The Next Generation of Video Games Research

Joost van Dreunen's SuperJoost Playlist post collects his notes from a guest lecture in his class by Joris Goossens, CEO of Newzoo, the games market research firm. Its premise is that every entertainment business depends on measurement, and that games have long lacked the audience data that film studios take for granted before committing large budgets. Only the opening section is accessible, since the full episode sits behind a paywall for paid subscribers.

The visible portion gives a short history of games measurement. Traditional research incumbents such as NPD (now Circana), GfK, and Nielsen owned retail sales receipts, but they had no visibility into digital sales just as digital distribution became the dominant model. That gap created room for a new generation of research firms, including Newzoo and van Dreunen's own company, SuperData Research. The two firms began as collaborators and later became competitors. Newzoo is now close to 20 years old and employs roughly 90 people.

The post argues that data remains critical to the business, using the current news cycle around early impressions of Marvel's Wolverine, described as a roughly $300 million production, as an example of how much money rides on understanding audience reception. The text cuts off at this point, so the specific insights Goossens offered on where games research is heading, including methodology, new data sources, or forecasts, are not available.

The post is part of the author's Friday Office Hour series, which is open live to free users while recordings are reserved for paid subscribers. It is dated September 2026, and the scope is the global games market research industry, with a focus on the shift from retail to digital measurement.