# 2026's Big Games, Trends, and Showdowns

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/post-games-7339607/2026-s-big-games-trends-and-showdowns
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/post-games-7339607/2026-s-big-games-trends-and-showdowns.md
Podcast: [Post Games](https://stenobird.com/podcast/post-games-7339607)
Published: 2026-01-05T17:45:00+00:00
Episode link: https://s.gum.fm/s-68bf4951d026c92546ac04f3/rss.art19.com/episodes/b4b1dc88-c8a2-420c-bca0-393dcf8946f5.mp3?rss_browser=BAhJIg90cmFuc2NyaWJyBjoGRVQ%3D--952c5701c84ad333c69d5faa668f8177091704f0
Audio file: https://s.gum.fm/s-68bf4951d026c92546ac04f3/rss.art19.com/episodes/b4b1dc88-c8a2-420c-bca0-393dcf8946f5.mp3?rss_browser=BAhJIg90cmFuc2NyaWJyBjoGRVQ%3D--952c5701c84ad333c69d5faa668f8177091704f0
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/post-games-7339607/episodes/2026-s-big-games-trends-and-showdowns
Duration seconds: 3458

## Resource

Want full show notes for free, including links to everything we mention? Visit www.post.games Get weekly bonus segments, video episodes, monthly exclusive episodes, and more at patreon.com/postgames for only $5 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 T…

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