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In 2025, roughly 14.2 million Italians—about a third of the population aged six to seventy‑five—engage in video gaming, with a pronounced male bias and a concentration of players under 35. The industry’s total revenue remains steady at €2.4 billion, of which game sales account for 77 percent (€1.8 bn). Gaming time has risen to nearly eight hours per week, driven primarily by smart‑device play (22 percent reach, €929 m revenue) and console gaming (13 percent reach, €643 m). App‑based games now represent more than half of the market, dominated by freemium monetisation; only one percent of app revenue comes from upfront purchases. Revenue distribution varies by platform. Smart‑device earnings are almost entirely from in‑app purchases (ARPU €84), while console sales lean heavily on digital downloads—65 percent of new game revenue comes from full‑game downloads (€502 m) and 21 percent from DLC (ARPU €99). PC revenue is largely driven by DLC (43 percent) and full‑game downloads (98 percent of console sales). Subscription services are pivotal: console ecosystem subscriptions contribute 59 percent of total gaming‑subscription revenue (€153 m), with mobile and single‑game franchises accounting for 6 percent and 35 percent respectively. Player demographics reveal that smart devices attract a younger, male‑skewed audience (31 percent of 6–17‑year-olds), whereas console and PC gaming remain niche but heavily male‑skewed, concentrated among teens. Casual and sports titles dominate sales across all platforms, with subscription services such as PlayStation Plus and Xbox Game Pass driving a significant share of paid play. Engagement patterns show males spending the most hours on consoles (average seven hours per week), while PC gaming remains steady across age groups. Approximately one‑quarter of players follow gaming news on YouTube or vlogs, and 20 percent rely on social media or family discussions for information. The data derive from a nationally representative online survey of 3,000 respondents, weighted against an offline omnibus sample and calibrated to industry sales figures.