By
Adam Epstein
November 8, 2021 at 12:01 am ET
In the State of Gaming series, Morning Consult takes a closer look at the $200 billion global video game industry, polling gamers in the United States on their playing and spending preferences. The stories provide a snapshot of the average U.S. gamer, revealing what type of games they like to play (and how they like to play them), as well as what they think of some of the industry’s biggest brands. As gaming only grows bigger, understanding gamers’ habits will be critical in determining where the industry might be headed.
Other stories in the State of Gaming: Console Is Still King: Most Young and Avid Gamers Use Consoles Despite Next-Gen Scarcity | Video Game Adaptations Have a Poor Track Record. Gamers Want More Anyway | The Subscription Economy Has Officially Infiltrated Gaming
Two legacy video game brands still stand out in an increasingly crowded gaming industry. Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), the company behind the wildly popular FIFA and Madden sports brands, and Rockstar Games, the maker of the open-world adventure franchises Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption, garnered the most interest from gamers among all major publishers, according to the latest Morning Consult poll.
Gamers were not as kind to CD Projekt Red, the once-revered Polish studio that was widely considered to have bungled the launch of its highly anticipated game Cyberpunk 2077 last year.
What the numbers say
The poll was conducted Oct. 12-15, 2021, among 1,604 U.S. adults who say they play video games, with margins of error of plus or minus 2 and plus or minus 4 percentage points, respectively.