Despite layoffs and uncertainty still plaguing the industry, the global games market has surpassed $200 billion for the first time

A massive spike in PC growth made up for a slower-than-expected year from Nintendo.
Text: Alex Hopley
Published 2026-06-22

It's safe to say for a lot of people working in the industry, gaming is in quite an uncertain space right now. However, if you're someone who just loves seeing the number go up, the gaming industry managed an incredible year in 2025, with global games revenue surpassing $200 billion for the first time.

This comes via Newzoo's latest report (via PC Gamer), which showed a 9% growth year-on-year for games revenue. The global games market closed 2025 at $201.6 billion, surpassing estimates and overcoming modest console growth and "weaker-than-expected" performance by Nintendo in the Switch 2's debut year.

What managed to save the revenue, then? Apparently, PC gaming shot up in Newzoo's estimates, earning a 12% increase year-over-year thanks to big AAA titles, AA games that saw their strongest performance on PC, and plenty of microtransactions scooping up cash, too. Console revenue was still higher than that of PC, but it experienced a much slower growth rate.

Newzoo doesn't expect that PC growth rate to last in 2026, but it does reckon we'll still have a monster year in gaming thanks to the upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto VI. Even without Rockstar's behemoth, the end of August, as well as September and October look to be packed with major releases sure to have people parting ways with their cash.

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