Yet another ICv2 Gift Week has flown by. Per usual, my last task of the week is to lay out the game Picks to Give for 2026.
This year has been a solid one for retail game stores (see “ICv2 Interview“), but the games consumer waivers between being upbeat and cash-strapped (depending on the geopolitical climate that day). One of the themes of 2026 seems to be that the average game store consumer has been complaining about how they are short on cash due to higher living expenses, inflation, and rising fuel costs, but somehow, they are still spending a lot of money, at both hobby and mass, on Pokémon TCG boosters, Magic: The Gathering Collector Boosters, and One Piece CG. Board, RPG, miniatures games, and accessories haven’t had quite the boom in sales that TCGs are experiencing, but top products and evergreens in these categories are still doing pretty well.
The primary reason I mention the recent “cry poor then spend like a sailor” game consumer behavior is that it directly relates to my job of projecting what gifts might be hot this year. It seems like the bulk of games customers will fall into clear categories for the 2026 holiday season: people buying gifts for kids/grandkids and people buying gifts to flip on the secondary market (and later gift themselves cash). The consumers buying gifts for kids/grandkids will likely have a limited budget, and be looking to spend an under $100 nominal amount on merchandise per individual they are buying the gift for. This is par for the course, year-over-year.
On the other side of the spectrum, the flippers are a different group. Flipper culture is an undeniable theme of 2026 gig economy, inspired mostly by get-rich-quick social media posts. Like the supply and demand issues that inspired the Great Cabbage Patch Riots of 1983, I expect flipping to factor in big time into holiday sales as this time of year tends to feature gift products with exclusive items in them. The gift flippers will likely have a much higher budget because they plan to sell whatever they purchase (or the singles they get from the products they open).
With all that said, let’s go through the ground rules for my Picks to Give 2026:
These are the games I’d give away to other people (that I like) as a gift. The selections made here may not necessarily cross over with what I like to play myself and can be from any category in the games space. This column is about mostly other people and what I think they might like to receive. Thus, the game items included in this column are what I believe to be legitimately good products which could make great gifts for friends, family, and others. They are listed in no particular order.
To address the flipping culture that is likely to factor into what sells over the holiday season, I’ve added into this year’s column some gifts that I believe might be on flippers’ minds as Flip Picks. Before anyone asks, my Flip Picks are pure speculation based on feedback I’ve received from retailers, consumers, other industry pros, and just my own keen sense of what is going on in the collectibles world these days. I am not advising anyone to buy or sell any of the Flip Picks; retailers can take or leave the Flip Picks information in this article. I’m just putting these Picks out there as possible targets for flippers, so retailers know what is going on and don’t get randomly wiped out of a product without warning or foul up managing inventory.
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Source: ICv2
