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Gaming in Canada has developed into an important advertising opportunity as audiences grow and in-game ads gain traction with mobile users.

The news: Ad quality has a big impact on whether gamers will stay in the game or walk away from a session. Over half (52%) of gamers in the US, the UK, Germany, and Japan would quit playing if they encountered multiple disruptive ad features, per Deloitte鈥檚 Quality Drives Value: A Look into Mobile Gaming Ads survey. Our take: Prioritizing features like rewards and skip options can help players feel in control and properly compensated for their time, helping mobile gamers to stay engaged, click through, and return. Poorly timed or deceptive ads, on the other hand, risk alienating gamers and increasing churn.

Handheld dominance and low VR adoption signal a reality check for immersive tech as gaming habits shift toward flexible, social experiences.

The news: Meta is planning another VR headset, codenamed Loma, to compete with Apple鈥檚 beleaguered Vision Pro, per The Wall Street Journal. The product will look similar to its Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses鈥攔ather than a traditional headset goggles design鈥攁nd feature higher-fidelity video than the Quest line of headsets. Meta is offering millions of dollars to Disney, A24, and others for exclusive IP-based gaming content to avoid the Vision Pro鈥檚 pitfall of lacking compelling content. Our take: Meta鈥檚 renewed headset push shows the company is learning from past missteps, but success will hinge on whether Loma can offer must-have experiences at a justifiable price.

Digital gaming is popular across generations. But Gen Zers and millennials are more likely to game on multiple platforms, seek community around the hobby, and pass the habit on to their children.

AppLovin beat Q1 expectations and exited gaming: The company is now all-in on adtech, led by AXON鈥檚 rapid growth.

Digital gaming has become one of the most popular activities in the world, thanks mainly to the proliferation of smartphones and free mobile games. Here is our worldwide forecast for total gamers, with breakouts by region and for 13 countries.

The news: The gaming industry is doubling down on handheld consoles. Nintendo鈥檚 Switch 2 shattered single-day sales records with an estimated 3 million units sold at launch, outpacing the Sony PS4鈥檚 historic numbers. Meanwhile, Microsoft announced its first handhelds鈥攖he ROG Xbox Ally and the ROG Xbox Ally X鈥攑artnering with Asus to blend Xbox and PC gaming in a portable format. They鈥檙e expected to launch during the holidays. Our take: As cloud and console experiences merge into portable form, game design and ad models are set to evolve fast鈥攐pening up fresh real estate for marketers, game studios, and tech platforms alike.

The news: Gaming is becoming a powerful vehicle for delivering ads to engaged audiences, with gamers spending significant time gaming across platforms, per a study from Activision Blizzard Media. Seventy percent of gamers play or watch video games daily, while 95% play or watch weekly. Seventy-seven percent of weekly gamers play on mobile devices, while 52% play on console and 34% play on PC. Our take: In-game advertising provides reach that few other channels can match, connecting with an engaged, highly attentive, and diverse audience, making it a critical touchpoint鈥攂ut advertisers must understand what strategies work best.

The news: On Thursday, Nintendo released the Switch 2, 鈥嬧�媔ts first new console since the Nintendo Switch was launched in 2017. The handheld device comes with upgraded specs, social gaming features, and bundles with exclusive titles like Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza. It also includes GameChat, a feature that combines voice and video and lets up to 12 people chat while playing games. Our take: With a growing package of subscription perks and social hooks like GameChat, Nintendo may be taking a page from Apple鈥檚 playbook by turning its hardware into a recurring revenue engine. The Switch 2 could be a sticky ecosystem for Nintendo, even if the price goes up.

AR/VR continues to evolve as a tool for marketers and retailers to develop deeper consumer engagement. Long-term growth will be helped by AI integrations and demographic shifts. And while gaming is still the top use case, smart glasses are on the rise.

The news: Microsoft is planning a major round of layoffs next week in its Xbox division as part of broader corporate restructuring, per Bloomberg. This marks Microsoft鈥檚 fourth major job cut in 18 months and follows mounting pressure to raise margins after buying Activision Blizzard for $69 billion. Our take:For advertisers and marketers, this signals that the future of Xbox isn鈥檛 hardware but an ecosystem. Aligning campaigns with emerging touchpoints like cloud gaming, mobile access, and VR could help brands stay in front of where players are headed.

The news: Affirm partnered with Shopmonkey and Xsolla so auto mechanics and video game developers can offer installment plans at checkout. Our take: Affirm has focused on building out its partnership network and the Affirm Card鈥攁nd its fiscal Q3 results (ended March 31, 2025) bear out the strategies鈥� success, with total revenues increasing 36% YoY.

The news: A sweeping internet outage traced to Google Cloud paralyzed various content streaming, cloud productivity, gaming, and AI services Thursday. The outage exposed the dangerous reality of an increasingly hyper-connected digital infrastructure鈥攚hen one provider fails, the entire ecosystem collapses like dominoes. Our take: AI adoption is straining overloaded cloud systems, making widespread outages inevitable as demand grows. While Cloudflare and Google Cloud may have fixed their issues within hours, its customers may have been deeply affected. The full financial impact may take weeks to emerge.

Most consumers divide their time across gaming, music, podcasts, and social, but streaming remains on top鈥攅ven as mobile becomes the default for short- and long-form video.

The trend: Gen Z is opting out of both traditional pay TV and ad-supported streaming tiers, signaling deeper changes in viewing behavior. Just 42% of Gen Z subscribers use ad-supported SVOD, while less than half of all US households now maintain a pay TV subscription. Our take: Streaming鈥檚 future depends on reaching the next generation, but current models鈥攅specially ad-supported tiers鈥攁ren鈥檛 meeting Gen Z where they are. With only 1.3 hours of streaming and 0.8 hours of traditional TV per day, Gen Z prefers social video, gaming, and music. To stay relevant, platforms must prioritize native formats, interactivity, and creator integration over legacy ad models.

Game developers, martech platforms, and agencies are increasingly trying to convince advertisers that consumers playing mobile games are worth reaching.