With PC components soaring and console price tags hitting new heights, the sentiment that 'gaming is an expensive hobby' has become a common refrain. Now, some data suggests this isn't just grumbling—it’s the reality.

Mat Piscatella, executive director at market research firm Circana, took to X on the 29th to share some telling results. As of Q4 2025, 53% of U.S. households purchasing gaming hardware belong to the high-income bracket, earning over $100,000 (approx. 144 million KRW) annually. That is a 13 percentage point jump from the 40% recorded in Q1 2022, marking an all-time high. Meanwhile, households earning between $75,000 (approx. 108 million KRW) and $100,000 saw a modest rise from 12% to 14%.

Contrastingly, households earning under $50,000 (approx. 72 million KRW) saw their share of hardware purchases plummet from 31% in Q1 2022 to 19% by Q4 2025. Those earning between $50,000 and $75,000 also dipped from 17% to 14%. Essentially, there is a clear trend toward the 'economic gentrification of gaming hardware buyers,' where higher earners maintain or increase their spending while lower-income brackets are reducing their consumption of gaming hardware.

The primary culprit here is the steep climb in hardware prices. The average selling price of gaming hardware in the U.S. has surged by about 20%, rising from $373 (approx. 530,000 KRW) in Q1 2022 to $446 (approx. 640,000 KRW) in Q4 2025. Between price hikes for established machines like the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, and the arrival of newer, pricier hardware like the Nintendo Switch 2, the average price has been pushed upward.

Given this shift in the consumer base, the future of the market looks to be a focus on high-value strategies aimed squarely at core console users. Piscatella predicts that the upward trend in hardware pricing is here to stay, with firms likely to pivot toward creative methods to boost profitability, such as premium accessories and expensive special edition bundles. Expect companies to double down on strategies to extract higher average revenue from a limited pool of high-purchasing customers.