The global video game market in 2026 in five key reports

The global game market grew again in 2026. Newzoo estimated the market's revenue in 2026 at nearly 214 billion dollars, 6 percent more than the previous year. Even so, more than a quarter of the professionals surveyed by GDC in the same year said they had been laid off in the past two years.

This note reviews market growth and the state of the game industry workforce using the findings of five reference reports. The Newzoo reports estimate market size and the number of players. The GDC survey shows the situation of game developers, and the Bain & Company report shows players' purchasing behavior. The ESA booklets also report the characteristics of players in the United States and 21 other countries. The full text of these reports is available in the Namafar reference reports section.

How big is the video game industry worldwide?

The figure for the total market comes from Newzoo's global report. Newzoo has also published a separate report on PC and console. According to this report, the revenue of these two platforms reaches about 94 billion dollars in 2026. This revenue was about 88 billion dollars in 2025.

In 2025, console revenue, at 45.3 billion dollars, was slightly higher than PC revenue at 43 billion dollars. However, PC grew faster. Newzoo estimated PC growth in that year at about 10 percent and console growth at about 4 percent. According to the forecast in the same report, PC revenue will exceed console revenue by 2028.

Not all reports give the same estimate of market growth. Bain & Company reported slower growth. According to Bain, global game software revenue has increased by about 3 percent a year over the past four years. This figure does not include hardware, advertising or esports.

How many people play games worldwide?

This revenue comes from hundreds of millions of players. Newzoo estimated the number of PC players in 2025 at nearly 940 million and forecasts that this figure will exceed one billion by 2028. The number of console players in 2025 was about 645 million. These two groups overlap, and their sum does not give the total number of players.

The average age of players is higher than commonly assumed. According to the ESA “Essential Facts” booklet, more than 212 million Americans play games regularly, and their average age is 37. The same association's “Power of Play” survey of 24,000 players in 21 countries has a similar result. The average age of respondents in this survey was 41, and 48 percent of them were women. More than half of the respondents said the phone was their main gaming device.

What games do people play?

The ranking of the most played games also changed in 2025. According to Newzoo, Roblox became the most played game franchise that year, overtaking Fortnite and Call of Duty. Playtime in open-world building games (Sandbox) rose by more than a third. By contrast, playtime in the battle royale genre fell by more than a quarter. These figures cover 37 markets and do not include China and India.

Even so, playtime remains concentrated in a limited number of games. According to Newzoo, the top 20 games accounted for more than half of total playtime. Total playtime in 2025 stayed roughly flat, because the decline in playtime on console was offset by an increase on PC.

Where does the game industry's money come from?

Player spending is even more concentrated than playtime. Bain & Company's survey shows that the top fifth of players by spending pay about three quarters of total spending. The most active fifth of players also account for nearly 60 percent of total playtime.

Players' age also has a clear relationship with their spending. According to Bain, 86 percent of teenagers spend money on games in a typical month. This share is 27 percent among people in their seventies.

The source of revenue differs across platforms. According to Newzoo, nearly half of PC game revenue in 2025 came from in-game microtransactions. By contrast, half of console revenue came from sales of the games themselves. In the United States, consumer spending on games reached 60.7 billion dollars in 2025.

Buying directly from the developer

The share of app stores in this revenue is declining. In June 2026, Bain & Company surveyed more than 5,000 players. Nearly half of them had bought at least once in the past year from the game developer's own online store, and 27 percent more than once.

Developers have also moved in the same direction. According to Bain, three quarters of the 50 highest-grossing mobile games now have their own online store. In 2019 this share was 12 percent. Google has also agreed to reduce its base commission on each sale from 30 percent to 20 percent.

The game industry workforce and artificial intelligence

Market growth has not been accompanied by an improvement in the situation of the workforce. The GDC game conference surveyed more than 2,300 game industry professionals. One in six respondents said they had been laid off in the past twelve months. Nearly half of those laid off had not yet found a new job.

Concern about generative artificial intelligence has also grown among developers. 52 percent of GDC respondents consider its effect on the game industry negative. This share was 30 percent in the 2025 survey. In the 2024 survey it was 18 percent. However, more than a third of respondents use these tools in their work, mostly for research and ideation. In addition, 78 percent of respondents work at companies that have an internal policy on the use of artificial intelligence.

Players see the issue differently. According to Bain, 42 percent of players said they now feel more comfortable with the game industry's use of artificial intelligence than they did a year ago. This share reaches 59 percent among teenagers aged 13 to 17.

The PC remains the main platform for game developers. 83 percent of GDC respondents make games for PC, and PlayStation 5 is second with 47 percent.

Mobile games in Japan and Korea

In East Asia, the phone is the main gaming platform. In the “Power of Play” survey, 57 percent of players in South Korea and half of players in Japan said the phone was their main gaming device.

A survey by Cross Marketing of 1,200 Japanese mobile players gives more detail on the behavior of these players. More than two thirds of them play every day, and their most common reason is passing the time. About a fifth of them had spent money on games in the past month, and the average spending of this group was 7,396 yen. Puzzle games are the most common genre among these players.

South Korea's path has been shaped more by government policymaking. Hengran Yang and Xingzhao Duan, in an article on game governance in Korea, review the country's main policies. The Game Industry Promotion Act was passed in 2006. The “Shutdown Law” restricted access for adolescents under 16 from midnight to six in the morning from 2011 to 2021. Since March 2024, companies have also been required to disclose the probability of obtaining each item in loot boxes. According to the authors' estimate, Korea's mobile game market reached 14.2 trillion won in 2024. This market was 0.2 trillion won in 2010.

Games in Iran

In Iran, mobile game statistics are presented in the note “Most installed mobile games on Cafe Bazaar in Aban (October–November) 1405 (2026/27)”. “Amirza”, with 30 million active installs, is the most installed game on this store.

Frequently asked questions

What is the revenue of the global game market?

Newzoo estimated the revenue of the global game market in 2026 at about 213.9 billion dollars. This figure is 6.1 percent more than the previous year.

How many people play PC games worldwide?

Newzoo estimated the number of PC players in 2025 at about 936 million and forecasts that it will pass one billion by 2028.

What is the most popular game in the world?

According to Newzoo, Roblox was the most played game franchise in the 37 markets studied in 2025, ahead of Fortnite and Call of Duty.

What percentage of game developers use artificial intelligence?

In the 2026 GDC survey, 36 percent of game industry professionals said they use generative artificial intelligence tools in their work.

How much do American players spend on games?

According to ESA, American consumer spending on video games reached 60.7 billion dollars in 2025.

Game statistics for Iran and the world are available on the page “Video game statistics in Iran and the world” and in Namafar's reference reports.