Written by Matthew East, VP Strategy & Transformation and Petar Lafchiev, Head of CRM & Loyalty
The attention battle for players is intensifying
Gaming has become one of the most persistent environments in modern media. For millions of people it is no longer an occasional activity. It is something they return to daily; a place where they relax, express identity and spend time with friends.
Our latest UK Consumer Navigator research shows just how deeply embedded gaming has become. More than half of UK gamers now play every day, making gaming one of the most habitual entertainment behaviours in the country.
But at the same time, the competitive landscape around gaming is shifting rapidly. The rise of free-to-play ecosystems, the explosion of mobile gaming, and longer development cycles between major AAA releases mean the traditional lifecycle of a gamer has never looked less predictable.
Platforms are no longer simply competing with each other. They are competing for sustained attention within a fragmented ecosystem of games, communities and digital experiences.
If players are returning daily, the challenge is no longer simply how to market a game. It is how to steward an ongoing relationship with the player over time.
In other words, gaming platforms are not just selling entertainment experiences. They are managing ecosystems of behaviour, discovery and loyalty.
The signals are everywhere
In 2026 alone we are already seeing major shifts across the industry. Microsoft has introduced new AI leadership within Xbox while questions circulate about the platform’s long-term strategy. Sony has begun experimenting with A/B pricing models. Rumours of new hardware ecosystems, including a potential return of the Steam Machine concept, continue to circulate. Meanwhile rising hardware costs are expected to push more players toward digital purchases and subscription ecosystems.
Taken together, these shifts point to a gaming economy that is becoming more fluid, more platform-driven and more competitive for player attention.
In this environment, the traditional journey of a player is becoming harder to define. Players move between devices, communities and games more fluidly than ever before. Discovery happens through social platforms, streaming, creators and friends as much as through traditional marketing.
The result is that gaming engagement is an evolving lifecycle rather than a simple funnel.
Gaming platforms are managing relationships, not just releases
One of the clearest signals from Consumer Navigator is the emotional connection players develop with the games they love.
Nearly half of gamers say they feel strongly connected to the community around their favourite game or franchise. For younger players, that connection is even stronger. Gaming communities increasingly function like social networks: places where friendships form, identities are expressed and shared experiences unfold over time.
Our research found that more than a third of gamers have formed a real-world friendship through gaming. Among Gen Z players, that figure rises to over half.
This matters because it changes how engagement works. If gaming is a social environment, the platform experience cannot be designed purely around commerce or campaigns. It must support the relationships that make those ecosystems meaningful.
Platforms are not simply distributing content; they are hosting communities.
Attention is shifting toward play
Gaming’s rise is also changing how audiences allocate their attention.
Our Consumer Navigator research found that one in four gamers expect to spend less time on social media in the future to make more time for gaming. One in five expect to reduce time spent watching streaming television.
This represents something beyond growth; it’s a rebalancing of attention across entertainment formats. In this environment, gaming platforms are competing not just with other games, but with every other form of digital entertainment. And the competition is happening across multiple surfaces: gameplay, streaming, creator ecosystems, communities and storefronts.
Discovery reflects this complexity. Research shows that gamers now discover titles through a mix of creators, social platforms and digital storefronts. Platforms remain central to this journey, but they are now part of a broader ecosystem of signals that shape what players explore next.
The implication is clear: the traditional model of isolated campaigns is no longer sufficient. Player engagement is now continuous, contextual and ecosystem-driven.
Attention is concentrating, and discovery is social
Yet fragmentation does not mean attention is evenly distributed. In fact, the opposite is happening. A growing share of player time is concentrating around a relatively small number of long-running live service titles such as Fortnite, Roblox, GTA Online and Call of Duty. These games function less like traditional releases and more like evolving entertainment platforms, continuously refreshed through new content, events and social experiences.
For competing games and platforms, this raises the stakes significantly. When so much player attention is anchored in a handful of ecosystems, attracting a new player is only the beginning. Sustaining engagement over months and years becomes the real competitive challenge.
Discovery itself is also changing. Increasingly, players are not discovering new games through storefronts alone, but through creators and communities. Streamers on platforms like Twitch, creators on YouTube and viral clips on TikTok now play a central role in shaping what players try next.
In this environment, discovery is no longer a single moment in a marketing funnel. It is a social process that unfolds across platforms, communities and content ecosystems.
Together, these shifts reinforce a fundamental truth: success in gaming is no longer defined by launch moment alone, but by how effectively platforms manage the player lifecycle over time.
Loyalty drives the economics of gaming ecosystems
Gaming platforms also operate in a market where loyalty plays an outsized role.
Consumer Navigator shows that a significant proportion (four in ten) of players spend money on games simply because they feel loyal to them, whether buying the next edition of a franchise or purchasing optional in-game items. This dynamic helps explain why a relatively small number of titles often dominate platform revenue. In gaming ecosystems, sustained engagement and long-term player relationships drive disproportionate value.
For platforms, the opportunity lies in nurturing those relationships over time. But doing so requires a deeper understanding of player journeys; not just what someone purchases, but how they discover content, interact with communities and move between experiences within the ecosystem.
The shift from campaigns to continuous decisioning
As gaming ecosystems become more complex, the most important question platforms must answer is a simple one:
What should happen next for this player?
Should the platform recommend a new game? Introduce a creator-led experience? Offer guidance or support? Highlight a community event? Or present a commercial opportunity?
Each of these moments shapes how players perceive the platform and whether they continue investing time within the ecosystem. Increasingly, answering this question requires intelligent decisioning systems capable of learning from behaviour across multiple touchpoints.
The goal is not to maximise short-term transactions. It is to build a system that continuously balances discovery, engagement and value, for players, creators and publishers alike.
In this sense, the future of gaming platforms looks less like traditional marketing and more like lifecycle stewardship.
Designing ecosystems that grow with the player
Gaming platforms now sit at the centre of some of the most engaged audiences in media.
Players invest time, creativity, identity and community into the worlds they inhabit. The platforms that host those worlds therefore carry a responsibility, and an opportunity, to shape how those relationships evolve.
The next phase of gaming innovation will not be defined solely by graphics, hardware or new titles; it will be defined by how intelligently platforms guide players through the ecosystems they create.
Those that succeed will move beyond isolated campaigns toward something more powerful: a continuous system designed to help players discover, connect and grow within the worlds they love.
To explore how consumer sentiment around gaming ecosystems is evolving, and what this means for platforms and brands, download Ready Player Brand , our latest UK Consumer Navigator report. Or visit dentsu’s Gaming Solutions page to learn how we help organisations design player-first engagement strategies.
