The global gaming market is expected to grow 7.5% to $197 billion in 2025, exceeding Newzoo's previous expectations.
In a preview of industry performance between January and November this year, the data company said growth was primarily driven by “better-than-expected performance” on PC and mobile devices.
PC sales are expected to grow 10.4% year over year to $43 billion, driven by a “strong slate of premium games” that outperformed games released last year.
The mobile industry is projected to generate $108 billion, up 7.7% year-over-year, marking the second year of growth in a row, fueled by new and evergreen games.
Back in September Newzoo forecast that the global games market will reach $188.8 billion. led by the release of the Nintendo Switch 2, higher software prices and major console releases.
The company now forecasts that consoles will have the lowest year-over-year revenue growth of 4.2%, reaching $45 billion.
The data company also tracked the top-performing games of 2025 by revenue and engagement.
Battlefield 6 was number one on PC in terms of revenue, followed by Schedule 1 and Arc Raiders. All games in the top 10 were premium games, with shooters remaining the largest genre.
On the console side (PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch combined), EA Sports FC 26 and NBA 2K26 led the way, with Battlefield 6 coming in third.
The first non-sports game in the top 10 was Assassin's Creed Shadows in sixth place, followed by Ghost of Yötei in eighth place, followed by Pokémon Legends: ZA and Borderlands 4.
Electronic Arts had four games in the top 10, helped by a “strong premium release strategy” and a “predictable release cycle” for console sports games.
Newzoo noted that Pokemon Legends: ZA's placement on the chart confirmed that “platform exclusivity still matters” in terms of revenue, despite only launching on Switch consoles (about half of sales came from Switch 2, according to the company).
The data firm also provided data on Sandfall Interactive's Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which is ongoing. make an impact on the industry after it victory at The Game Awards.
Monthly active users (MAU) were 43% on Xbox, 42% on PlayStation and 15% on PC.
Clair Obscur was a day one release for Xbox Game Pass when it launched in April. has since become the platform's top third-party release in 2025..
According to Newzoo's Game Performance Monitor, the turn-based RPG currently has a monthly MAU of 5.13 million players and a monthly MAU of 643,000 on consoles.
Newzoo said the game “continued to rise in engagement rankings months after launch, highlighting how resonance, word of mouth and discovery can drive long-term growth without immediate top-level scaling.”
Looking at overall MAU, only one game ranked in the top 10 for engagement across all platforms in 2025: Landfall Games and Aggro Crab's Peak. This game “was based on a free expansion that greatly expanded its reach upon launch.”
