Skip to Content

Gen Z gaming trends brands need to know

Did you know...26% of 16-24-year olds identify themselves as 'gamers' - this has increased by 3% from two years ago.

Josephine Hansom Managing Director, Youth 25 September 2022
40% of Gen Z said they have 'online only' friends.

The insane popularity for games such as Fortnite (and more recently ‘Among Us’) is largely contributed to by teens and twenty-somethings. These types of social games allow young people to talk to friends and connect with like-minded people, which was a big bonus during the pandemic when we couldn’t meet in person.
Our State of the Youth Nation data also detected the rise in popularity of mobile gaming, with one in five 16-24s now playing a game on their phone at least once a day. And the amount of young people who’ve never played a mobile game fell from 27% in 2015 to just 18% today.
Whilst it’s great that young people share a love of gaming, there’s also concerns it can be addictive and many recognise that they spend too much time online. Worryingly, Mental Health Today reported gaming addictions treatments had tripled in the last year.

  • Keep scrolling for more data snippets…

Keep plugged into youth culture

Interested in getting more regular Gen Z updates? Have you thought about subscribing to State of the Youth Nation (the essential Gen Z insight tracking product)?
Find out what you need to know about Gen Z without commissioning additional research. We’ve been tracking 16-24s since 2015, with 700+ questions that uncover what young people care about, where they’re headed and their digital worlds.
Membership gives you access to:

  • Latest Gen Z insights
  • Regular webinars
  • Insight workshops.

See what data we have that will change your business…

Book a demo to see more of our youth data.

Knowledge centre

Read More
Explore