Newzoo’s recently published PC and Console Gaming Report for 2026 explored the various trends that have impacted the platforms and markets throughout 2025. One particular trend, which Newzoo noted in a special report today, is that revenue from free-to-play games is rising faster on PCs than it is on consoles.
Specifically, Newzoo’s latest report shows that PC saw a 10% increase year-on-year in F2P revenue-per-playing-hour, despite a drop in playtime of 8.1%. This reflects the report’s larger finding that PC gaming revenue is on track to outgrow console by 2028, as well as how much of PC gaming revenue comes from microtransactions ($20.6B) vs premium content ($12.5B).
Notably, playtime for F2P games has not risen at a commensurate rate. In fact, on PC, it has declined 8.1%. This suggests that PC-based F2P games convert playtime to revenue more effectively, even for games with stable or declining playerbases.
Zoey Hunt, Newzoo market analyst, said in a statement, “As playtime stabilizes, free-to-play becomes less about chasing scale and more about whether attention has been converted into durable revenue. These rates now look radically different by platform.”
Free-to-play games dominate the market, in terms of visibility — games like Roblox and Fortnite claim a large portion of market attention. Roblox, in particular, reported $1.4 billion in revenue as of its most recent financial report. Newzoo’s report also notes that some of those games, like Fortnite, are declining in playtime but remain stable in revenue.