Newzoo now forecasts the global games market will reach $197 billion in 2025, a 7.5% year-on-year increase, after revising its outlook upward on stronger-than-expected PC and mobile performance.

The estimate comes from Newzoo's State of Gaming in 2025 report. Mobile games remain the growth engine: the segment is projected to generate $108 billion in 2025, up 7.7% year-on-year, driven by new hits and continued spending on evergreen titles.

That marks mobile's second consecutive year of growth — a signal, in Newzoo's reading of the estimate, that the segment has stabilised after post-pandemic disruption and normalisation of consumer spending.

What drove the upgrade?

Three factors pushed 2025 growth beyond Newzoo's earlier expectations:

• A strong slate of game releases across platforms
• The launch of Nintendo's Switch 2
• Continued mobile momentum from both new titles and established franchises

The Switch 2 launch in particular helped make 2025 a standout year for console, lifting overall market performance above prior forecasts, the report found.

Growth despite industry pressure

The expansion comes against a backdrop of continued pressure on development and publishing, including studio closures and restructuring. Yet consumer spending and engagement stayed resilient across major franchises throughout the year, according to the report.

Newzoo's analysis points to a structural shift in how the industry grows. The report finds that 2025 growth is increasingly driven by long-term engagement, pricing strength and established franchises — rather than by new-market expansion or category-wide player growth.

For studios and publishers, the operational implication is clear: the upside is concentrated in live operations, pricing power and franchise durability. Titles that hold audiences over multi-year horizons are capturing a disproportionate share of the $197bn total, while the release slate that performed in 2025 leaned heavily on recognised IP.

Newzoo's full report, Year in Review: 2025 to Date, is available on the firm's site.

The next signal to watch: whether mobile sustains its growth streak into a third consecutive year in 2026, and whether Switch 2's hardware momentum carries console spending past this revised baseline.