According to the latest figures released by market‑research firm Newzoo, the most entrenched live‑service and evergreen titles delivered either stagnant or lower results in 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 games managed to post any meaningful growth during this timeframe.
Those outliers included Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, the recently launched Diablo 4, Overwatch, the user‑generated‑content platform Roblox, and a selection of region‑specific releases from Chinese giant Tencent. The report also notes that while PlayStation Plus is expected to act as a catalyst for subscription‑based growth across multiple titles, overall digital revenue across six major Western markets actually fell year‑over‑year in the H1 2026 window. Newzoo attributes this dip to a weakening of free‑to‑play models and a slowdown in the annualised premium segment, which together outweighed the impact of any strong new releases that appeared during the period. Looking ahead, Newzoo projects that the console player base will expand by roughly 3 percent in 2026, a noticeable jump from the near‑flat 0.5 percent increase recorded in 2025.
The primary driver behind this anticipated uptick is the launch of Rockstar Games’ highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI, a title that is expected to inject fresh demand into the console ecosystem and, in particular, to re‑energise Sony’s PlayStation platform. In addition to GTA VI, first‑party releases slated for Nintendo’s upcoming Switch 2 are also forecast to broaden the install base for ninth‑generation consoles. Supporting this outlook, recent data from Nielsen IQ indicates 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 premiere of GTA VI on Netflix. These spikes suggest that high‑profile, narrative‑driven releases can still generate significant halo effects for hardware sales, even in an era where digital distribution dominates.
Emmanuel “Manu” Rosier, Newzoo’s director of market intelligence, told GamesIndustry.biz that without the boost from GTA VI, console‑related revenues would likely have remained flat relative to 2025 levels. He emphasized that the title’s broad appeal across both core and casual audiences is a rare catalyst capable of moving the needle in an otherwise mature market. 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 revenue, marking a 6.7 percent year‑on‑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, though this represented a modest 0.9 percent decline, while Microsoft posted $5.1 billion, down 5.5 percent. Roblox experienced a dramatic 39.3 percent surge, bringing its quarterly earnings to $1.4 billion and securing the tenth spot on the list. On a broader scale, Newzoo continues to forecast that the global games market will reach $213.9 billion in 2026, a 6.1 percent increase over the previous year.
The Asia‑Pacific region is expected to account for nearly half of that total, delivering $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 the North American share.
Player numbers are also set to climb, with an estimated 3.7 billion gamers worldwide in 2026 – a 4.4 percent rise from 2025. Importantly, the proportion of those players who spend money on games is projected to reach 44.6 percent, up from 39.4 percent in 2015, indicating a gradual maturation of the player base toward higher monetisation.
Correspondingly, the average revenue per paying user (ARPPU) is forecast to hit $129.6, a 1.4 percent increase year‑over‑year. Newzoo attributes this modest growth to deeper spending habits among existing players rather than a surge of new spenders. In summary, while the overall health of live‑service and evergreen titles appears to be plateauing or even receding in the early half of 2026, the industry is poised for a rebound driven primarily by marquee releases such as Grand Theft Auto VI and upcoming first‑party Nintendo titles.
These launches are expected to not only stimulate hardware sales but also to reinvigorate digital revenue streams, potentially offsetting the recent softness observed in free‑to‑play and premium subscription segments. The coming months will be crucial in determining whether these headline titles can translate their hype into sustained growth across the broader gaming ecosystem.