Gaming
Every year, CES (Consumer Electronics Show) comes with an unofficial script.
This year, unsurprisingly, that script centered on AI.
AI everywhere. AI in every category. AI positioned as the future of almost everything on the show floor.
After a few days at CES, what stayed with me most had less to do with another AI demo and more to do with gaming, and how steadily it has been gaining ground at a show not traditionally associated with it.
Gaming has been building a presence at CES for years. What felt different this year was how naturally it showed up, woven into broader conversations about consumer technology and behavior.
CES drew more than 148,000 attendees this year. While it’s not a gaming conference, the industry’s presence was increasingly felt throughout the week in meetings, panels, and side conversations. In one conversation with a gaming journalist, I heard an estimate that roughly 10,000 attendees came from that space, based on numbers the CTA had shared informally.
Compared to a show like the Game Developers Conference, which draws roughly 30,000 people, that number is smaller. In the context of CES, however, it signals a segment that has been steadily growing its presence at an event long associated with hardware and components.
Announcements relevant to the gaming ecosystem surfaced throughout CES, even when the category wasn’t the headline. Companies like NVIDIA and AMD highlighted chip and platform updates closely tied to performance, while PC and laptop makers, including Lenovo, showcased gaming-oriented concepts and form factors. Monitors, peripherals, and PC components routinely appeared in mainstream “best of CES” coverage.
None of this turned CES into a gaming expo, but it highlighted how central the category has become to consumer technology.
That convergence became most apparent in conversations that once lived entirely within gaming-specific spaces. One panel I attended, which included one of my clients, focused on how the industry needs to rethink what “AAA” means today.
Traditionally, AAA has been shorthand for scale: bigger budgets, larger teams, longer development cycles, and increasingly cinematic experiences. But the discussion at CES centered far less on production size and far more on audience reach, accessibility, and long-term relevance.
Hearing that conversation at CES felt significant.
AAA is no longer defined solely by how much is built, but by how widely it fits. Success now hinges on reaching broader audiences, integrating into households, and sustaining engagement over time. Business models, form factors, and player expectations are all shifting.
Those questions no longer belong exclusively to gaming. They live at the intersection of entertainment, consumer hardware, family tech, education, wellness, and applied technology. CES is where those intersections naturally surface.
For years, parts of the gaming industry have viewed CES as peripheral. Too broad. Too hardware-focused. Too removed from the core culture.
That perspective feels increasingly misaligned with where the industry is heading.
As gaming expands beyond traditional consoles and PCs, its influence shows up wherever new consumer behaviors are forming. Being present at CES is less about visibility and more about shaping direction.
If CES is about the future of consumer technology, gaming is one of the clearest lenses through which that future is taking shape.