Play

Play isn’t just fun and games — it’s a serious business, and its future will impact sectors spanning food, spirits, sports, streaming, toys, retail and more. What will that mean for the ways we watch, shop, and have fun?

Ipsos | What the Future: Play | How the future of play will change the game for athletes, fans and brands
The author(s)
  • Matt Carmichael What the Future editor and head of the Ipsos Trends & Foresight Lab
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Play isn’t just fun and games — it’s a serious business, and its future will impact sectors spanning food, spirits, sports, streaming, toys, retail and more.

But the future of play faces multiple inflection points, driven by forces like technology, climate change, and even the emphasis on competition over fun and fairness.

What will that mean for how people socialize and bond, and how brands support the ways they play, watch and shop? How will traditional sports continue their pipeline of players and fans in a world where esports and extreme sports become college scholarship pathways? What is considered safe and fair when it comes to tapping the human genome to level the playing field? And how could a shift in work-life balance change how play fits into our lives?

Raising these disparate questions and hypotheticals is all a means of getting us thinking — because the implications are as broad and important as the ways we play.

For more foresight content, subscribe to the What the Future newsletter for new topics each month. Be sure to register for the Jan. 24 What the Future: Play issue companion webinar as we lead you through the latest data, panels and insights.

Read on as we talk with a pro video gamer and experts from Best Buy, Little League International, Gamewright, and Harvard Medical School and MIT about shifts taking place in participation, training and spending, and how they will shape society and brands, and how people shop and spend in the future.

 Plus, we explore global public opinion from 50 countries.

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Ipsos Top Topics

The author(s)
  • Matt Carmichael What the Future editor and head of the Ipsos Trends & Foresight Lab