325. State of Gaming 2026: What’s Really Winning Now

Sam Aune from Sensor Tower breaks down the State of Gaming 2026 - from Battlefield 6 proving premium is far from dead, to why free-to-play is getting harder to break into, and how social indie games are driving viral success. In this episode, we go deep on mobile’s slowdown, strategy games dominating revenue, and how Chinese publishers are out-executing the West across both midcore and casual.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Welcome and Report Setup

00:43 State of Gaming Goes Beyond Mobile

03:22 Trend One Battlefield Six Dominates

05:05 Premium vs Free to Play Reality Check

07:10 Hybrid Pricing and Live Ops Middle Ground

09:01 Battlefield Six Marketing Playbook

11:53 Indie Breakouts Repo and Peak

12:31 Why Social Games Go Viral

16:12 AAA Response and GTA Six Outlook

18:08 Mobile Market Maturity and Consolidation

20:37 Why Growth Stalls IDFA Saturation

23:34 Strategy Genre Wins Worldwide

26:41 Regional Genre Opportunities and New Hits

28:00 Free Fire US Surge

28:30 China Social Extraction

28:52 Why China Wins

31:47 Century Games Playbook

34:23 How West Competes

38:35 Indie Focus Advantage

43:21 Web Store Incentives

46:38 App Store Search Wars

49:46 SEO Naming Strategy

51:22 Report Wrap Up