2026's Big Games, Trends, and Showdowns (Ash Parrish)

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Guest: Ash Parrish, reporter and critic at The Verge

• Act 1: The Industry
• Act 2: The Games and Trends
• Patreon Bonus: The Best and Worst Case Scenarios for 2026
• Act 3: The News of the Week

2026 has only just begun, but already I’m certain it’ll be (at least for gaming culture) historic.

Yes, it’s the year of GTA 6. It’s also the year of no fewer than ten thousand other games. Barring a cataclysmic event, more games will be released in 2026 than in any year prior.

This avalanche of competition will continue to be bad news for game makers, who must not only will they battle for attention with their contemporaries, but also the tens of thousands of “new” and now steeply discounted games released since the pandemic, the free-to-play time drains, and the entirety of retro gaming playable on ever cheaper handheld emulators.

Inversely, in 2026, this abundance will be a boon for most of you listening, at least in the short term. Where the glut of games that nearly killed the game industry in the 1980s was garbage, we are not wonting for high quality games serving nearly every imaginable niche.

Before 2025 ended, I had already played a dozen or so solid games that will be released in 2026. And two 2026 games would have made my 2025 Game of the Year list had they been released.

Add in some acquisitions, some closures, an uptick in unionization, a delinquent government oversight, and a nauseating economy, and you will be overwhelmed with existential questions about the medium.

Will video game players return to buying new games after years of gorging on forever games? Will Take Two and Grand Theft Auto deal the final blow to the once-powerful video game publishers? Will developers find new ways to get their games to their intended audience, or will more and more great games be commercial failures, leading some of the great game makers of our time to change careers?

The answers to those questions could alter the lives and fortunes of tens of thousands of game makers. And could influence what you do and don’t make time to play.

We’ll untangle those knots in today’s episode. Our guest is The Verge’s Ash Parrish, who has a uniquely broad and deep understanding of modern gaming, both in the industry as a reporter and the games as a critic.

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