We actually live in a captivating time for the sector, the place so many concepts and tendencies are actively affecting the best way video games are made, the best way we play them, and the general well being of the business.
There’s loads to speak about. So let’s get into it.
Listed below are the large questions that I feel will form gaming this yr.
Will the gaming business proceed to attempt to hike costs?
I hate to place my pseudo-economist hat on, however inflation is again on the agenda in 2026. Which means rates of interest, globally, usually tend to go up quite than down. Put merely: there’s a world during which most customers have much less cash to spend this yr than they did final yr.
The gaming business considerably stalled on climbing costs. Whereas console and gadget costs actually went up, sport costs tried to reflect this then retreated. The rise of indie and AA gaming is placing worth strain on main titles. Living proof: Avowed will launch on the PlayStation 5 subsequent month at a cheaper price point than when it launched on the Xbox last year.
I personally suppose any daring worth rises can be placed on maintain for 2026. However I can’t argue that the gaming business has completed a implausible job of teaching many main commentators and journalists on how inflation works, and why gaming is nice worth in consequence. If that’s a key PR message for the business, its sinking in. I’m listening to the argument in quite a lot of different gaming media I eat, from reporters and commentators, the type I wouldn’t count on to listen to it from.
Will Grand Theft Auto 6 lastly come out?
Yeah, sorry. Can’t assist however point out this.
It’s been delayed twice in a yr. Now it’s slated for 19 November 2026. At this level it’s anybody’s guess as as to if it should see the sunshine of day.
Why does this matter? Nicely, no one needs to compete with it for consideration or participant time when it launches, given Grand Theft Auto 5 is likely one of the best-selling video games of all time.
What is going to the Steam Machine price? And when will it launch?
Up to now, all stories are constructive in terms of the Steam Machine. Closed-door press and influencer demos occurred late final yr, and there’s little in the best way of criticism for the gadget.
It’s slated for launch early this yr, however like most issues in gaming, there’s no launch date or pricing as of but. It’s attention-grabbing to see one of many largest pioneers of PC gaming transfer into the console market. The play right here is to functionally pull extra console-oriented avid gamers into Steam’s PC-oriented ecosystem. There are elementary variations between the pair: PCs are extremely customisable, consoles are likely to run a less complicated plug-and-play expertise. Australian builders are additionally purple scorching on this gadgets launch. As one informed me final yr: “It seems like Valve’s Wii moment… That type of swing is what our business wants proper now.”
I feel it’s very easy to write down off console gaming. The sector’s most vocal proponents (streamers, journalists, and writers) are largely PC avid gamers. Many could ask if there’s even a market right here? Who is that this gadget for? When you have a gaming PC, do you actually need one other field close to your TV for the occasional get together sport?
However it’s price noting, consoles and PC are neck and neck by way of complete income generated for the gaming business.
Will Nintendo hit its record-setting gross sales goal for the Swap 2?
Final November Nintendo revised its Swap 2 gross sales goal from 15 million in its monetary yr, ending March 2026, to 19 million. That’s important, as a result of promoting 15 million models inside 9 months was already probably the most formidable world console gross sales goal we’ve ever seen. For context: the Swap 2 is already the fastest-selling console, transport over 3 million models in its first days of sale, regardless of climbing the entry worth of the console.
As The Game Business reported this month, there could also be trigger to solid doubt on the gaming large attaining its aim, with Swap 2 gross sales truly slowing over the sometimes hectic Christmas interval. That could be on account of an absence of video games on the gadget. As of right this moment, there are solely a handful of Swap 2 unique video games, three which might be devoted, standard Nintendo mental property.
True to its advertising calendar, Nintendo sometimes hosts an enormous Direct broadcast inside the subsequent month or so forward of its monetary outcomes. It will give us a greater concept of what’s approaching the brand new console within the yr forward.
Will PlayStation launch (one other) transportable console?
To not be outdone by each Nintendo and Steam, I’d count on to listen to some information out of Sony this yr a couple of new piece of {hardware}. Whereas the safer take is maybe information on the long-rumoured PlayStation 6. However it’s a wonder if this 2024 report from Bloomberg on a transportable console that may play PS5 video games on the go will eventuate into one thing official?
Will Microsoft announce something? Aside from new video games or shuttering extra studios?
Actually, it’s anybody’s guess as to what Microsoft will do that yr, because it focuses extra on publishing video games and its Recreation Cross providing over its {hardware}. The tech large’s all-in strategy on generative AI additionally has loads of individuals in gaming nervous.
The large query is whether or not Recreation Cross will launch on some other platforms, perhaps on Ps or Nintendo Swap? Presumably on Steam’s gadgets.
Will AI proceed to polarise the gaming business?
Within the quick time period, sure. The truth is, I’d count on hatred inside the gaming communities on-line to accentuate within the coming months. Main publishers will probably cleared the path right here, inserting a guess on some titles that audiences gained’t care about it.
We’ve already seen this with Embark Studios’ Arc Raiders, a very fashionable new extraction shooter. And all it actually does is about the web on hearth. They used generative AI to imitate voice actors, and add in traces from them into the sport. But, regardless of the uproar and panning from main world gaming media shops, Arc Raiders has seen commercial success.. Will this open the best way for the bar to be pushed even additional?
Quietly, I see the arguments moderating in some circles, albeit behind closed doorways. Even in my interviews late final yr, builders spoke to me extra about how they’ll successfully use the know-how in gaming, to reinforce what they’re doing quite than flip it into slop. Is there a path forwards? Does it enable smaller studios to create at a scale and high quality seen with bigger productions?
Or will it simply enable bigger studios to shed price or as one dev put it to me final yr, “lobotomise” present inventive roles?
There’s additionally a stage of concern that by utilizing this know-how, any sport maker can be punished by gamers and business reviewers. Given how polarised the dialogue is, that’s a really warranted concern proper now too.
We’re in that murky in-between interval. It might actually go both manner — and my solely horse on this race is the well being and longevity of the business. That doesn’t make for a superb headline, however maybe is a greater reflection of what’s truly happening.
What even is an ‘indie’ sport?
It was fairly clear-cut.
However because the class grows, and contours begin to blur, the definition is beginning to lose its which means. Does it come all the way down to how many individuals made the sport? Its complete price range? Or is it based mostly on the style of the sport, or a title doing one thing distinctive inside gaming?
Categorising video games has at all times been fraught, particularly when you think about that among the finest video games take a style, after which break the principles defining it.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 winning best indie at The Game Awards final yr considerably blew up this debate. And whereas it’s considerably meta inside the gaming business, count on to listen to extra about it within the yr forward.
Can anybody observe up Hole Knight: Silksong? What’s subsequent for Crew Cherry?
Turning our gaze to the Australian market, I’d like to see one other sport launched this yr that when once more places us on the map for sport improvement.
Whereas Silksong’s launch is the elephant within the room, our area had loads of smaller wins final yr too, with the success of Solid and Chill that includes on the worldwide Steam Retailer and The Drifter’s sturdy launch. Cult of the Lamb’s new expansion, Woolhaven, can also be imminent.
I simply don’t wish to write off the work of Crew Cherry’s achievement with two video games as a once-in-a-lifetime second for the Australian video games business. It’s not.
However it’s a real disgrace that Hole Knight’s world success, akin to that of other cultural exports like Bluey and Crocodile Dundee, hasn’t triggered a renewed focus from policymakers on bolstering — and capitalising on — the native video games business. In some elements of the nation, it’s going the opposite direction.
For Crew Cherry, the Adelaide-based studio, the main focus will now transfer to what the extra downloadable content material for Silksong will appear like. And you may guess that can set off one other wave of worldwide curiosity and hype. However, past this, for the sake of being left alone by world press and content material creators, I actually hope Crew Cherry don’t announce one other sport, and simply work on their subsequent undertaking—if there’s one other one — in stealth!
Will Australia’s social media ban ricochet into gaming?
That is one thing I’m preserving a detailed eye on this yr. Particularly as extra mainstream media in Australia flip their gaze in direction of platforms like Roblox, and different on-line areas the place minors work together.
It’s an attention-grabbing slippery slope. You may talk with different individuals, like social media, by way of on-line video games. However then at what stage do messaging platforms and even textual content messaging itself get woven into the combo?
I’m not going to wade too far into this, as I feel it’s finest left for the consultants to weigh in. However Australia may be very a lot the canary within the coal mine concerning this coverage. Different international locations just like the UK, US and Canada are watching us with intense curiosity.
Are big-budget AAA video games lifeless?
That’s the most well liked of takes from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, a lower-budget, AA sport, profitable sport of the yr. And loads of big-budget video games had been cancelled final yr.
However personally, I feel the gaming business is at its finest when there’s a combination. Massive-budget video games push the business ahead in attention-grabbing methods. As do indies, and lower-budget titles. All have their place.
There isn’t a components for achievement, and given the rising improvement time for video games, any try and predict the market on the again of present tendencies will probably simply be plain flawed.
And lastly, what concerning the elephant within the room? Recreation discovery.
I ran an attention-grabbing experiment on my manner again launching Infinite Lives this yr. I requested all my readers to let me know the sport they had been most wanting ahead to in 2026. I hoped to get sufficient replies to chart it, besides it wouldn’t be very helpful. That’s as a result of other than a couple of mentions of Grand Theft Auto 6, nearly everybody who obtained again to me talked about a unique sport. Not all of them new both. Right here’s a couple of that got here up within the replies:
- Trails of the Sky, 2nd Chapter
- Resident Evil 9
- Mario Tennis Fever
- Moomin
- Menace
- Mars Techniques
- Dinkum
- Phantom Blade Zero
- Bradley The Badger
- Grim Daybreak: Fangs of Asterkarn (Growth)
- Exo Rally Championship
- Alabaster Daybreak
Many of those don’t have launch dates. And others informed me they only wish to make it by way of their ever-growing again catalog of unplayed sport purchases.
This, for me, speaks to one of many largest challenges in gaming proper now: selection. There’s an abundance on it, and standing out is tougher than ever. For avid gamers, that’s implausible. If you need a bizarre area of interest sport that mixes platforming with survival horror, it probably exists. However for any sport to succeed, it wants a crucial mass of purchases. Making a profitable sport genuinely feels like holding a winning lottery ticket.
Furthermore, there’s a brand new theme encompassing all leisure sectors: consideration. The proliferation of streaming, video games, podcasts, music, social media even articles on this platform. All of it soaks up time to eat.
Netflix now sees YouTube — not any of the opposite myriad streaming companies — as its largest competitor. Main sport builders are eyeing the identical two platforms as a key cause for decrease engagement with their titles. There’s solely so many eyeballs on the market for all content material, whatever the medium.
I’d count on to listen to extra about this all year long, as all leisure industries try and grapple the existential menace of prices outpacing the eye, and dealing with new rivals in all verticals.
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