Gaming and entertainment sites have a specific set of needs: a homepage that can feature many items at once, review templates with ratings, category archives that work as browsable lists, video and gallery support, and a design with more visual energy than a business blog. Building that from scratch is slow and expensive. A ready-made theme covers most of it for less than the cost of an hour of developer time — provided you check a few things before buying.
This list is a refresh of an older roundup. Themes that have disappeared from their marketplaces are gone; the twelve below were live when we last checked, and every one costs under $100 or is free. It covers video game news and reviews, esports teams, arcade and browser-game portals, entertainment magazines and review sites — including the review and tutorial format used by sites covering casino games, which have the same structural requirements as any other game-review niche.
Before you buy any theme: the five checks
- Last updated date. Anything not updated in the past twelve months is a risk with current WordPress and PHP versions.
- Builder dependency. Many gaming themes require a bundled page builder. That is fine if you want it; it is a performance and lock-in cost if you do not.
- Demo speed. Run the demo through PageSpeed Insights on mobile. Demos are the best case; your site will be slower.
- What happens to content if you switch. Themes that store reviews and ratings in their own custom fields lose that data on a theme change. Prefer themes that use standard posts, categories and a review plugin.
- Licence. Single-site vs unlimited, and whether updates are included beyond the first year.
The twelve themes
1. Orizon – The Gaming Template (WP version)
A long-running ThemeForest gaming theme with a magazine-style front page for latest reviews, unlimited colour and background options, and a layout suited to game or slot review sites. Check the update history carefully; it is one of the older items in this list. Orizon on ThemeForest — $42.
2. Gameleon – WordPress Arcade Theme and News Magazine
Built for arcade and browser-game portals: MyArcadePlugin integration, HTML5 game compatibility, a ratings and review system and a news-magazine layout. The right choice if visitors play games on your site rather than reading about them. Gameleon on ThemeForest — $49.
3. GameWorld – WooCommerce Game Theme
An e-commerce theme for selling or reviewing video games, built on WooCommerce. The homepage features products; single “game” pages double as review templates. Works for any catalogue of games or entertainment products where you sell as well as review. GameWorld on ThemeForest — $59.
4. Poker Dice – Casino Resort and Hotel
Aimed at physical venues — resorts, hotels, entertainment complexes — with reservation features, a shop section, a premium slider and a bundled drag-and-drop builder. Choose it for a bricks-and-mortar entertainment business, not a content site. Poker Dice on ThemeForest — $59.
5. Casino Roulette (Flytonic)
A niche theme built for affiliate review sites: translation-ready with every string editable from theme options, a custom mobile menu, full-width page templates, a blog template and a shortcode-driven listings widget for ranking items on any page. The listings widget is the reason to buy it. Casino Roulette at Flytonic — $97.
6. DoubleDown (Flytonic)
Flytonic’s most popular theme, close to Casino Roulette in features with a homepage slider, highlighted items section, review templates and a companion plugin for displaying game listings. Same shortcode rankings widget. Responsive and translation-ready. DoubleDown at Flytonic — $97.
7. Vegas Hero
A theme set for gaming affiliates that includes access to a large library of embeddable free demo games (over 1,800 at the time of writing) that visitors can play in-page. Designed so one licence can power several sites with different reviews and landing pages. Vegas Hero — $59.
8. Divi (Elegant Themes)
Not a gaming theme — a general-purpose theme with one of the most complete visual builders available. It is on the list because many entertainment sites want a fully custom look and no developer, and Divi delivers that. The trade-off is builder lock-in and heavier pages; read our builders vs native blocks comparison first. Divi at Elegant Themes — $89 per year.
9. News One Pro (Canyon Themes)
Our magazine theme, and what we recommend for gaming news and review sites that publish daily. Grid front page with featured, trending and category sections, a wide single-post template that handles embedded video and comparison tables, and no builder dependency, so it stays fast under heavy image loads. Works with any review or ratings plugin because it uses standard posts. News One Pro; a free version is on WordPress.org.
10. Sparker Pro (Canyon Themes)
A one-page and landing-page theme. Suited to an esports team, a game launch, a tournament or a streamer’s hub: a hero, feature sections, a schedule or roster, sponsors and a contact block, all editable with native blocks. Pair it with a blog if you also publish news. Sparker Pro.
11. Bloge Pro (Canyon Themes)
A single-column, typography-first theme for long-form reviews and guides. If your gaming site is three long reviews a week rather than thirty short news items, this reads better and loads faster than any magazine layout. Wide content column for tables and screenshots. Bloge Pro.
12. Danfe (Canyon Themes, free)
A business-style theme with a sectioned homepage — hero, services, testimonials, call to action — plus a blog. Choose it for a game studio, an esports organisation or an entertainment agency that needs a branded front page in front of its news. Free, and compatible with the major builders if you want them. Danfe.
Quick comparison
| Theme | Best for | Builder required? | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orizon | Game review magazine | No | $42 |
| Gameleon | Arcade / playable games portal | No | $49 |
| GameWorld | Selling + reviewing games | No (WooCommerce) | $59 |
| Poker Dice | Venue / resort | Bundled | $59 |
| Casino Roulette | Affiliate review listings | No | $97 |
| DoubleDown | Affiliate review listings | No | $97 |
| Vegas Hero | Multi-site affiliate network | No | $59 |
| Divi | Fully custom design, no coding | Yes (Divi Builder) | $89/yr |
| News One Pro | Daily gaming news + reviews | No | See product page |
| Sparker Pro | Team / launch landing page | No | See product page |
| Bloge Pro | Long-form reviews | No | See product page |
| Danfe | Studio / org homepage + blog | No | Free |
Keeping a gaming theme fast
Gaming sites are image- and video-heavy by nature, so the theme is only half the performance picture. Whatever you choose: serve images as WebP sized to their container, lazy-load everything below the fold, embed video with a click-to-play facade rather than a live iframe, load one review or ratings plugin rather than three, and disable any bundled slider you are not using. Test on a mid-range phone, not your desktop.
Which Canyon theme fits
- News One Pro — gaming news and review magazines.
- Sparker Pro — esports teams, launches, single-event sites.
- Bloge Pro — long-form review sites.
Browse the full magazine theme category.