A study by market research firm Circana has revealed that younger people have cut back their spending on video games compared to those who are older.
2025 has so far been riddled with a plethora of exciting and well-loved games. Titles like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Elden Ring Nightrein, and even the release of Nintendo Switch 2 have kept many of us busy the past few months.
And while there’s still plenty to be excited about with future releases, according to the data from American research group Circana, young people are cutting back their overall expenses on a number of different goods.
One of the findings highlighted that Gen-Z, particularly those within the age range of 18-24 years old, were spending less on average per week on video games.
Gen-Z is spending less money on video games, according to new study
As conveyed in a report by the Wall Street Journal, Gen Z’s spending on video games has dropped nearly 25% per week compared to the same data from 2024. Meanwhile, both online and retail purchases went down by 13% between January and April compared to last year.
Matt Piscatella, executive director and video game industry analyst at Circana, posted a graph on social media to provide more insight, showing how this data compares to other age groups in terms of changes in spending.
As seen from the graph, the older generations’ spending on video games went down by less than 5%.
On the other hand, those in the 18-24 age group experienced a steep drop, resulting in a noticeable gap between the two.
As cited by the Wall Street Journal, the decline is attributed to a combination of “economic challenges,” with younger generations having a much “tougher time” finding jobs, student loan payments restarting for millions of borrowers, and credit-card delinquency rates “rising to their highest points before the pandemic.”
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