In an all-new report, it has been confirmed that the global games market ended 2025 with a whopping $201 billion in yearly revenue. This is the first time that the wider market has pushed through that $200 billion mark, and there are indications that, by 2028, it could reach as high as $234 billion.
This news has surfaced amid a cost-cutting crisis that is seeing studios closing down, projects being cancelled, and employees still being laid off en masse. Console revenue is rebounding, PC saw a massive year-on-year growth leap, and mobile performance is soaring high above all comers.
The numbers paint a very different picture from the social sentiments and most critical talking points of the day.
PC, Console, and Mobile Are All Growing, So What’s The Problem?
In a new report from Newzoo, it was confirmed that, by the end of 2025, the global games market had secured $201.6 billion in revenue, up a whopping 9.1% year-over-year. This is the first time that the market has surpassed the $200 billion mark, and it trumped expectations and estimations going into the year.
The numbers portray solid, across-the-board performance:
- PC delivered a massive 12% boost year-over-year, securing $43.6 billion in revenue
- Console revenue reached $44.7 billion, a rebound from 2024’s shortfall performance and up 2.8% YoY
- Mobile revenues hit an eye-watering $113.3 billion, up an incredible 10.7%
It was also revealed that full-game spending is up and microtransaction revenue grew through 2025, as did gaming subscriptions.
There’s more money than ever in the gaming space, but operating costs are also up. It is regularly reported that it can cost upwards of $300 million to develop a single AAA game, when you lump in production and marketing costs alongside everything else.
But there’s no hiding the CAGR for the gaming market, which sits at 5.1% between 2025 and 2028. The estimations suggest gaming is only going to get more lucrative, and some companies are predicting insane numbers in the next year or two.
For instance, Take-Two Interactive has estimated a yearly revenue of up to $8 billion through 2026, thanks to the imminent launch of Grand Theft Auto 6. Given the pull of that one game, that’s likely a conservative estimation.
However, Newzoo’s report wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. It also talked about the struggles experienced by the rising costs of hardware and memory, which have had a knock-on impact on almost every angle of the business. Recently, XBOX spoke of the strain incurred by these rising costs, with Asha Sharma professing the tribulations of even the most major tech titans in the space.
The growth in spending and revenue is great, but we’re still seeing stacks of studios shuttered and hundreds of workers laid off every month, if not more. This summer, XBOX is preparing to make mass layoffs, and in recent news, it was claimed that Bungie, the beleaguered developer behind Marathon, will lay off up to 400 employees.
Much of the rising revenue can be explained by the growth in price points. It’s no big secret that the cost of gaming is getting increasingly aspirational, with XBOX, PlayStation, and Nintendo having raised hardware prices in the last year, by quite a thick margin.
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The cost of AAA gaming has risen, and subscription fees have been flying all over the place in the last few months. The never-ending debate about the cost of top-tier titles is still raging, and we still don’t know how much something like Grand Theft Auto 6 is going to cost.
Ultimately, gaming revenue will continue to rise as the cost of producing and buying games increases in kind. Things cost more, people spend more, and the numbers keep climbing. Over time, gaming is becoming increasingly popular, even if the lion’s share of the market is attributed to free-to-play mobile experiences.
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Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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