What’s Trending on TikTok for Gamers This Month (October 2026)

What’s trending for gamers on TikTok right now?

Here’s October 2026 at a glance:

Some of these are big-budget moments you can’t control. Others, like Halloween and Next Fest, are open to any studio or brand with the right creators.

Spotting which trends fit your game is half the job. The other half is finding creators who already make that kind of content. INFLUENCE matches you with creators whose recent videos are already landing in the trends that suit your game, so you’re joining a conversation instead of forcing one.

GTA VI’s launch trailer and the countdown to November 19

On October 15, 2026, Rockstar shadow-dropped Grand Theft Auto VI’s 90-second launch trailer with no warning, and pre-orders opened at $79.99 for Standard and $99.99 for Ultimate. The trailer picked up about 13.8 million YouTube views in roughly eight hours. (PlayToEarn, Rockstar Intel)

Every GTA trailer sets off the same wave of creator formats, and you’ll see plenty of them on TikTok this month:

• “Things you missed” breakdowns of background details, signs and story hints.

• Real-world comparisons of Vice City and Leonida with the real Miami and Florida.

• Countdown content, as creators tick off the days to November 19.

• Pre-order and edition debates, since $79.99 is a talking point on its own.

For most brands, GTA isn’t a trend to join head-on. Rockstar isn’t asking, and the feed is crowded. But it’s a trend to plan around. Gaming creators’ calendars will be packed in November, and anything you launch that week competes with it. We wrote more about that in what GTA VI’s trailer rollout teaches publishers.

Riding a huge moment without stepping on it takes timing and the right angle. INFLUENCE briefs creators on angles that fit your product, like setups, snacks, schedules or counter-programming, and books them before calendars fill up for launch week.

Marvel Rivals’ Avengers season

Marvel Rivals is having a big October. Season 10.5 launched on October 9, 2026, with a new 2v2 Avengers: Infinity War mode set in Wakanda, plus Halloween costumes for nine heroes and a free Hallow’s Glow event on October 15. (Beebom)

TikTok noticed. #marvelrivalsavengers appeared on TikTok Creative Center’s U.S. trending hashtag rankings in October, covering gameplay highlights, character comparisons, fan edits and team discussions. (New Engen)

What’s working in this space:

• Hero comparisons and tier lists. “Who’s actually the best Avenger?” never gets old.

• Clutch-play clips. Short, single-moment highlights do better than long montages.

• Halloween skin showcases. New costumes are an easy, visual hook.

• Fan edits set to trending sounds.

There’s another event on the way: a puzzle event called Night of Illusions arrives October 29, so expect a second bump right before Halloween.

Live-service seasons come with a lot of short windows: a new mode one week, a new skin the next. INFLUENCE schedules creators around those windows and briefs them on what’s new, so your content shows up while people are still searching for it.

Halloween: horror games, costume reveals and spooky sounds

Halloween is the easiest October trend for gaming brands to join, because it’s not owned by any one game. Three things are happening on TikTok:

Horror game launches. October brought several horror releases, including Hellraiser: Revival and Silver Pines (both October 8) and the soulslike Valor Mortis (October 13). (GameSpot) Horror is made for reaction content, so expect plenty of “I screamed” clips.

Costume reveals. Across TikTok, the “costume reveal” formats are big this month: starting in regular clothes and cutting to a full costume on a drum drop, or the “Ramalama Costume Walk” set to Róisín Murphy’s “Ramalama (Bang Bang).” (New Engen, SocialPilot) For gaming creators, the natural spin is a reveal of a game character cosplay. That’s our suggestion, not a measured trend, but it’s a format that fits.

Fall sounds. “we fell in love in october” by girl in red was at peak use with about 2 million videos as of mid-October, according to SocialPilot. Cozy-game creators can put it under autumn builds and seasonal decorating.

Halloween windows are short and fill up fast. INFLUENCE books creators weeks ahead and briefs them on the formats and sounds that fit your game, so your content goes live during the moment, not the week after.

Steam Next Fest and Call of Duty week

The last full week of October is packed.

Steam Next Fest runs October 19 to 26, 2026. (PocketGamer.biz) That means hundreds of free PC demos, and a flood of “demos you need to try” and “first look” videos. For indie studios, it’s one of the best weeks of the year to have creators post about your demo. Our Steam wishlists guide walks through the timing.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launches October 23 on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2 and Switch. (GameSpot) Expect a wave of clip content: first impressions, loadout guides, funny moments and early “best weapon” debates.

For everyone else, that’s a crowded few days. If you’re not part of either, consider posting before October 19 or after the CoD launch weekend.

Picking the right days inside a crowded week is the kind of detail that’s easy to miss. INFLUENCE plans posting windows around big releases like this, so your creators aren’t fighting the year’s biggest shooter for the same viewers.

How to use a gaming trend without looking like an ad

Let the creator lead. The fastest way to kill a trend is to hand a creator a script and a hashtag. Viewers can tell, and the comments will say so.

Disclosure matters even for a quick trend video. The FTC expects paid partnerships to be clearly disclosed, and TikTok has its own paid-partnership label, which works best alongside a spoken or on-screen mention.

Giving creators freedom while still getting what you need is a balancing act. INFLUENCE hands each creator the idea, the must-haves and the disclosure rules, then leaves the execution to them. Every draft comes back to you for a yes or a tweak before it’s posted.

What to watch for in November

November will be dominated by one date: November 19, 2026, when GTA VI launches. Here’s what we’re watching:

• GTA VI launch week. Expect it to take over gaming feeds for days. Plan your own posts around it.

• Black Friday. TikTok Shop deal content is already starting early, according to SocialPilot, which matters for gaming hardware and accessories.

• Holiday gift guides. “Gifts for gamers” content ramps up through late November.

We’ll update this page with November’s trends early next month.

Planning a month around one giant release takes a calendar and creators who are ready when you are. INFLUENCE builds that calendar with you and books creators for each window. You name the ceiling you’ll pay per 1,000 views, and the bill follows what the videos actually deliver (more on pay-per-view).

Trends come and go, but the playbook stays the same: pick the moments that fit your game, find creators who already make that content, and let them do it their way. If you’d like help with that, it’s exactly what INFLUENCE was built for.