Although there are billions of gamers in the world, new data released by market research company, Circana, shows how much that number pales compared to the volume of games released each month.
According to the Q3 2025 Future of Video Games survey shared by Mat Piscatella, Circana’s senior director, the majority of gamers in the United States only purchase one or two games a year. The section of the data shared by Piscatella focused on purchasing frequency among video game players in the US.
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The data show that 18% of US gamers buy a new title biannually or once every six months, while 12% purchase only a single game per year. According to the survey, 33% of players purchase a new game less often than once per year. Put together, 63% of players purchase two games or fewer every year.
On the flip side, 22% of gamers purchase a new title once every three months. Around 10% of gamers say they purchase a new title every month. Only 4% purchase more than one title every month.
Piscatella suggested that around 14% of players who purchase one or more games per month are responsible for the growing trajectory of full-price games. “Hyper enthusiast, price-insensitive players are really keeping things going, especially in the non-F2P gaming space,” he wrote.
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
We would like to add that the hyper enthusiastic players are likely those who play the games to create content for their channels. These categories of players will likely not be worried about the rising price of games because they make a living from them.
“Been talking about this trend for years when it comes to games spending,” Piscatella wrote. “Why are there premium gamepads, $149 collector’s editions, Pro consoles, and general rising prices? Because the price-insensitive, affluent players are the ones doing more of the spending as everyone else shifts more to free-to-play.”
For the past two years, over 14,000 games have been uploaded to Steam. Developers planning to go indie due to the mass layoffs in the industry should consider the small number of gamers purchasing games monthly and set their expectations accordingly.
