GamerXZenith
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You know the economy is bad when video game sales are down.
It’s recently come out that Gen Z (up to 90% of which are said to be gamers) have decided to cut back on video game spending.
Their spending has dropped all across the board, but it’s especially bad when it comes to gaming.
And the warning signs have been there for a while, as it was only a few months ago when Microsoft had to reduce The Outer Worlds 2’s price from $80 to $69.99 following heated backlash on social media and low pre-orders.
Forget the cost-of-living crisis, it’s a cost-of-gaming crisis, and it seems as though Gen Z has reached breaking point.
Other age groups are also spending less on games, too, but by far the biggest decline is seen by Gen Z, who should technically be the biggest spenders of them all (gaming has always been most popular with young generations, especially those in college).
All of this comes following the unbelievable increase in video game prices over the past few years, with most triple-A games today releasing anywhere from $70 to $90.
If you’re someone who likes to buy multiple games throughout the year, your annual spend could go as high as $500, not taking into account things like DLC, add-ons, and more. For the average person, it’s fast becoming unaffordable and the current trends prove it.
We’ve also seen the Xbox Game Pass start to experience a slow in subscribers, while PlayStation Plus also lost countless subscribers earlier this year when it announced a new price hike.
And with a huge range of triple-A games like Star Wars Outlaws and Redfall flopping in terms of both sales and overall reception, it really does seem as though the game industry is reaching a turning point (one where, hopefully, at least some power will return to young consumers).
We now see games launching today at around $70, even going as high as $90 to $100 for ‘Special Editions’ that come with more features.
In the current economy, it seems as though the average gamer just isn’t willing to go along with that, especially as it means spending potentially upwards of $400 a year just on games if they want to keep up with the latest releases.
Throw on top of this the fact that so many post-COVID games continue to hit the market with bugs, incomplete features, matchmaking problems, and more, it paints the picture as to why the drop off in sales has finally arrived.
Let’s also not forget that Gen Z is the first generation ever to be raised almost exclusively on live service games and microtransactions. For them, paying $70 for a game is something they’ve never really had to do before, and now that many of them are in college or hitting their mid-20s, they’re not going to change their habits now.
It was recently revealed that 85% of all gaming revenue comes from F2P games.
Shocking? Not really.
The traditional video game sales model from the 2000s and 2010s is fading into irrelevancy now that F2P live service games have, in effect, locked down the industry.
Popular titles like Fortnite, Apex Legends, and Dota 2 have changed gaming forever, creating a new space where people would much rather download games for free and then use the money they saved on microtransactions.
And at the same time, there’s also been a huge rise in the number of gamers using sweepstakes gaming sites, like the casinos on sweepslounge.com. These are ‘free-play’ platforms where you don’t have to pay to access any of the games, so it’s unsurprising that Gen Z — and even some of the older generations — are hooked on those rather than traditional video games at the moment.
With Gen Z deciding to cut back on game purchases, developers and publishers will now have to think even harder about how they’re going to keep gamers engaged over the coming years.
Whether this will come in the form of more reasonable prices is unlikely, with some estimating that video games will be even more expensive by the time 2030 gets here (and with many industry analysts predicting that GTA 6 will release at $100, it could become the new standard for triple-A games).
The Nintendo Switch 2 also recently broke sales records despite significant price increases for its games, proving that it’s more than possible for at least some gaming companies to keep pumping up prices without hurting demand.
Only time will tell for sure what will happen next, but when Gen Zers are holding on tight to their wallets, it’s a clear warning sign.
It’s recently come out that Gen Z (up to 90% of which are said to be gamers) have decided to cut back on video game spending.
Their spending has dropped all across the board, but it’s especially bad when it comes to gaming.
And the warning signs have been there for a while, as it was only a few months ago when Microsoft had to reduce The Outer Worlds 2’s price from $80 to $69.99 following heated backlash on social media and low pre-orders.
Forget the cost-of-living crisis, it’s a cost-of-gaming crisis, and it seems as though Gen Z has reached breaking point.
Gen Z Video Game Spending Down 25% Since 2024
A study by Circa back in June discovered that video game spending among 18-to-24-year-olds dropped almost 25% between 2024 and 2025, marking the biggest decrease of the decade so far.Other age groups are also spending less on games, too, but by far the biggest decline is seen by Gen Z, who should technically be the biggest spenders of them all (gaming has always been most popular with young generations, especially those in college).
All of this comes following the unbelievable increase in video game prices over the past few years, with most triple-A games today releasing anywhere from $70 to $90.
If you’re someone who likes to buy multiple games throughout the year, your annual spend could go as high as $500, not taking into account things like DLC, add-ons, and more. For the average person, it’s fast becoming unaffordable and the current trends prove it.
We’ve also seen the Xbox Game Pass start to experience a slow in subscribers, while PlayStation Plus also lost countless subscribers earlier this year when it announced a new price hike.
And with a huge range of triple-A games like Star Wars Outlaws and Redfall flopping in terms of both sales and overall reception, it really does seem as though the game industry is reaching a turning point (one where, hopefully, at least some power will return to young consumers).
For Now, Video Games Are Just Too Expensive
There are a million and one reasons why Gen Z has started to cut back on video game purchases, but one of the biggest is because they have gotten too expensive.We now see games launching today at around $70, even going as high as $90 to $100 for ‘Special Editions’ that come with more features.
In the current economy, it seems as though the average gamer just isn’t willing to go along with that, especially as it means spending potentially upwards of $400 a year just on games if they want to keep up with the latest releases.
Throw on top of this the fact that so many post-COVID games continue to hit the market with bugs, incomplete features, matchmaking problems, and more, it paints the picture as to why the drop off in sales has finally arrived.
Let’s also not forget that Gen Z is the first generation ever to be raised almost exclusively on live service games and microtransactions. For them, paying $70 for a game is something they’ve never really had to do before, and now that many of them are in college or hitting their mid-20s, they’re not going to change their habits now.
The Free-to-Play Games Market is Keeping the Industry Alive
This is why free-to-play games are keeping the industry alive.It was recently revealed that 85% of all gaming revenue comes from F2P games.
Shocking? Not really.
The traditional video game sales model from the 2000s and 2010s is fading into irrelevancy now that F2P live service games have, in effect, locked down the industry.
Popular titles like Fortnite, Apex Legends, and Dota 2 have changed gaming forever, creating a new space where people would much rather download games for free and then use the money they saved on microtransactions.
And at the same time, there’s also been a huge rise in the number of gamers using sweepstakes gaming sites, like the casinos on sweepslounge.com. These are ‘free-play’ platforms where you don’t have to pay to access any of the games, so it’s unsurprising that Gen Z — and even some of the older generations — are hooked on those rather than traditional video games at the moment.
Where Does It End?
Trends from the past half-decade tell us that gaming as we know it is changing a lot.With Gen Z deciding to cut back on game purchases, developers and publishers will now have to think even harder about how they’re going to keep gamers engaged over the coming years.
Whether this will come in the form of more reasonable prices is unlikely, with some estimating that video games will be even more expensive by the time 2030 gets here (and with many industry analysts predicting that GTA 6 will release at $100, it could become the new standard for triple-A games).
The Nintendo Switch 2 also recently broke sales records despite significant price increases for its games, proving that it’s more than possible for at least some gaming companies to keep pumping up prices without hurting demand.
Only time will tell for sure what will happen next, but when Gen Zers are holding on tight to their wallets, it’s a clear warning sign.
