Do consumers expect to spend more money on video games?

With cost-of-living and inflationary pressures weighing heavy on consumers’ minds and their spending habits, looking at products and services the public expect to shell out more money on in the coming months serves for interesting insights. In this piece, we look at video games.

A recent YouGov survey asked consumers across 17 international markets about which categories of products consumers expect to spend more on in the coming months.

Polling data shows that consumers are most likely (46%) to increase their spending on groceries. Utilities (31%) and clothing/shoes/accessories (24%) complete the top three categories of products consumers will spend more on.

Conversely, consumers are least likely (6%) to increase their spending on video games in the coming months. That’s partially because fewer consumers buy video games in any case but YouGov data shows that over a third of consumers (35%) around the world agree with the statement - “I see myself as a gamer.”

Consumers in Hong Kong are most likely to increase spend on video games

Consumers in Hong Kong account for the largest share of consumers (13%) across all markets we surveyed who say they expect to spend more money on video games in the coming months.

Denmark, Germany and Italy report equal figures (3%) and account for consumers that are least likely across all our markets to spend more money on video games. As for Sweden, only 5% of consumers are of the same opinion.

Consumers in Asia are more likely than those in Europe to spend more on video games in the coming months. Less than one in ten consumers (8% each) in India, Indonesia and Singapore will increase spend on video games.

In UAE, less than one in ten (9%) consumers expect to spend more on video games, while the US (6%) and Britain (5%) both report similar figures.

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Methodology: YouGov Surveys: Serviced provide quick survey results from nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. The data is based on surveys of adults aged 18+ years in 17 markets with sample sizes varying between 509 and 2003 for each market. All surveys were conducted online in July 2023. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples. Learn more about YouGov Surveys: Serviced.

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