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Session: State of the Gaming Industry - Chirag Ambwani, Sensor Tower
The global gaming industry demonstrated significant resilience and growth in 2025, marking a record-breaking year across mobile, PC, and console platforms.
- The mobile gaming market is shifting toward a live-service model, evidenced by a decline in new game launches from nearly 100,000 in 2022 to under 70,000 in 2025 as publishers prioritize existing titles.
- Mobile revenue remains resilient at $82 billion, despite a 15% decline in downloads, with the UK market showing notable strength through 10% year-over-year revenue growth.
- Competition in the mobile space is increasingly dominated by Eastern publishers, who now hold five of the top nine spots in the Western market with titles like 'Whiteout Survival' and 'Last War: Survival' grossing over $1 billion within a year of launch.
Vietnam Mobile Gaming 2025: The Next Billion-Dollar Frontier in Southeast Asia
The report argues that Vietnam’s mobile gaming sector will reach a billion-dollar valuation by 2025, driven by an expanding user base and high spending per download.
- Vietnam's mobile gaming market is projected to reach a billion-dollar valuation by 2025, supported by a 9.8% compound annual growth rate.
- A 2025 regulatory crackdown resulted in the removal of 1,081 unlicensed titles, leading to a 13.7% decline in total downloads but fostering a more stable environment for compliant mid-core games.
- Vietnam demonstrates strong monetization potential, with revenue per download exceeding that of the Philippines by at least 28%.
What will be the biggest video games of 2026 (not called Grand Theft Auto 6)
The video game industry faces a period of significant transition as it approaches 2026, characterized by stagnant growth in the United States market and shifting consumer spending habits.
- The video game industry is experiencing stagnant growth in the U.S. market, driven by lower-income consumers reducing spending and shifting toward subscription services as a value-based alternative to full-priced games.
- Major hardware manufacturers, including Nintendo, Sony, and Valve, are facing financial instability due to rising component costs and ongoing supply chain constraints.
- Long-standing market dominance is eroding, as evidenced by the displacement of Call of Duty by competitors such as Battlefield and NBA 2K.
Vietnam Gaming Outlook 2026: Building Sustainable Growth
Vietnam’s mobile gaming landscape is rapidly evolving from a download-centric, ad-driven model to a hybrid ecosystem that prioritizes in-app purchases (IAP) and subscription revenue.
- Vietnam’s mobile gaming sector is shifting from an ad-driven model to hybrid-casual titles prioritizing in-app purchases (IAP) and subscriptions, following a 65% surge in local IAP growth in 2025.
- While Vietnam led global Google Play downloads with 6.1 billion installs in 2024, the market generated only $430 million, highlighting the profitability ceiling of pure advertising models.
- Localized pricing strategies, including purchasing power parity tiers and one-tap tokenized payments, can increase conversion rates by over 20% and reduce checkout abandonment by up to 30%.
Aream & Co. Gaming CEO Survey 2025
The survey, conducted by Aream & Co., gauges executive optimism regarding consumer spending on gaming in 2025 across multiple channels and functional areas.
- Industry sentiment for 2025 is largely stable or positive, with 98% of CEOs reporting that consumer spending will be either unchanged (49%) or more optimistic (49%).
- M&A activity is expected to accelerate, with 71% of executives anticipating an increase in deal-making throughout 2025.
- In-app purchases are the primary revenue driver, with 80% of respondents optimistic about growth compared to only 41% for in-app advertising.
Key Insights and Data: 2023–2025
Mobile gaming drives the global industry’s growth through 2025, accounting for more than half of worldwide revenue and over eighty percent of players.
- Global gaming revenue is projected to reach $197 billion in 2025, representing a 7.5% year-over-year increase driven primarily by mobile and PC segments.
- Mobile gaming remains the dominant force in the industry, accounting for over 50% of global revenue and more than 80% of the total player base.
- The mobile market is increasingly a winner-take-all environment, with the top 10 to 50 titles on Google Play and the Apple App Store capturing a growing share of total revenue.
Die Games - Branche in Deutschland 2025
The study evaluates the German games industry in 2025, building on earlier reports to assess economic performance, employment, and the influence of federal funding.
- The German games industry has nearly doubled its core-market presence since 2018, growing from 619 to approximately 1,200 firms by mid-2025.
- Federal funding acts as a major economic driver, where €70 million in 2023 subsidies generated €453 million in total value-creation, representing a 6.5x output multiplier.
- Industry revenue reached €3.73 billion in 2024, a 22% increase since 2018, with the development sector specifically surging by 148%.
Apps vs Games on Mobile 2026: What’s Growing Faster (And Why)
The mobile ecosystem is undergoing a structural shift as capital flows away from gaming toward non-gaming applications.
- Mobile app acquisitions are increasingly favored over games due to higher profit margins, which frequently range between 55% and 70%.
- App businesses are easier to scale and maintain than games, often requiring small teams of approximately five people to manage six-figure monthly recurring revenue (MRR) businesses.
- Valuations for mobile apps typically command a profit multiple of 2x to 5x, making them attractive assets for acquisition compared to the complex, metric-heavy due diligence required for mobile games.
2026 US Venture Capital Outlook
The 2026 US venture capital outlook projects a cautiously optimistic landscape, driven largely by an explosive surge in early-stage activity and the continued dominance of artificial intelligence (AI) startups.
- AI startups currently command 65% of all venture capital, driving record-high median valuations of $838 million for Series C and D+ rounds.
- The US venture capital market is projected to see a fundraising rebound to $100–$130 billion in 2026, with approximately 70% of new commitments expected to come from recycled distributions.
- As of Q3 2025, the US hosted 830 active unicorns with a combined post-money valuation of $3.9 trillion, though many face significant liquidity constraints and difficulties securing follow-on funding.
2026 games industry predictions and trends | Week in Mobile Games podcast
The global games industry enters 2026 characterized by a strategic pivot toward operational efficiency and diversified revenue streams.
- The games industry faces potential hardware cost inflation in 2026, as the high demand for RAM and GPUs from AI companies drives up component prices, potentially delaying future console and mobile device manufacturing.
- Chinese publishers are exerting increased global dominance in specific genres, with Micro Fun leading in the merge category and First Fun and Century Games capturing significant market share in 4X strategy.
- Generative AI adoption is expected to become more brazen among large game companies, shifting from experimental use to the widespread integration of AI-generated assets in marketing and development workflows.
India Mobile Gaming 2026 Report: Market Size, Trends
The Indian mobile gaming market is currently positioned as one of the most significant growth opportunities for the industry heading into 2026.
- The Indian mobile gaming market is projected to reach a value of $4.4 billion by 2030, supported by a 31% compound annual growth rate since 2023.
- Average revenue per user (ARPU) in India increased 9x between 2020 and 2025, driven by a rising middle class and higher discretionary spending power.
- The monetization model is shifting from a reliance on in-app advertising toward in-app purchases as the market matures.
2026 Predictions: Trends in Gen AI, Gaming & Digital Ad Spend
The 2026 digital economy landscape is defined by the rapid maturation of generative AI, a shift in advertising creative strategies, and the necessity for mobile games to adopt aggressive monetization models to combat rising user acquisition costs.
- Generative AI apps will become a top-five category by 2026, generating over $10 billion in IAP revenue, 7.2 billion downloads, and 43 billion hours of usage, representing an 82% year-over-year growth.
- By the end of 2026, generative AI traffic will surpass paid sources on more than 50% of the top 1,000 U.S. websites, up from 37% in late 2025.
- Short-drama vertical video is projected to overtake traditional OTT streaming in download volume, capturing roughly 80% of total downloads with rapid adoption in India, Indonesia, and Brazil.