By Ney Castro | VP of Gaming Strategy & Community Growth, PHȲND 

The gaming industry loves to talk about growth: billions in revenue, millions of daily players, new records every quarter. But here’s the uncomfortable truth. We’re not growing nearly as fast as we could be. According to the ESA’s 2024 Essential Facts About the U.S. Video Game Industry report, around 227 million Americans played video games weekly in 2019. By 2023, that number had declined to approximately 190.6 million. Not because there aren’t more players out there. But because we’re not building for them. 

The industry keeps building for the same 200 million core console and PC players, while over a billion casual gamers remain underserved on mobile, tablet, and smart TVs. 

Who’s Being Left Behind?

Let’s name them: 

• People who don’t own a gaming PC or console 

• Adults who used to play but don’t have time to grind 

• Teens who spend more time on YouTube or TikTok than Steam 

• Families who want to game together but don’t want to spend $600 or more to do it 

• Players who value vibes over victory, and exploration over competition 

These aren’t edge cases. These are massive, underserved audiences. And most storefronts, launchers, and discovery tools don’t consider them. 

Platform Bias Is Real 

The PC and console ecosystems dominate how the industry defines “gamers.” But that creates blind spots. 

• A casual player on a Smart TV? Ignored. 

• Someone playing Candy Crush and Stardew Valley on a tablet? Not “core” enough. 

• Parents who want to play a one-button racing game with their kids? Not in the roadmap.

Tens of millions of potential players are priced out or overlooked. The typical gaming experience is expensive, high-friction, and time-intensive. It’s the opposite of what casual, returning, or lifestyle-first players actually want.  

Accessibility Isn’t Just About Controls 

When we talk about accessibility, it’s not just about remappable buttons or subtitles. Those matter, but we’re also talking about access to the experience itself: 

• Minimal onboarding 

• Affordable or free-to-play options 

• No steep time commitment 

• Broad appeal across genres 

• Simple controls that work with a TV remote, gamepad, or phone 

Accessibility Isn’t Just About Controls

Modern storefronts aren’t optimized for this. And most cloud gaming platforms are still focused on high-end fidelity or hardcore performance instead of scale and reach. 

Gaming Doesn’t Begin and End with Consoles 

The growth of Netflix Games, the success of mobile-native titles, and the rise of chill, low-pressure games like Unpacking or Venba show us something clear. People want to play. They just don’t want to play within rigid formats. 

Platforms that demand long sessions, complex mechanics, or high up-front investment are locking out a huge portion of potential players. And that’s not just a design problem. It’s a business problem. 

The Open Door Opportunity 

This is where the opportunity lives. Because when you start building for the players most platforms ignore, you unlock: 

• Entirely new audiences with minimal competition  

• Underexplored genres and fresh formats 

• Experiences designed for TV, mobile, or shared screens  

• Community-driven play that’s truly social, not just multiplayer 

There are millions of people ready to game. They just need better access points. And better platforms.