Newzoo today released its 2026 PC and Console Gaming Report, in which it covers patterns and trends in the gaming market over the past year, as well as the future direction of the market. The insights in the report suggest that gaming is returning to growth after the turbulence of the pandemic, but the market is “a more complex, demanding” place than it was.
According to Newzoo, the PC and console games market is projected to reach $103.7 billion in revenue by 2028, thanks in part to evolving price dynamics. It also notes that this growth cycle will likely happen at a more measured pace than previous cycles, as the market is maturing. Revenue growth is coming from evolved pricing dynamics rather than expanded player bases.
PC itself never stopped growing over the post-pandemic era, but growth is going up at a steadier rate. Meanwhile, consoles sales — which did decline — are recovering, with a forecasted growth of 4.4% by 2028. PC is projected to surpass console revenue by 2028.
The report also notes that there are differences in the monetization models across platforms. PC, for example, gets a large portion of its revenue from microtransactions ($20.6B) and downloadable content ($8.5B), as well as premium content ($12.5B). Console, on the other hand, gets 50% of its revenue from premium content ($22.7B) and 18% from subscriptions ($8.2B).
Newzoo: The new factors driving gaming growth
Newzoo’s findings show that global overall playtime is flat, with Roblox becoming the #1 most-played franchise over Fortnite and Call of Duty. On console, players are spending over half of their overall time on the Top 20 games, with around two-thirds of revenue going to those games. On PC, on the other hand, over half of PC revenue goes to games ranked 21 or lower.
The overall data in the report suggests that the gaming market is not gaining new players, but rather finding more effective ways to monetize. On console, games priced above $50 account for 80% of premium revenue, but growth is flattening. Instead, the $30-$50 price tier is the fastest-growing on both PC and console, and 26 games on PC priced below $30 accrued over $5 million in revenue.
Manu Rosier, Newzoo’s director of market intelligence, said in a statement, “Growth is returning to the market, but it’s being driven by different factors than during the pandemic years. Hardware cycles are stretching, development costs are rising, and even proven franchises are no longer guaranteed to succeed. As engagement stabilizes, premium performance and pricing strategy are becoming increasingly important drivers of revenue growth.”