Global Games revenue surpasses $200bn for the first time, mobile generates $113bn

• Global games revenue reached $201.6bn in 2025.
• Mobile generated $113.3bn making up more than half of the total market revenue.
• Newzoo forecasts that the games market will reach $234.5bn by 2028.

Global games revenue reached $201.6 billion in 2025, marking the first time the industry has passed the $200bn threshold, according to figures from Newzoo. 

The market grew 9.1 year-on-year, with mobile remaining the industry’s largest sector. Mobile revenue reached $113.3bn in 2025, which is up 10.7% compared to the year before. 

According to the report, mobile growth outperformed previous estimates on direct consumer revenues, mini-game ecosystems and Tencent’s performance. However, despite that growth, global download volumes declined which points to expansion through more monetisation than simply having larger player bases. 

The report also highlighted rising user acquisition costs. Data from Adjust showed that the global cost per install increased 30% year-on-year to $0.56 in 2025, while paid-to-organic installs rose by 61%. 

Mobile remains a growth driver 

The report shows that mobile generated more than both PC and console combined during 2025. PC revenue reached $43.6bn, growing 12 year-on-year, while console revenue increased 2.8% to $44.7bn. 

Newzoo expects that mobile revenue will continue to grow and forecasts the sector will reach $121.1bn in 2026. 

Direct-to-consumer channels were highlighted as becoming an important revenue stream and it pointed to figures from Appcharge that showed annualised D2C transaction volume has reached $1bn in March 2026, up from $500m in July 2026. 

The report also highlighted that merge games and 4X strategy titles are expanding simultaneously, with Chinese publishers leading in both categories through live ops strategies and higher levels of user acquisition spending. Newzoo also pointed to mini-game monetisation in China as an additional growth driver.

However, the report also warned that memory costs are impacting every platform. Global smartphone shipments fell 6% year-on-year in Q1 2026 and warned that higher hardware costs could have an impact in growth markets where affordable mid-range devices play an important role.

Regional growth 

Europe was noted as one of the strongest-performing regions for mobile, with revenue growing 15.5% year-on-year, extending a three year run of consecutive growth above the global average. 

Elsewhere, the Middle East and Africa recorded the fastest overall market growth at 15%, while Latin America expanded by 9.6%.

Newzoo forecasts that the global games market will continue to grow to $234.4bn by 2028. That growth rate will be shaped by several factors, including rising hardware and component costs, the commercial impact of GTA VI and the continued expansion of mobile monetisation.