The average weekly spending by 18-24 year-old Americans on video games has dropped sharply year-over-year, according to data provided by Circana in a new report.
As shared by the Wall Street Journal, spending on video games has dipped by close to 25% for this age bracket. For other age groups, the percentage drop is much smaller, representing the pressures young people in the US are facing on their personal expenditure.
More generally, spending at online and brick-and-mortar stores by this age group dropped 13% year-on-year between the months of January and April 2025, according to Circana. Other age groups’ spending is still rising, though it has apparently slowed.
The report suggests that numerous factors are behind the pressures on spending for young Americans: the challenges of the job market, student loan payments, and credit card debt.
Spending is falling modestly among this age bracket rather than growing as it historically does, according to the Bank of America.
What’s notable, though, is that in Circana’s data (which is based on the four weeks ending April 2025), gaming spend is dropping faster than other areas for that 18-24 age group, and trending down faster than technology in general.
Find the graph from the WSJ’s report below:
This data emerges amid a time of rising hardware and software costs in the video games sector.
Xbox recently increased the price of consoles across its line, for example, with upcoming games set to cost $80 – The Outer Worlds 2 will be up first with that price point.
Nintendo, too, priced its Switch 2 launch title Mario Kart World at $80. The next major title for its new platform, Donkey Kong Bananza, will cost $70.
