Forty-one percent of the players buy a host to play their own game.

The U.S. market research agency, Circana, recently published a consumer survey on the Future of Video Games in the first quarter of 2026. By interviewing 2,500 U.S. active video game players over the age of 13 and weighting them on the basis of the platform ‘ s use and investment representation distribution, Circana considered that 41 per cent of the players bought the mainframe for the exclusive game.

According to the survey, 41 per cent of respondents stated that the exclusive ownership of the game was the reason for their choice of the host platform; 38 per cent considered that being in the same ecosystem as a friend/family was one of the reasons that drove them to choose the platform; 37 per cent said that the host was easier to play with friends and family; 36 per cent said that they preferred to play in an easy environment (e.g., living room); and finally, 24 per cent said that the host offered more physical games, which was one of the reasons why they chose the platform. While host-only games accounted for the highest proportion of surveys in 2026, there was a decrease of 8 percentage points from the first quarter of 2025. At the same time, the proportion of respondents wishing to socialize through games decreased by 4 percentage points.

Mat Piscatella, Senior Director of Circana and Adviser to the Game Industry, stressed on social media BlueSky: “It is clear that these data do not represent the whole problem.” According to Circana’s participation tracking data for the week of April 18, many of the most popular games are non-exclusive, such as NBA 2K26, Fort Night, Roblox, Mission Call and other old giants still occupy PlayStation and Xbox’s head. Despite this, monopolization remains the driving force driving host sales. In a recent article, The Game Business states: “In November 2022, with the release of The Gods of War 5: The Dwindy, PS5 sales surged in Japan and the United Kingdom. According to Familon data, PS5 sales in Japan rose by 116 per cent during the first week of War God 5. In the United Kingdom, of all PS5s sold that month, War God V bundles accounted for 38 per cent. “Switch 2 sales are more affected by monopolistic games.”

While it is clear that, throughout the turbulent period of the game industry, one-time statistics do not present a full picture of players ‘ consumption trends, these data are an accurate indication of ongoing changes in consumer behaviour. At present, monopolization remains important for most players, but what does it mean for the future of the industry if, over time, the weight of monopolization decreases and real-time services continue to dominate?