The State of Video Gaming in 2026 by Matthew Ball / Epyllion — MatthewBall.co

Matthew Ball’s State of Video Gaming In 2026 deck has simply soft-launched on his website in Early Access. I’ve had the privilege of digesting it as its editor, and might share that his perceptions and readability – and his zeroing in on the place there’s indeniable progress – are extra precious now than ever.

The traits we’ve all been discussing over the previous 12 months and final week at DICE are dissected intimately right here. Once he’s laid every thing out, he focuses on 5 clear areas of income progress. It’s a improbable learn, and like final 12 months, it actually offers you a dependable framework to method choices for the approaching 12 months forward.

Having had Matthew’s new deck in my head for the previous few weeks, it’s helped crystallize a grand unifying idea that’s been loosely forming in my unconscious. Which is that there’s a progress market in video games tying into customers’ growing curiosity in collaborating in reside leisure experiences, as in comparison with having fun with fastened, or pre-made leisure experiences.

Don’t get me fallacious, I like a rigorously crafted recreation, I simply constructed a diorama devoted to Super Metroid (extra on that quickly). I’m simply saying there’s much more we will do with what we now have at this time. And individuals like placing themselves within the image.

Certainly Roblox is one instance, the place the neighborhood is each creator and shopper. But that appears to be simply one in all a probably bigger variety of methods to each be extra inventive and extra built-in into interactive play, validated by what we see customers spending time with on different platforms. Sure, I’m seeing issues from my very own vantage level, however I think about this deck may additionally line up with what you’re uniquely seeing within the trade as effectively.

Anyway, go seize it, digest it, and see what it illuminates for you!