PC gaming is outgrowing console gaming when it comes to total number of players.
In the 2025 PC and Console Gaming Report from Newzoo, global data indicates that more players started playing games on PC than they did on console. According to the report, PC player numbers rose 3.9% year-over-year (YoY) from 873.5 million to 907.5 million in 2024. Console players growth, on the other hand, while still up, only grew 2.3% from 615.6 million to 629.5 million.
Looking to the future, Newzoo projects that player growth will steadily continue to rise for 2025 and through 2027. It projects that PC numbers will increase to around 930.1 million this year while console players will jump to 653.1 million. By the end of 2027, Newzoo suggests that PC and console player numbers will be around 971.7 million and 698 million, respectively.
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Despite PC players growing at a higher rate and there being more of them, console revenue was slightly ahead of PC. In 2024, console gaming made $42.8 billion in revenue while PC gaming came in at $37.3 billion. With a total of $80.2 billion for the year, that was a bit less than the $81.9 billion in revenue in 2023. Still, it’s expected that gaming revenue in general will grow in 2025 to $85.2 billion. By 2027, Newzoo expects revenue to surpass $92 billion for the year.
A reason for the increase in overall gaming revenue projections? New hardware. The Nintendo Switch 2 in 2025 and the expected new hardware around 2027 will lead to more gaming purchases for players.
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