According to the latest figures released by market‑research firm Newzoo, the most mature live‑service and evergreen video‑game titles recorded either stagnant or negative year‑over‑year growth during the first half of 2026 when compared with the same period in 2025. The firm’s newly issued Global Games Market Report highlights that only a handful of titles managed to post any meaningful expansion. Those outliers included Blizzard’s long‑running World of Warcraft, the recently launched Diablo 4, Activision‑Blizzard’s Overwatch, the sandbox phenomenon Roblox, and a selection of regional releases from Chinese giant Tencent. The report also notes that while PlayStation Plus is expected to bolster multi‑game subscription bundles, overall digital revenue streams fell across six major Western markets in the H1 2026 window.
Newzoo attributes this dip to a combination of weaker free‑to‑play performance and a slowdown in annualised premium purchases, which together outweighed the impact of any strong new releases that did appear during the period. Looking ahead, Newzoo projects that the console player base will grow by roughly 3 percent over the course of the full year, a noticeable improvement over the near‑flat 0.5 percent increase recorded in 2025. The primary catalyst for this uptick is anticipated to be the launch of Rockstar Games’ flagship title Grand Theft Auto 6, a release that is expected to re‑energise the console ecosystem and, in particular, drive renewed momentum for Sony’s PlayStation platform.
In addition, first‑party offerings slated for the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 are expected to contribute to a broader expansion of the ninth‑generation console install base. Supporting this outlook, recent Nielsen IQ data reveal that, in the United Kingdom, sales of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox consoles surged by 33 percent and 34 percent respectively in the weeks following the high‑profile premiere of GTA 6 on the streaming service Netflix. This spike underscores the strong cross‑media pull that a blockbuster title can exert on hardware demand.
Emmanuel “Manu” Rosier, Newzoo’s director of market intelligence, told GamesIndustry.biz that without the catalytic effect of GTA 6, console‑related revenues would likely have remained flat relative to 2025 levels. His comments reinforce the notion that flagship releases continue to serve as the primary growth engine for the console segment, especially in a market where incremental innovation is increasingly difficult to achieve. The report also provides a snapshot of the top ten publicly listed gaming companies for the first quarter of 2026. Collectively, these firms generated $37.4 billion in game‑related revenue, marking a 6.7 percent year‑over‑year increase.
Tencent retained its position at the summit, posting an 11.9 percent rise to $10.8 billion. Sony followed with $5.2 billion, a modest 0.9 percent decline, while Microsoft reported $5.1 billion, down 5.5 percent.
Roblox experienced the most dramatic growth among the group, expanding 39.3 percent to $1.4 billion and securing the tenth spot on the list. On a macro level, Newzoo continues to forecast that the global games market will reach $213.9 billion in 2026, representing a 6.1 percent increase over the previous year. The Asia‑Pacific region is expected to account for nearly half of this total, delivering approximately $100.7 billion in revenue. Within that region, China alone is projected to generate $58.1 billion, while North America is slated to contribute $56.9 billion, with the United States comprising $53.5 billion of that figure.
Player numbers are also on an upward trajectory. Newzoo estimates that the worldwide player base will hit 3.7 billion in 2026, a 4.4 percent rise year‑over‑year. Moreover, the proportion of players who spend money on games is expected to climb to 44.6 percent, up from 39.4 percent in 2015, indicating a deepening monetisation trend among the audience. In terms of revenue per paying user, the average revenue per paying user (ARPPU) is forecast to reach $129.6, a 1.4 percent increase over the prior year.
Newzoo attributes this modest uplift to “deeper spending within the existing base,” suggesting that developers are succeeding in extracting more value from existing customers through expanded content, microtransactions, and premium services. Overall, the data paints a picture of a market that is slowly rebounding from a period of stagnation, driven primarily by a handful of blockbuster releases and strategic subscription offerings. While the broader live‑service ecosystem shows signs of fatigue, the launch of GTA 6 and the continued rollout of next‑generation hardware are poised to inject fresh vitality into the console segment and help sustain growth throughout the remainder of 2026.