economics; it does not establish that a broad recovery has already taken hold.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
