Why Gaming Feels Broken Even at $60B | Mat Piscatella Explains | XEP Interview скачать в хорошем качестве

Why Gaming Feels Broken Even at $60B | Mat Piscatella Explains | XEP Interview

Why does the video game industry feel like it’s struggling—even as consumer spending hits record highs? In this in-depth conversation, Mat Piscatella, Executive Director and video game analyst at Circana, breaks down what’s really happening beneath the surface of the gaming industry. Despite nearly $61 billion in U.S. game spending, player counts have plateaued, hardware prices are rising, and player time is increasingly concentrated in a handful of live-service “black hole” games. Piscatella explains why this churn is creating pressure across development, publishing, and hardware—and why 2026 may be a defining year. Topics include: Why gaming feels unstable despite record revenue Subscription growth, price hikes, and consumer behavior The looming hardware and component crisis (“Ramageddon”) Xbox, PlayStation, PC, and handheld strategy shifts Why Grand Theft Auto VI could be critical to industry momentum The growing divide between affluent and price-sensitive players Discoverability problems and storefront responsibility Why CCU charts don’t tell the full story 👉 Clear takes. No console-war noise. 🔊 iTunes: apple.co/2OL6SSV | Spotify: spoti.fi/33gSiXa 📅 Timestamps are in the chapters below 🎧 Join us live Saturdays on YouTube 💬 Share your thoughts in the comments — we read them all. 00:00 – Welcome & why 2026 feels different 01:15 – The component crisis and why it changes everything 02:50 – Record spending vs. industry anxiety 04:30 – Player time, churn, and “black hole” games 06:05 – Subscription growth and where money is shifting 07:20 – Game Pass pricing and consumer tolerance 08:20 – Hardware shortages and the cloud fallback 10:55 – Why new hardware announcements are stalling 13:20 – Call of Duty’s downturn and Microsoft’s position 15:45 – Two gaming audiences: affluent vs. price-sensitive 17:15 – Console sales cycles and what breaks them 19:40 – Steam Deck, Steam Machines, and handheld uncertainty 22:30 – Why hardware planning is chaos right now 26:10 – Hitting the ceiling on player growth 28:40 – Why GTA 6 matters more than anything else 31:45 – The K-shaped gaming economy 33:40 – Storefronts, discoverability, and live-service bias 38:00 – CCUs, perception, and why context matters 40:00 – Live service risk vs. reward 41:45 – What a successful new game must do in 2026 43:10 – Explaining CCUs for general audiences 44:30 – Why games take so long to make 46:10 – Remasters, risk mitigation, and development reality 49:20 – Xbox hardware, ROG Ally, and Steam Deck 51:05 – Handheld preferences & what Mat’s playing 55:00 – Final thoughts & where to find Mat