A limited annual budget for the general public
Circana took stock of the habits of the American public via a new study, and it emerged that a large majority of gamers did not have the desire or the means to afford too many games during the year.
According to analyst Mat Piscatella (relayed by VGC), 33% of the public buys less than one game per year, compared to 12% who buy just one annually. The percentage increases to 18% among those who obtain one every six months. Which means that overall, 63% of the public buys no more than two games per year in the United States. The most regular, who buy more than once a month, are only counted at 4%.
Hyper enthusiast, price-insensitive players are really keeping things going, especially in the non f2p gaming space.According to Circana’s Q3 2025 Future of Games, only 4% of US video game players buy a new game more often than once per month, with a third of players not buying any games at all.
— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2025-10-02T16:54:18.096Z
Figures which should not be too surprising when we know that a large part of the public is only present on rare occasions, whether for chestnut trees which return every year like the Call of Duty, Madden And EA Sports FCor big events like a Rockstar game, Spider-Man or other. All this can be explained by numerous reasons cited above, and helps to better put into perspective a very divided market, with very different consumption patterns.