🤯 How many Americans play video games?
Plus highlights from the Xbox Partner Preview
Most Americans love to play video games. How many? A new report sheds some light on U.S. gaming consumption. Also, Xbox’s Partner Preview showed off some new and cool games. This plus the other top headlines of the week. Let’s go!
We love our video games
According to a new report from consumer insights company Circana, 71% of United States consumers play video games.
Circana received responses from 5,100 participants on their time spent with gaming. Their research says there are currently 236.4 million U.S. gamers. Some interesting statistics from the report:
- Circana found that the average video game player uses at least three different devices, with 92% of gamers playing on their smartphone or tablet.
- 46% of video game players spent zero dollars on video game products during the past six months.
- Adults aged 45 and older account for 37% of total U.S. video game players – mainly driven by women and an increased interest in console gaming.
- Children aged two to 12 had the most significant decline of any age group, down -6%, since 2022.
- U.S. game consumers spend an average of 14.5 hours a week playing video games.
For those who are interested, you can sign up online to receive the full report from Circana. Also, tell your friends who play games about this newsletter. 🙂
The Xbox Partner Preview
Microsoft held a virtual event to promote new and upcoming games from their development partners last week. Here are a few of our favorite trailers from the event.
FBC: Firebreak
From Remedy studio comes a three-player cooperative shooter set in the world of Control. FBC: Firebreak arrives in 2025.
Subnautica 2
Take a dive in an alien ocean in this co-op survival game. Coming in 2025.
Wuchang: Fallen Feathers
A dark soulslike game set in the land of Shu during the dark and tumultuous late Ming Dynasty. Arriving in 2025.
Mouse: P.I. for Hire
A not-quite Mickey Mouse noir game where you play as a mouse private investigator. Solve the case in 2025.
Polygon has a complete list of all the announcements from the Microsoft event. Which are you most excited to play? Let us know in the comments.
Side Quests (more stories worth reading)
📰 Check out our review of Phoenix Springs. Spoiler: it was weird, but good weird.
♟️ A lost board game by Kurt Vonnegut was recently published.
📱 Bungie announced Destiny: Rising, a new mobile RPG shooter.
🖥️ PlayStation’s Spider-Man 2 is coming to PC in January, but will receive “no additional story content.”
📈 Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero sold 3 million copies in 24 hours.
✊🏼 SAG-AFTRA and video game companies are set to resume bargaining again this week for the first time after the union called for a strike.
😥 A former PlayStation executive says "AA is gone and that's a threat to the [gaming] ecosystem going forward."
📊 A number of sales updates: It Takes Two sold over 20 million copies, Resident Evil 4 remake passed 8 million copies, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 sold 4.5 million copies and the Silent Hill 2 remake sold over a million copies.
⚖️ An alleged Switch modder is taking on Nintendo, without a lawyer.
🚀 Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games says they are “confident” their single-player game Squadron 42 will release in 2026.
👎🏻 Bandai Namco is reportedly cutting jobs and canceling several titles, while League of Legends developer Riot games cut 33 positions.
👨💻 According to developer BioWare, “Dragon Age: The Veilguard won’t include any 3rd party DRM (such as Denuvo) on any platform.”
🍸 IO Interactive is working on a James Bond game featuring a younger Bond “that the gamers can call their own.”
🎲 Board game maker Iello announced their 2025 lineup.
✊🏼 Over 700 Ubisoft employees in France walked out on a three-day strike in a dispute with management over pay and working from home.
📺 A $250 HD-upscaler will allow owners to play Nintendo 64 cartridges in 4K next year.
😥 The studio behind Tales of Kenzera: Zau put its entire games team on hiatus due to lack of funding.
💿 According to the developer, physical copies of Black Myth: Wukong for the PlayStation 5 will be available “very soon.”
🤿 Dave the Diver’s creator wants to create a “Dave cinematic universe” of games.
🧟♀️ Grand Theft Auto Online players killed 430 million zombies in just 3 days.
🎃 Don’t be afraid. Instead check out our piece on 13 Spooky games to play for Halloween.
🇬🇧 Headline of the week: Itch’s Domain Name Is Under Threat Because Of *Checks Notes* The…Decline Of The British Empire?
New Releases this week:
Check out our article on 13 New Games to Play in October.
10/24: Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven (PlayStation, Switch, and PC)
10/25: Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (PlayStation, Xbox and PC)
10/25: Sonic X Shadow Generations (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC)
10/25: Ys X: Nordics (PlayStation, Switch and PC)
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