According to the latest figures released by market‑research firm Newzoo, the most entrenched live‑service and evergreen titles recorded either flat performance or a dip in revenue when comparing the first half of 2026 to the same period in 2025. The firm’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 long‑running World of Warcraft, the recently launched Diablo 4, Overwatch, the user‑generated content platform Roblox, and a selection of new releases from Chinese giant Tencent that performed well in overseas markets. The report also notes that while Sony’s PlayStation Plus subscription bundle is expected to help buoy growth for multi‑game subscription models, digital sales across six major Western territories actually fell year‑on‑year in the first six months of 2026.
Newzoo attributes this contraction 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 total console‑player base will expand by roughly 3 % over the course of the year, a noticeable improvement over the near‑flat 0.5 % growth recorded in 2025.
The primary catalyst for this uptick is expected to be the launch of Rockstar Games’ highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6, a title that should also give a further boost to Sony’s PlayStation ecosystem. In addition, first‑party releases for Nintendo’s upcoming Switch 2 console are anticipated to attract new adopters, thereby widening the install base for the ninth generation of home consoles. Supporting this outlook, recent Nielsen IQ data from the United Kingdom shows a sharp rise in console sales following the public debut of GTA 6 on the streaming platform Netflix.
PlayStation 5 units climbed 33 % and Xbox consoles rose 34 % in the weeks after the premiere, indicating that the buzz surrounding the new Grand Theft Auto installment is translating into tangible hardware demand. Emmanuel “Manu” Rosier, Newzoo’s director of market intelligence, told GamesIndustry.biz that without the lift provided by GTA 6, console‑related revenues would likely have remained flat relative to 2025 levels.
He emphasized that the title’s release is a rare event capable of moving the needle for an otherwise mature console market that has been experiencing modest growth. 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 game‑related revenue, marking a 6.7 % increase over the previous year. Chinese conglomerate Tencent retained its position at the top of the list, posting an 11.9 % rise to $10.8 billion.
Sony followed with $5.2 billion in revenue, a slight dip of 0.9 %, while Microsoft reported $5.1 billion, down 5.5 % year‑on‑year. Roblox, the platform that enables users to create and monetize their own games, posted a striking 39.3 % jump to $1.4 billion, earning the tenth spot on the ranking.
Newzoo’s broader market forecast continues to be optimistic. The firm expects the global games market to reach $213.9 billion in 2026, representing a 6.1 % year‑over‑year increase.
The Asia‑Pacific region will remain the dominant revenue generator, accounting for nearly half of total global sales with an estimated $100.7 billion. Within that region, China alone is projected to contribute $58.1 billion. North America will hold the second‑largest share at $56.9 billion, with the United States accounting for $53.5 billion of that total. In terms of player numbers, Newzoo anticipates the worldwide gaming audience to climb to 3.7 billion in 2026, a 4.4 % rise from the previous year.
Notably, the proportion of players who spend money on games is expected to reach 44.6 % of the total player base, up from 39.4 % recorded in 2015. This shift reflects a maturing market where a larger share of participants are willing to invest in in‑game purchases, subscriptions, or premium titles.
Finally, the firm predicts that average revenue per paying user (ARPPU) will hit $129.6 in 2026, a modest 1.4 % increase over 2025. Newzoo attributes this incremental growth to deeper spending habits among existing players rather than a surge of new spenders, suggesting that developers are succeeding in extracting more value from their established audiences through expansions, cosmetics, and other monetisation strategies. Overall, while the early‑2026 data paints a picture of stagnation for many long‑standing live‑service and evergreen games, the upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto 6 and strategic first‑party launches on next‑generation consoles are set to inject fresh momentum into the console segment and help sustain the broader industry’s growth trajectory.