In the first half of 2026, the performance of long‑standing live‑service and evergreen titles showed little to no growth, and in several cases actually fell when measured against the same period in 2025, according to the latest figures released by market‑research firm Newzoo. The organization’s newly issued Global Games Market Report highlights that only a handful of games managed to push the overall numbers upward. Those outliers include Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, the newly launched Diablo 4, Overwatch, the user‑generated content platform Roblox, and a selection of region‑specific releases from Chinese giant Tencent. While Sony’s PlayStation Plus subscription bundle is expected to provide a modest lift for multi‑game subscription services, the broader trend for digital revenue across six major Western markets was negative in the H1 window.
Newzoo attributes this dip to a combination of weaker free‑to‑play performance and a slowdown in the annualised premium segment, which together outweighed the impact of any strong new releases during the period. Looking ahead, Newzoo projects that the console player base will expand by roughly 3 percent over the course of the full year, an improvement over the almost flat 0.5 percent growth recorded in 2025. The primary catalyst for this renewed momentum is the highly anticipated launch of Grand Theft Auto VI, a title that is expected to act as a catalyst for console sales, particularly for Sony’s PlayStation ecosystem.
In addition, first‑party releases for Nintendo’s upcoming Switch 2 console are anticipated to broaden the install base for the ninth generation of home gaming hardware. Supporting this outlook, recent data from Nielsen IQ indicates that, in the United Kingdom, sales of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox consoles jumped by 33 percent and 34 percent respectively in the weeks following the premiere of the Grand Theft Auto VI trailer on Netflix. The surge underscores the powerful halo effect that a marquee franchise can have on hardware adoption, even when the actual game is not yet available for purchase. Emmanuel “Manu” Rosier, Newzoo’s director of market intelligence, told GamesIndustry.biz that without the boost from Grand Theft Auto VI, console‑related revenue would likely have remained flat compared with the previous year.
His comments suggest that the industry is heavily reliant on a few blockbuster releases to drive growth, a pattern that has become more pronounced as the market matures. The report also ranks the top ten publicly listed gaming companies for the first quarter of 2026. Collectively, these firms generated $37.4 billion in revenue, marking a 6.7 percent year‑over‑year increase. Tencent retained its position at the summit with an 11.9 percent rise to $10.8 billion.
Sony followed with $5.2 billion in revenue, a slight decline of 0.9 percent, while Microsoft posted $5.1 billion, down 5.5 percent. Roblox, which has become a major player in the user‑generated content space, posted a 39.3 percent jump to $1.4 billion, landing it in the tenth spot on the list.
On a macro level, Newzoo continues to forecast that the global video‑game market will reach $213.9 billion in 2026, representing a 6.1 percent increase over the prior year. The Asia‑Pacific region is projected to account for nearly half of this total, delivering approximately $100.7 billion in revenue. Within that region, China alone is expected to generate $58.1 billion, while North America will contribute $56.9 billion, with the United States representing $53.5 billion of that figure.
Player numbers are also on an upward trajectory. Newzoo estimates that the worldwide gaming audience will hit 3.7 billion in 2026, a 4.4 percent rise from 2025. Notably, the proportion of players who spend money on games is expected to climb to 44.6 percent of the total base, a significant jump from the 39.4 percent share recorded in 2015. This shift points to a maturing market where a larger slice of the audience is willing to pay for content, whether through purchases, subscriptions, or microtransactions.
In terms of monetisation efficiency, the average revenue per paying user (ARPPU) is forecast to reach $129.6, up 1.4 percent year‑over‑year. Newzoo attributes this modest increase to deeper spending habits among existing players rather than a surge of new spenders, suggesting that developers are becoming more adept at extracting value from their established communities. Overall, the data paints a picture of a market that is growing, but at a measured pace, heavily influenced by a handful of blockbuster titles and the strategic moves of major platform holders. While live‑service games that have dominated the past few years are seeing stagnation, the upcoming wave of high‑profile releases—most notably Grand Theft Auto VI—could provide the spark needed to reinvigorate both hardware sales and overall revenue growth for the remainder of the year.