According to Newzoo’s latest Global Games Market Report, which will be released in full on September 10, the worldwide video‑game sector is set to expand by roughly 6.1 percent over the next year, bringing total revenues to an estimated $213.9 billion. More than half of that spend is expected to come from two powerhouses – China and the United States – underscoring the continued dominance of these markets in shaping the industry’s financial landscape. When the numbers are broken down by platform, consoles are forecast to generate about $46.9 billion, representing 22 percent of the total market and reflecting a healthy 5.1 percent year‑over‑year increase. A key driver behind this uplift is the highly anticipated release of Grand Theft Auto VI in November.
Newzoo predicts that the new title will lift full‑game spending by an impressive 17.5 percent, making it the strongest growth catalyst among all business models in the sector. Mobile gaming remains the largest slice of the pie, projected to capture 57 percent of global revenue – roughly $121.1 billion – and to grow 6.8 percent compared with the previous year. This upward trajectory is being fueled by higher average spend per player and the rapid expansion of direct‑to‑consumer (D2C) distribution channels, which give developers greater control over pricing, promotions, and customer data. A recent FastSpring and Omdia survey supports this trend, revealing that 96 percent of studios either already run a D2C storefront or have concrete plans to do so.
Studios cite improved brand visibility, stronger player loyalty, and richer first‑party data as the primary motivations for this shift. In contrast, the PC segment is expected to hold the smallest share of the market at 21 percent, translating to $45.9 billion in revenue.
Growth on this platform is projected at 5.3 percent year‑over‑year, a slowdown from the 12 percent compound annual growth rate that Newzoo had previously forecast for 2025. Despite the modest pace, PC growth is expected to be geographically diverse, with strong performance in the Asia‑Pacific region as well as in Latin America and the Middle East‑Africa (MEA) markets. Looking at business models, premium and mid‑priced titles are anticipated to continue sustaining full‑game revenue streams, while microtransactions are set to reclaim their position as the largest source of income across the industry. This shift suggests that developers will keep balancing high‑value, one‑time purchases with ongoing, in‑game monetisation tactics to maximise lifetime player value.
Player numbers are also a focal point of Newzoo’s outlook. The total global player base is projected to reach 4.07 billion by 2029, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 3.2 percent after a 4.4 percent increase in 2026. This slowdown reflects a broader industry consensus that future growth will rely more on retaining and monetising existing gamers rather than on attracting large numbers of new users. The data indicates that the market is approaching a saturation point in many mature regions, leaving emerging markets as the primary source of additional users.
Geographically, growth is increasingly concentrated in developing economies. The Asia‑Pacific region remains the largest contributor to overall revenue, while the Middle East and Africa are expanding at the fastest pace.
Mobile gaming is the main engine of this expansion, with an estimated 3.10 billion mobile players in 2026 – accounting for 84 percent of the total gaming population. PC gamers are expected to number around 977 million (about 26 percent of all players), and console enthusiasts will total roughly 651 million, representing 18 percent of the market. Penetration rates are projected to inch upward from 61.5 percent to 62 percent in 2026. However, Newzoo cautions that there is limited headroom for further expansion through deeper market penetration alone.
Instead, the modest increase will largely stem from the overall online population growing by an estimated 3.5 percent to reach 5.97 billion people worldwide. In summary, the upcoming year promises solid, if not spectacular, growth for the global games industry. Console revenues will benefit from blockbuster releases like Grand Theft Auto VI, mobile will continue to dominate in both revenue and player count, and PC will see steady, geographically broad expansion.
At the same time, studios are increasingly turning to D2C storefronts to capture more value from their audiences, and microtransaction models are poised to regain their status as the top revenue generator. The overarching narrative is one of maturing markets, where the emphasis shifts from acquiring new players to deepening engagement and monetisation of the existing user base, especially in fast‑growing emerging regions.