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Industry · Week 44, 2026

Gaming

What the field argues about, where people say it is heading, and what those ahead of the curve are doing.

Games and esports
0.7%
People quoted
20

AI-generated Questions, positions and links named by an AI model from the quotes and figures on this page. Every quote is checked word for word against its source; numbers come only from the surveys shown. How subject pages are made

Gaming

Most popular games

What sells most on Steam this week, and what earns and is downloaded most on the App Store, across every country with a chart. Open a game for its photos, news and where it ranks.

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Gaming

Most AI-exploited art styles

Which looks AI image-making leans on most, so you can pick ones that stand out. For each style: how many Bluesky posts naming it are tagged #aiart against #art, and how many AI models on Hugging Face are made to copy it.

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Gaming

Media

Gaming

Opinions

The questions the field argues about, and each side in the words of the people who hold it.

Will growth and innovation come mainly from large companies or smaller studios?

Consolidation by scale

The largest companies will own more of the industry because they have deeper pockets.

And that's why I would say 2/3 will be owned by 2030 by the top companies, because it's, it's really just who has the deepest pockets.

Joost van DreunenGames industry analyst; lecturer, NYU Stern School of BusinessThe Game Business Show, 8 Oct 2026 · from an automatic transcriptReport a problem

Growth from smaller studios

Market share may sit with large companies, while innovation and growth come increasingly from smaller and mid-sized studios.

While market share is controlled by the large companies, innovation and sort of growth is coming from the bottom and the middle increasingly.

Joost van DreunenGames industry analyst; lecturer, NYU Stern School of BusinessThe Game Business Show, 8 Oct 2026 · from an automatic transcriptReport a problem

I think it's going to be a creative renaissance. You're going to have this. Any independent developer can go and build, like, they have a huge team and still have. I think they can still have a lot of room for human creativity.

Chris DixonThe a16z Show, 22 Oct 2026 · from an automatic transcriptReport a problem

How can studios match production scale to the audience they can serve?

Scale to the audience

Make a distinctive game for a sizeable but not necessarily enormous fan base, then size the business to audience demand.

So the puzzle to solve or the game to make is how can you make a remarkable experience for a fan base that's big, but may not be such a mega size to support hundreds of millions of dollars in production?

Karthik BalaThe Game Business Show, 13 Oct 2026 · from an automatic transcriptReport a problem

And I think as long as I have an audience that appreciates what we make, then we scale the business to the size of the audience in that demand.

Philip HoltThe Game Business Show, 6 Oct 2026 · from an automatic transcriptReport a problem

Core team, added capacity

Keep a valuable core team and bring in additional capabilities and capacity as needed.

So we, we concentrate on the core and building that just incredibly value valuable and vital core team and then supplement that with capabilities and capacities that we will bring in.

Matt WebsterThe Game Business Show, 15 Oct 2026 · from an automatic transcriptReport a problem

Will generative AI expand game creation or undermine its value?

AI as a creative tool

Use AI to explore an original idea and make a quick prototype, while keeping human creativity central.

Measured

Game industry professionalsIs generative AI having a positive or negative impact on the game industry?
  1. Negative impact52%
  2. Positive impact7%
GDC (Game Developers Conference), 2026 · Source

I think it's going to be a creative renaissance. You're going to have this. Any independent developer can go and build, like, they have a huge team and still have. I think they can still have a lot of room for human creativity.

Chris DixonThe a16z Show, 22 Oct 2026 · from an automatic transcriptReport a problem

If we look at like, is the game any good? It's like they're an original core idea. And is AI used to explore that and to basically make just a very quick kind of polished prototype to explore that idea?

Romy HalfweegThe Game Business Show, 22 Oct 2026 · from an automatic transcriptReport a problem

Protect creative integrity

Do not put generated creative assets into a game without verifying training-data origins and creators' consent.

Measured

Game industry professionalsIs generative AI having a positive or negative impact on the game industry?
  1. Negative impact52%
  2. Positive impact7%
GDC (Game Developers Conference), 2026 · Source

As monetization and AI evolve and influence this future, we will not chase short-term efficiency or flood our ecosystem with soulless AI slop.

Asha SharmaCEO, Microsoft Gaming (Xbox)Memo to Xbox employees via Game Developer, 20 Feb 2026Report a problem

Gaming

Emotions

What published surveys counted when they asked people in and around the field.

Game industry professionalsIs generative AI having a positive or negative impact on the game industry?
  1. Negative impact52%
  2. Positive impact7%
GDC (Game Developers Conference), 2026 · Source
Game industry professionalsUse generative AI tools as part of their job
  1. All respondents36%
  2. At game studios30%
  3. At publishers, support teams and marketing/PR firms58%
GDC (Game Developers Conference), 2026 · Source

Pulse

Pulse: what readers say

Readers who answered, not a representative sample.

Gaming

Direction

Several forecasts point toward games made by smaller teams finding audiences through faster iteration, broader access and production scaled to demand.

I think 10 years from now I want to imagine that the making and publishing of games are democratized to a point that the best games can find the platform and an audience

Sax PerssonThe Game Business Show, 27 Oct 2026 · from an automatic transcriptReport a problem

I think it's going to be a creative renaissance. You're going to have this. Any independent developer can go and build, like, they have a huge team and still have. I think they can still have a lot of room for human creativity.

Chris DixonThe a16z Show, 22 Oct 2026 · from an automatic transcriptReport a problem

Gaming

Goals and visions

Forecasts and visions, with when they were said and when they can be checked.

  1. Open10 years from nowCheck on 1 Nov 2036

    I think 10 years from now I want to imagine that the making and publishing of games are democratized to a point that the best games can find the platform and an audience

    Sax PerssonThe Game Business Show, 27 Oct 2026 · from an automatic transcriptReport a problem

  2. Open

    I think it's going to be a creative renaissance. You're going to have this. Any independent developer can go and build, like, they have a huge team and still have. I think they can still have a lot of room for human creativity.

    Chris DixonThe a16z Show, 22 Oct 2026 · from an automatic transcriptReport a problem

  3. And so I think actually just modifying our approach entirely, seeing how quickly we do things, quickly we could change things and how the cost of that is low enough that you could take some real risks.

    Karthik BalaThe Game Business Show, 13 Oct 2026 · from an automatic transcriptReport a problem

18 more in the Pro forecast tracker

Gaming

Confusions

Common claims, and what the sources show instead.

Often said

Generative AI use and its perceived impact are the same question.

What the sources show

The surveys measure different things: reported tool use and views of industry impact. The reported use figure does not establish a positive assessment.

Game industry professionalsIs generative AI having a positive or negative impact on the game industry?
  1. Negative impact52%
  2. Positive impact7%
GDC (Game Developers Conference), 2026 · Source
Game industry professionalsUse generative AI tools as part of their job
  1. All respondents36%
  2. At game studios30%
  3. At publishers, support teams and marketing/PR firms58%
GDC (Game Developers Conference), 2026 · Source

Gaming

Ahead of the curve

What practitioners ahead of the curve say they do now.

  1. Build accessibility features into development from an early stage.

    The vast majority of accessibility features should be considered extremely early in development.

    Jenna ‘Jennisary’The Game Business Show, 29 Oct 2026 · from an automatic transcriptReport a problem

  2. Keep a core team and supplement it with outside capabilities and capacity.

    So we, we concentrate on the core and building that just incredibly value valuable and vital core team and then supplement that with capabilities and capacities that we will bring in.

    Matt WebsterThe Game Business Show, 15 Oct 2026 · from an automatic transcriptReport a problem

  3. Listen to communities and learn how players communicate and participate in games.

    The advertisers that I see that are the most successful on our and are driving the best results are the ones that really take the time to slow down and listen to the community.

    Stephanie LathamThe Marketing Millennials, 14 Oct 2026 · from an automatic transcriptReport a problem

Gaming

Topics and industries

Where this field meets other topics, careers and industries.

In the news this week

Themes

Games and esports

Careers

Software developmentDesign & creative

Industries

Gaming

Week 44, 2026 · 20 people quoted

Gaming

Discussion

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