Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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The video game industry has been going through price increases, mass layoffs, studio closures, rising game budgets, and tariffs. All the while, we're expecting next-gen consoles with PS6 and Project Helix sometime next year? And then there's the issue of consoles competing with streaming services and short form video eating up peoples time. And then premium priced games competing against live service F2P titles. There's so much movement happening in this industry! To make sense of it all and have an expert weigh-in, I spoke with Circana's Mat Piscatella. Mat has a 20 year career in sales throughout the games business and he walks us through the current climate and what we can expect in the future. Me personally? I expect we should listen to people like Mat. Lord knows I've been wrong plenty of times so probably better I take a backseat on this one. *buckles seatbelt of backseat*.

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TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - Introduction To Mat Piscatella
1:20 - What Circana Does & Their Accuracy On Game Sales
2:48 - Accuracy of Circana's Digital Game Sales Tracking
4:27 - PS5 Sales In US After Price Increase
5:43 - Trends In Buying Habits For Premium Priced Games
7:20 - Live Service Continues Eating Up Player Time
8:45 - Next-Gen Challenges Sony Faces
10:55 - The Influence Of GTA VI
12:50 - Sony's New PS5 Widget For Top Played Games
14:02 - Screen Time Competition & Trends In Gaming
16:14 - Volume Of Game Releases & Discoverability
17:35 - Sony Going Back To Full Single Player Exclusives
20:05 - The State Of Physical Games, Where's The Bottom?
21:51 - Things Aren't All Doom & Gloom

#PS5 #PlayStation #Sony