Decoded: Gaming

Welcome to the third edition of Decoded!

This month, we’re breaking down the numbers, trends, and culture around one of the biggest question marks in our marketing world: Gaming. 

With North America commanding about 40% of the global gaming creator economy (roughly a $11.5 billion market in 2024) and a massive audience (approximately 65% of Americans play games at least an hour per week), the industry is now the dominant entertainment medium.

So, what does this explosion mean for digital marketing?

Spoiler: gaming is massive, mainstream, and deeply intertwined with the creator economy. 

So, let’s dive in.

TL;DR: Gaming by the Numbers

• 🎮 61% of Americans (over 205 million people) play games weekly, with 60% of those playing daily.
  
  
• 💰 North America’s gaming creator economy hit $15B in 2025, projected to top $20B+ by 2026, driven by streaming, UGC, and long-tail sponsorship deals.
  
  
• 📈 U.S. influencer marketing spend reached $10.5B this year, with gaming creators accounting for some of the highest-performing and most trusted partnerships across all verticals.
  
  
• 🔁 Campaigns with gaming creators are delivering 500–600% ROI, with Pokimane x HyperX (611%), Liquid Death x FPS streamers (553%), and GFuel x FaZe Clan (509%) as standouts.
  
  
• 🌐 Gaming creators are now brand bridges, pushing non-endemic products like Samsung smartphones ($18M in creator-driven sales) and Balenciaga into cultural relevance via authentic integrations.
  
  

Gaming is Eating Entertainment

By the numbers, gaming does more than just surpass other entertainment categories. Gaming is in a league of its own. In 2025, global gaming revenues are about $188–189 billion. For context, that dwarfs the global film box office ($33–34B) and recorded music ($28–30B) combined. In short, interactive entertainment has outgrown its older siblings in Hollywood and the music industry. And the gap is only widening. Forecasts show the game industry approaching $205 billion by 2026.

So, why the explosive growth? Unlike passive media, gaming monetizes huge. The industry thrives on a highly engaged audience, monetizing through everything from $70 AAA titles to microtransactions, subscriptions, and in-game ads. It’s a 24/7, global, cross-platform economy. For brands, this means the scale of audience attention in gaming now rivals (even exceeds) traditional media. Gaming is the main stage for entertainment in the digital age and we can’t be looking at it as a quirky sideshow like we have previously. 

61% of Americans = Gamers (Yes, Really)

If you think gaming is just for kids or a niche hobby, think again. 61% of Americans (ages 5 to 90) play video games at least weekly. That’s roughly 190 million people in the U.S. engaging with games regularly. A large portion are playing daily or near-daily. In fact, surveys show that among those weekly gamers, about 60% play every day. Gaming has become a daily habit for tens of millions, right up there with social media and streaming TV.

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This ubiquity spans generations and demographics. Boomers are playing Wordle on their iPads, Gen X is sneaking in console sessions after work, and Gen Z/Alpha have grown up with games as a primary social platform. The average U.S. player is 36 years old, and nearly half of Baby Boomers play weekly. In other words, gaming has gone mainstream. For marketers, that means your target audience, whether teens, millennials, or Gen X moms, very likely plays games. Reaching consumers increasingly means reaching them through gaming experiences or gaming influencers.

The Gaming Creator Economy: Leveling Up

With all this being said, there’s been a gold rush in the gaming creator economy. In North America alone, the gaming-focused creator market is estimated around $15 billion in 2025, and projections put it above $20 billion in 2026. This includes the money flowing to game streamers, esports content creators, gaming YouTubers, modders, and all the UGC ecosystem around games. It’s a substantial (and growing) slice of the broader creator economy. 

What’s fueling this? A few trends: Live streaming of games on Twitch/YouTube is still huge, in-game content creation (think Roblox, Fortnite Creative, Minecraft mods) has unlocked new monetization for player-creators, and esports and gaming influencers continue to draw sponsorships. In essence, gaming creators are monetizing through ads, donations, sponsorships, and game-related merch at unprecedented levels. Brands are taking notice because these creators command highly engaged communities of fans who trust them. If you’re a marketer eyeing Gen Z and millennials, collaborating with gaming creators (from Twitch streamers to TikTok gamers) is becoming as common (and as effective) as traditional celebrity endorsements.

Why Gaming Creators Matter in this Boom

Speaking of that massive ecosystem, let's zoom out and look at why gaming creators contribute significantly to the whole influencer boom.

Across the U.S., the total influencer marketing spend is set to jump from $10.5 billion in 2025 to nearly $14 billion by 2027. Gaming creators are a huge, indispensable slice of that growth.

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First, the audience scale is almost unbelievable. Over 205 million Americans play video games weekly, and these fans are platform loyalists. Twitch now boasts 240+ million monthly active users and YouTube Gaming pulls in 800+ million monthly viewers worldwide. One study even found YouTube’s gaming viewers are 53% more loyal than the platform average which was the most loyal audience out of a dozen content genres surveyed. This dedication makes them some of the most-followed and trusted voices, especially for young audiences: 36% of U.S. teens follow gaming creators, second only to music artists.

Crucially, this trust translates to purchase behavior. Gaming personalities are exceptional salespeople, not just fun entertainers. An estimated 41% of U.S. gamers have made a purchase in the past year simply because a content creator recommended it. In fact, when it comes to product purchases influenced by creators’ recommendations, gaming ranks as the #1 category. 

Cloud Gaming = Click, Play, Convert

At its core, cloud gaming lets people stream games over the internet without owning a console or high-end PC. Think Netflix, but for gameplay. And it’s accelerating fast: the global market is projected to hit $10.5B by 2025, with North America alone contributing $2.9B and leading the world in adoption. As more platforms go cloud-native, from Xbox to NVIDIA to Amazon, the path from creator content to player participation gets radically shorter.

For creators, this means real-time audience activation. Platforms like Twitch are already testing “Play on Luna” buttons under game streams. YouTube piloted Crowd Play to let viewers join games directly from a stream. Tools like Xsolla Cloud Demos now let creators drop one-click trials into content. These platforms are collapsing the gap between discovery and gameplay.

This matters for marketers because friction kills conversion. With cloud gaming, audiences can go from watching a creator to playing the game in seconds — no downloads, no installs, no expensive hardware. That creates a new layer of performance-driven sponsorship: creators can now track clicks, offer timed trials, or drive affiliate installs with zero delay. And with over 455M global users expected by 2025 (up from 295M in 2023), and mobile-first Gen Z players coming in fast, cloud gaming is quickly becoming the infrastructure layer of the next wave of creator commerce.

In short: cloud gaming is removing friction, expanding reach, and giving creators (and brands) a new way to turn content into action. 

Authentic Content Over Traditional Ads

One big reason brands are pouring money into creator campaigns is authenticity. Especially in gaming, authenticity is paramount. Gamers can sniff out inauthentic marketing a mile away and will even punish brands for poor influencer fits or overtly scripted promos. In contrast, when a sponsorship feels genuine (the creator truly likes or uses the product), fans reward it with trust and engagement. Marketers have taken note: 54.7% of advertisers say that proof of higher ROI versus other channels is the top factor justifying bigger creator budgets, and nothing proves ROI like an influencer who credibly connects with their audience.

Long-term partnerships and creator co-creations tend to work best in gaming. For example, Twitch campaigns that spanned months had 3–5× higher returns than one-off sponsorships because viewers perceived the integration as more natural. 

As a case in point, when a popular streamer co-designed a product they truly love, it sold out instantly – Pokimane’s collaborative headset with HyperX was gone in 48 hours, generating a 611% ROI for the brand. 

Similarly, an exclusive chair designed with YouTuber PewDiePie earned 622% ROI, with the key insight that PewDiePie’s authentic personal interest in the product (he’s a known gaming setup enthusiast) made the promotion credible rather than feeling “paid”.

Case Studies: Gaming Influencers Driving Real ROI

Logitech + Shroud (PC Hardware)

Peripheral maker Logitech partnered long-term with superstar streamer Shroud (instead of a one-off ad blast). The year-long Twitch integration included monthly product showcases and even co-designed gear. The payoff was a 45% sales increase in the targeted product lines and roughly 420% ROI on the campaign.

GFuel + FaZe Clan (Energy Drink)

Gaming energy drink GFuel became the exclusive sponsor of esports org FaZe Clan, meaning FaZe’s entire roster of streamers promoted the beverage. In the first year, GFuel saw $12.8 million in direct sales from this partnership – a 509% ROI. The deal helped cement GFuel as the #1 energy drink among gamers, and even expanded GFuel’s presence into mainstream retail stores beyond the gaming niche.

Liquid Death + FPS Streamers (Non-Gaming Brand)

In a bid to reach gamer audiences, quirky canned water brand Liquid Death sponsored 30 FPS game streamers on Twitch/YouTube. The integration (streamers drinking/mentioning the water during gameplay and on social media) drove roughly $2.1M in sales of Liquid Death to gaming fans and a 553% ROI. Not only did revenue far exceed the campaign cost, but Liquid Death quickly broke into the “gaming beverage” category, proving even a non-endemic brand can win gamer audiences with the right creator allies.

Balenciaga + Fortnite (Fashion x Gaming)

Even luxury fashion has tapped gaming’s reach. When Balenciaga dropped an official Balenciaga skin line in Fortnite, the brand saw a 49% spike in online search volume for Balenciaga, indicating huge buzz and new eyeballs from younger gaming audiences. The collaboration, which featured designer outfits as in-game purchasable skins and a virtual Balenciaga hub in Fortnite, vastly expanded Balenciaga’s recognition among Gen-Z gamers and was lauded as a pioneering metaverse marketing move in fashion.

Beyond Gaming: Creators Crossing Into the Mainstream

The GFuel and Balenciaga case studies perfectly illustrate that gaming marketing is an effective two-way street: gaming-native brands are breaking out into the broader culture, and mainstream companies are now tapping into the gaming world. This crossover is the new rule.

Gaming creators are not confined to just games and PC gear. Mainstream brands are investing heavily where gamer eyeballs are, recognizing the deep passion and loyalty of this demographic. For example, Samsung enlisted top mobile gaming YouTubers to showcase a new smartphone. This highly-targeted strategy reached over 120 million views and drove ~$18M in phone sales (an astonishing 1,636% ROI) by credibly claiming the device was made for gamers.

These collaborations show that gamer influencers can turbo-charge growth for products outside of core gaming, from tech to beverages to services, offering companies a gateway to a coveted young demographic that might not be reachable via traditional media.

Conversely, the success of the Fortnite-Balenciaga collaboration is a perfect example of a luxury brand embracing gamer culture to stay relevant. Today's top streamers and esports pros are bona fide celebrities, appearing in sneaker deals and music videos, showing that the gaming world and mainstream brands are increasingly intertwined.

The Final Takeaway: Stop Looking at Gaming as a Sideshow

The data in this edition of Decoded paints an undeniable picture: the gaming industry isn't just growing; it has fundamentally replaced other categories as the core of digital entertainment. It is mainstream, cross-generational, and here to stay.

This profound shift means the most engaged, loyal, and influential communities are now found within games and around gaming creators. The gaming creator economy is a multi-billion dollar force built on genuine trust and shared passion, and it is now defining digital culture.

The simple truth is that interactive entertainment is the main stage of the digital age. The creators, the content, and the massive audiences they command are now dictating what's next. Gaming should be regarded as a paramount focus, rather than a peripheral consideration for marketers and brands looking to sell. It is the new operating system for attention and influence  – those who know this are already steps ahead.