The big games industry trends and stories to watch in 2026
Happy New Year! (Can we still say that on January 9th?)
We’ve wrapped up another year, this time a mixed bag for the industry. The sector is back to growth, arguably favouring the top publishers, with the investment scene still proving a challenging one for many smaller developers - but not impossible (I wrote about some stories from the ground at RovioCon and Slush here).
We’ve written about the big trends that shaped the mobile games industry in 2025. We also spoke to the real experts, the Mobile Mavens, for their thoughts on top industry trends here, here and here.
Now it’s that time of the year when everyone looks ahead to what could be. We already asked the Mavens for their predictions here.
Below I’ve put together a list of some of the top trends and stories that could define 2026. They are not predictions per se, but rather a look at where the industry is at and where it’s going. We also discussed these on the Week in Mobile Games podcast, out now!
China
I wrote about how China’s developers are increasingly influential on the global stage in our trends analysis for 2025. With companies like Microfun, FirstFun and Century Games finding worldwide success and dominating (even growing) categories like merge and 4X strategy, I expect that trend to continue in 2026.
A couple sources - one industry expert and another an investor at a large gaming VC - told me last year that one area China has yet to crack is the match-3 model. The puzzle genre is a space where companies - new and ‘old’ - are excelling in Türkiye in particular. There’s even new innovations happening with games like Pixel Flow rapidly scaling to millions of dollars in just three months.
But these sources said it’s only a matter of time before Chinese developers crack this category at a global scale. Century Games is searching for the right formula with match-3 titles like Truck Star and Family Farm Match.
With enormous teams of hundreds of developers, huge marketing and development investments, the use of generative AI tech to support creative production, China’s influence on the mobile market looks set to increase as industry power moves further to the East.
Regulation
I said before that 2025 was the year that regulation - whether through government bodies or the courts - came to a head. In 2026, that will continue. But there could be some major changes to recent ‘wins’ for the wider industry.
The US App Store was cracked open last year by a furious judge. A recent ruling suggests that’s going to be rolled back somewhat, so don’t expect to continue to get free linkouts on iOS to direct-to-consumer stores. Epic and Google want to change the terms on the Play Store too, arguing for fees to now be based on how games monetise for some reason. The judge wasn’t too sure why these mortal enemies are now best friends. They’ll be back in court on January 22nd for an evidentiary hearing.
I’m curious to see how it all shakes out for the D2C revolution. In Q3, publishers were reporting record revenue from their own web shops. Perhaps in a few quarters, once the new US App Store ruling on fees comes into force, we’ll see a decline.
As an aside, perhaps we’ll soon also see the European Commission finally make a decision on Apple’s new business terms.
Other regulations to look out for news on include the Digital Fairness Act. Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen warned it could kill Europe’s games industry. Consultations have now finished and it’s expected we’ll find out more about what form the legislation will take in Q4 2026. India, meanwhile, banned real-money gaming, wiping billions of dollars off the games market.
Elsewhere, social media is getting closer scrutiny from governments and regulators around the world. Australia has instigated a ban for under-16s, while New York will follow California in requiring mental health warnings for these platforms for children. Given the popularity of platforms like TikTok, used by publishers in their marketing efforts, further scrutiny, bans, limits and warnings could impact the effectiveness of these campaigns.
Global politics
Tensions are rising between the world’s major powers: the US, China, European Union and Russia. How this spills out to impact the games industry is tough to predict, but there is precedent.
Most notably, President Donald Trump’s tariffs could rear their head again. That can impact shipments and pricing of smartphones and console hardware.
The US already has previously signed into law an act saw ByteDance ultimately forced to sell off part of TikTok in the country - and relinquish publishing rights to games like Mobile Legends and Marvel Snap.
Worth noting, too, that India previously banned a plethora of apps from Chinese companies in the country, including Garena Free Fire (but not Max for some reason), following border clashes between the countries. China, meanwhile, once unofficially banned South Korean publishers from launching games in the country, the result of a dispute between the two nations following Korea’s THAAD missile defence deal with the US.
Unless tensions ease in the coming months, consequences could hit the games industry in unexpected ways.
AI
Of course, generative AI and its use in games will continue to make headlines this year. Some publishers like Krafton are particularly brazen about its use in production, even opening up voluntary resignations for staff not on board with its AI-first shift. Mobile publishers are also harnessing the tech for marketing creatives.
More so in the triple-A console and PC space, the use of AI tech has sparked controversy in games like Arc Raiders and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lost two accolades at the India Game Awards for its use of genAI - for some assets that it alleged were just placeholders.
I think it’s clear more developers and publishers will harness the tech. More controversies will emerge though, particularly in genAI’s use in-game where consumers interact with the results.
Whether you like the tech or not, as with global politics, the hype is resulting in perhaps unexpected consequences. The cost of GPUs and ram is now rising sharply - which could delay future console generations and increase smartphone costs, for example. As a small anecdote, I bought 32GB of ram in August for £100. By the start of January, the same ram now costs £200.
It’s another pressure on price and accessibility of gaming-related hardware.
UGC
UGC platforms, in particular Roblox, had a stellar year in 2025. Grow a Garden and Steal a Brainrot smashed records for concurrent users.
We’ll see whether that continues in 2026, but there’s little real reason why it won’t - unless the platform gets banned in more countries over child safety concerns. This interview with the Roblox CEO probably did not help alleviate those issues.
Fortnite, meanwhile, is set to roll out in-island transactions to sell in-game items directly. Epic also changed its revenue share terms, which we discussed here on the podcast.
While we’ve seen Epic and Roblox develop their ecosystems - including advertising opportunities for the latter - the big test for 2026 is, with all these millions of users, will there be more developers making serious revenue from games on the platforms? For all the breakout hits and big numbers, the world’s top publishers aren’t flocking to these platforms yet for a reason.
I’m going to be kicking off a UGC newsletter soon to keep an eye on that progress. It’s a truly fascinating, and underreported, space. If you’re interested in learning more and talking about UGC - let’s chat at PGC London on January 19th and 20th.
There’s plenty else to look out for this year, of course. There’s the growth of non-gaming apps, with their use of gamification (sorry) and the impact of their rise on gaming investment. We’ll be seeing more transmedia ventures, with the Super Mario Galaxy Movie and The Angry Birds Movie 3 landing this year.
Keep up with all the latest trends here on PocketGamer.biz and gain insights from the experts at our Pocket Gamer Connects conference series - kicking off with PGC London on January 19th and 20th (did I say that already?).