Amplify Video Game Leaders ETF (GAMR) Second Quarter Commentary 2026

The Amplify Video Game Leaders ETF (GAMR) offers access to global companies in the video gaming value chain, including game development, publishing, mobile and online games, GPUs (graphics processing unit), development platforms, supporting software, hardware, peripherals, and the metaverse. GAMR seeks investment results that generally correlate (before fees and expenses) to the VettaFi Video Game Leaders Index.

 GAMR rallied 22.30% on a net asset value (NAV) basis compared to its underlying benchmark, the VettaFi Video Game Leaders Index, at 22.73% for the second quarter (Q2) 2026.

Data as of 6/30/26. Fund inception date: 3/7/2016. Index inception date: 12/17/2024. Total expense ratio is 0.59%. The performance data quoted represents past performance and does not guarantee future results. Investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when sold or redeemed, may be worth more or less than the original cost. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance quoted. Click here for recent month end performance. Brokerage commissions will reduce returns. NAV is the sum of all its assets less any liabilities, divided by the number of shares outstanding. The closing price is the last price at which the fund traded.

Top 10 Holdings

Data as of 6/30/26. Holdings and allocations are subject to change at any time and should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell a security.

Video Gaming Rebounds After Google-AI Induced Selloff

Investor fears about the impact of Google’s Project Genie on gaming stocks turned out to be a market overreaction. Project Genie, Google’s new generative-AI prototype, can create interactive worlds from a text or image prompt, and users are already testing its ability to recreate copyrighted worlds.¹ But, interactivity within those generated worlds is very limited and unsuitable on their own for games that require consistent, repeatable player experiences.

Gaming Industry M&A Reaches $2.3B Amid Mid-Market Boom

Another positive catalyst for the segment has been a gaming M&A boom, which hit $2.3B in Q2 2026 across 54 transactions.² PC and casual mobile studios drove the quarter's largest transactions. This mid-market M&A boom offset mobile sector headwinds, while private investment in gaming AI and AdTech infrastructure surged to $3.1B. Most of this capital flooded into gaming-adjacent infrastructure rather than traditional game developers.

Mobile Gaming Headwinds, But Many Still Thriving

The mobile gaming sector continued to struggle at the consumer level, with quarterly gross in-app purchase revenue declining 4% year-over-year.² Furthermore, game installs hit multi-year lows, dropping by 12%, per Pocketgamer.biz. But despite mobile headwinds, certain gaming companies managed to thrive. Voodoo, Roblox, and Boltray Games rank as the top-growing publishers in the U.S. by incremental in-app purchase revenue. And globally, with high growth rates of 32% and 25%, respectively, Singapore and Turkey are the nations with the fastest-growing publisher headquarters worldwide.

Top performers contributing to returns include Advanced Micro Devices (+185.56%), NVIDIA (+14.86%), and Applovin (+29.45%).

Chipmaker AMD’s blow-out quarter in Q2 was tied primarily to explosive data center growth and hyperscaler AI wins and not gaming. AMD’s gaming revenue grew 11% in the first quarter of 2026 driven by strong sales of its new Radeon 9000 series graphics card. NVIDIA’s gaming segment experienced a strong rally in Q2 2026, growing by 49% to $4.3 billion.³ This growth was driven by local AI capabilities and the shift to AI PCs. The chipmaker’s gaming gains were far outweighed by its datacenter growth however, which skyrocketed to $41 billion in revenues. Mobile-app gaming developer AppLovin rallied in Q2 after posting a sizable earnings beat, assuaging fears of AI disruption.⁴ The surprise beat resulted in several analyst upgrades.

Detractors on performance for the period included Nintendo (-23.92%), Tencent Holdings (-10.19%), and Bilibili (-22.87%).

Nintendo stock declined in the second quarter as investors continue to be disappointed regarding the outlook for the gaming platform’s Switch 2 gaming system.⁵ Soaring memory prices and a lack of new blockbuster titles are also a cause for concern. While China’s Tencent gaming division maintained its lead as the world’s top game publisher in Q2 2026, generating roughly $1.4 billion in global mobile revenue, the company's broader gaming footprint has faced headwinds due to economic and regulatory uncertainty. Facing similar challenges, China name Bilibili missed revenue estimates.⁶ While it continues to expand user growth and diversity its revenue streams, the revenue shortfall is indicative of slowing momentum.  

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