Updated Jun 1, 2026 by Sensor Tower
Report
Published by Sensor Tower
A look at the top games, publishers, and platforms in 2025 so far, and the winning strategies that led to their success. PC/Console gaming market at a glance 1B+ Action EA Marvel PC/Console Game The #1 PC/Console genre The #1 publisher by PC/Console The #1 PC/Console game Downloads 2025 YTD by downloads 2025 YTD downloads 2025 YTD by downloads 2025 YTD The PC/Console game industry ...
SensorTower PC/Console Gaming Index A look at the top games, publishers, and platforms in 2025 so far, and the winning strategies that led to their success. g strategies led totheir that success.
PC/Console gaming market at a glance EA N 1B+ Action EA Marvel Rivals PC/Console Game The #1 PC/Console genre The #1 publisher by PC/Console The #1 PC/Console game Downloads 2025 YTD by downloads 2025 YTD downloads 2025 YTD by downloads 2025 YTD The PC/Console game industry Action saw a huge year driven by EA continues to hold the largest NetEase's IP hero shooter saw a continues to take player time indie and AA hits in R.E.P.O., share of PC/Console by huge launch and the staying and spend, across premium and Split Fiction, and Peak. downloads with strong sports, IPs power to fight it out with free to play models. and franchises, along with two incumbents. huge co-op hits.
Table of Contents PC/Console Market Overview 04 PC/Console Publisher Review 11 Titles Shaping PC/Console Industry 20 Conclusion 34 About Video Game Insights and Sensor Tower 37
Steam is the top Worldwide gaming downloads by platform 2025 YTD PC/Console platform by downloads volume. PC/Console Breakdown PC/Console vs Mobile Steam's continued dominance in PC digital game 450 distribution is driven by its expansive library and 400 409M regular sales events. PlayStation remains a strong performer, reflecting its status as the console leader 376M and its strong international market penetration, while 350 Xbox, though trailing in total downloads, maintains a substantial market presence focused around Game 300 283M Pass and cross-platform accessibility. 250 PC/Console drives around 1/30th the downloads 200 Borderlands® 4 1.87M of mobile. However, PC/Console has a far larger premium market, and new downloads don't 150 Light No Fire 1.85M necessarily correspond to continued revenue in legacy live service games. 100 1.85M attention. 50 Unrecord 1.81M Source: Video Game Insights, Sensor Tower Steam PlayStation 1.74M Xbox Note: Downloads include free-to-play, games included as part of subscription services like Game Pass, as well as premium units sold. 20²5 YTD range is 1/¹/²5 - 8/3/²5.
Steam is on track to have Total premium game revenue on Steam another record year. Last year, Steam saw an all-time high revenue driven Actual Projection by premium games on its platform, topping $10B. Steam is currently up 15% for the same metric $12B comparing 2025 YTD to the same time period 2024. At this rate, Steam will top 12B in game revenue in 2025. 10B This growth showcases the continuing trend of growth in PC gaming. 2025 has had several huge indie games 8B $ 5 5.. 3 3 4 4 B B only available on Steam like R.E.P.O. and Peak. For other games, many gamers prefer to play on PC. One $6B Borderlands® 4 1.87M example of this is Monster Hunter Wilds, which saw over 4x more downloads on Steam than PlayStation, despite consistent PlayStation branding on Monster $4B Light No Fire 1.85M Hunter Wilds ad creative. eagerly anticipated by players, and deserves close Dying Light: The Beast 1.85M attention. $2B 1 1 0 0.. 6 6 0 0 B B 5 5.. 3 3 5 5 B B 4 4.. 5 5 4 4 B B 7 7.. 2 2 2 2 B B 7 7.. 3 3 4 4 B B 7 7.. 6 6 4 4 B B 8 8.. 7 7 5 5 B B 1.81M 6 6.. 8 8 6 6 B B 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 Source: Video Game Insights, Sensor Tower Note: 20²5 YTD range is 1/¹/²5 - 8/3/²5.
Action is the most popular PC/Console gaming downloads by genre 2025 YTD PC/Console genre in 2025. Action maintains its dominance as the most PC/Console Platforms downloaded genre globally across all gaming platforms, 2 6 2 M with approximately 262 million downloads, significantly outpacing all other categories. Interestingly, the top performing action games this year were indie and AA games such as R.E.P.O., Split Fiction, and Peak. Shooter 1 8 9 M titles follow as the second most popular genre, registering 189 million downloads on titles like Marvel Rivals, while RPGs maintain strong momentum with 131 million propelled by Monster Hunter Wilds and 1 3 1 M Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Worlds, and their Korean parent company and Borderlands® 4 8 4 M 1.87M The genre distribution clearly highlights a player 6 6 M 6 1 M preference for fast-paced, action-oriented content in the Light No Fire 4 9 M 4 3 M PC/Console market over casual experiences, a mirror 3 9 M image of mobile's genre downloads distribution. The Dying Light: The Beast 1.85M 1 8 M 2 6 M distribution also signals opportunities for growth in less saturated genres. S t r a t e g y A r c a d e S p o r t s R a c i n g A c t i o n A d v e n t u r e O t h e r S h o o t e r RPG S i m u l a t i o n P u z z l e Source: Video Game Insights, Sensor Tower ARK Note: Downloads include free-to-play, games included as part of subscription services like Game Pass, as well as premium units sold. 20²5 YTD range is 1/¹/²5 - 8/3/²5.
1. Market trajectory What direction is the PC and console market heading in 2026? 8 What direction is the PC and console market heading in 2026? 2. Attention & value allocation Where do players spend time and money on PC and console? 17 3. Market concentration What happens if you are not a top-20 game? 45 4.
The global PC and console gaming market is projected to reach $92.7 billion by 2027, driven by a significant recovery in the console sector. While PC growth remains modest at a 2.6% CAGR, the console segment is expected to expand by 7.0%, fueled by the anticipated launch of the Nintendo Switch 2 and blockbuster releases such as Grand Theft Auto VI. Despite a revenue dip in 2024 due to a lighter premium release schedule, total playtime grew by 6%, signaling robust engagement even as market dynamics shift toward a "near zero-sum" competition for player attention. Player behavior is increasingly characterized by "calcification," where engagement is concentrated into a shrinking pool of established "forever games." Titles aged six years or older now command over 60% of playtime on PC and nearly half on consoles. This consolidation is most visible on PC, where just five legacy titles account for 30% of annual hours. While PlayStation has emerged as a growth leader with a 21% increase in playtime since 2021, the broader trend across all platforms shows players becoming more "unreachable," with a rising share of the audience engaging with only one to three games per year. To combat stagnation, publishers are increasingly leveraging "recursive nostalgia" by reintroducing classic maps and mechanics. While this strategy yielded massive engagement spikes for Fortnite, its effectiveness varies, often serving as a short-term boost rather than a long-term retention tool unless structured as a permanent gameplay mode. Furthermore, the discoverability crisis has intensified as annual releases on Steam approached 19,000 in 2024. With the impact of traditional seasonal sales declining fourfold since 2019, success now requires a shift toward targeted global events, external traffic generation, and product differentiation to break through a market dominated by AAA franchises and entrenched free-to-play titles.
LESS OPTIMISTIC 221% 15% DECLINE 0.0% 10% 5% CHALLENGING UA / 49%31% LESS OPTIMISTIC 2 2% LIMITED IMPLEMENTATION 63% INVESTMENT BANKING TEAM GLOBALLY 10+ YEARS SUPPORTING THE GAMING ECOSYSTEM 100+ TRANSACTIONS , $ 37BN VALUE 17GAMINGTRANSACTIONS <u>$5.8</u> bn TRANSACTIONVALUE GAMING TRANSACTIONS TRANSACTION VALUE Easybrain MTO SuperPlay ∑/ JAGEX RR SABER Sale to ...
The global video game industry is currently undergoing a structural correction following a decade of rapid expansion that concluded in 2021. The primary thesis of this transition is that the industry’s previous growth engines—mobile expansion, live-service models, and pandemic-era engagement—have plateaued, leading to a 12% decline in real-term content spending. This downturn is characterized by widespread commercial underperformance, record-high layoffs, and a significant contraction in venture capital funding. As production budgets for AAA titles balloon toward $500 million, the market has become increasingly polarized, with player engagement and revenue heavily concentrated within a small cohort of long-standing, established franchises that effectively crowd out new releases. Geographically and sectorally, the landscape is shifting as Chinese developers gain significant global market share, rising from 0.5% to 12.5% of non-domestic content spending over the last 13 years. While the mobile sector faces a 23% revenue drop due to privacy-related user acquisition costs and competition from social media, the industry is pivoting toward cross-platform accessibility and hardware-agnostic distribution. Platforms like Roblox and Steam continue to dominate engagement, though developers face increasing pressure from high platform commission fees and the necessity of navigating a saturated market where discovery is increasingly difficult. Looking forward, the industry is attempting to mitigate these challenges through technological and business model innovation. Strategies include the integration of generative AI to enhance NPC behavior, the adoption of cloud-native simulations, and a strategic pivot toward programmatic advertising to supplement stagnant game pricing. Furthermore, regulatory pressures on app stores are expected to improve developer margins, while a resurgence in handheld hardware and cross-platform connectivity aims to unify fragmented ecosystems. Ultimately, the industry is moving toward a risk-averse, multiplatform approach, prioritizing long-term engagement and operational efficiency to survive an increasingly competitive and capital-intensive environment.