Video gaming content, including mobile gaming apps, accounts for the bulk of the annual video gaming industry revenue in the United States. In 2024, the total revenue of the U.S. video game industry amounted to ***** billion U.S. dollars, down from the ***** billion U.S. dollars a year earlier. Overall, the monthly revenue of the video gaming industry sees some fluctuation throughout the year, with lows in the summer months, and higher sales during the holiday season. Going digital and not turning back Over the last few years, digital gaming sales have been growing slowly but steadily and exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many consumers switched to digital game downloads instead of visiting brick-and-mortar retail locations and did not return to their previous shopping patterns after the normalization of the health emergency. Coupled with the ever-growing availability of high-speed internet connections and the release of the new flagship gaming console generation by Microsoft (Xbox) and Sony (PlayStation), comfort and convenience won over in-store browsing. Additionally, digital game storefronts across all gaming platforms frequently run sales and special offers that physical retailers rarely match. In 2022, the average revenue per user of physical video game sales in the United States amounted to ***** U.S. dollars, whereas the ARPU of game downloads only came to ***** U.S. dollars, reflecting the higher price of physical video game copies and the lower average price of digital games. Overall, the average monthly video game expenditure of U.S. gamers decreased to ***** U.S. dollars in 2023, down from ***** U.S. dollars in 2022. The struggles of the gaming hardware segment In contrast to the booming digital gaming content sales, the gaming hardware segment did not have an easy time in 2020 and 2021. What was supposed to be a year of triumph with the long-announced release of the ninth generation of video game consoles with the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X/S in November 2020 quickly turned into a tale of woe. The ongoing global chip shortage, which started in early 2020 due to COVID-19 -related disruptions in global supply chains and logistics, strongly constrained the availability of chips to produce video gaming consoles. Additional factors such as trade wars, increased demand for hardware due to crypto mining, severe weather, and war impacting raw material exports continue to plague the global chip industry to this day. The lack of availability of the new consoles also led to scalpers taking advantage of the situation, leaving a sour taste for consumers.Console makers managed to turn things around, and while sales of the new consoles were not as good as they could have been, 2022 saw some recovery, and 2023 managed to get console sales back on track, despite global economic worries. In the first eleven months of 2023, Sony managed to sell close to ** million PlayStation 5 consoles, with Microsoft’s Xbox Series X/S selling about *** million units.

In May 2025, the retail gaming revenue in the United States amounted to **** billion U.S. dollars. When examining specific segment revenues, accessories were the lowest-performing segment at retail overall, while video gaming content accounted for the majority of consumer spending. Video game spending habits in the United States More than four in ten U.S. gamers across all platforms were willing to spend a maximum of ** to ** U.S. dollars on a video game. A November 2022 survey found that more than four in ten PC and console gamers stated so, while over three in ten mobile-only gamers said they only played free games. Console gamers were most comfortable spending money on their hobby at this price point. In 2023, total U.S. consumer spending on video game content amounted to **** billion U.S. dollars, a one percent increase from **** billion U.S. dollars in the preceding year. Game releases are planned around the holiday season What is very specific to the industry at large is that the highest monthly revenues occur around the holiday season in November and December of each year. The entire market revolves around maximizing sales during the season, and most new game releases of high-budget, high-profile titles (so-called AAA games) are planned shortly before the winter holidays. Many of these annual blockbuster releases see releases from late Q3 onwards: EA Sports FC usually releases in late September, and new games in Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty series are launched between late October and early November.For the holiday season 2023, blockbusters Baldur’s Gate 3 and Starfield had already started the season of major video game releases. Other AAA titles that are also taking advantage of the Christmas shopping release window are the Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty DLC, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Marvel's Spider-Man 2 as well as the Nintendo Switch release of Hogwarts Legacy and the PS5 port of mobile gaming title Honkai Star Rail by Genshin Impact publisher MiHoYo.

In 2022, mobile games generated approximately **** billion U.S. dollars in annual revenue, accounting for ** percent of the global gaming market during the measured period. Console games were ranked second with **** billion U.S. dollars in global revenue. Game monetization strategies The day were the actual purchase of a game was only money-related transaction in the process are long gone - today, digital gaming platforms are brimming with subscription services, downloadable content (DLC) and add-ons, as well as in-app or in-game purchase options for virtual items or game-enhancing experiences. A 2020 survey of game developers found that the most common gaming business models in the gaming industry were paid downloads, followed by free to download titles. Premium titles Paid gaming titles are usually refers to as premium titles, a further distinction from free-to-play (F2P) games. In 2020, the top-grossing premium gaming title on console and PC was Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. The sixteenth installment in the CoD series was released in 2019 and generated over *** billion U.S. dollars in revenues in 2020. FIFA **, published by Electronic Arts, was ranked second with just over **** billion U.S. dollars in global revenues. Overall, premium console gaming revenues are projected to reach **** billion U.S. dollars in 2021.

In 2023, the annual revenue of the video game industry in Taiwan was estiamted to be around 67 billion New Taiwan dollars, based on the revenue of over 200 companies in the industry. Publicly listed companies accounted for 75 percent of the total and registered over ten percent revenue year-over-year increase.

The revenue in the 'Games' segment of the media market in Italy was modeled to be *********** U.S. dollars in 2024. Between 2017 and 2024, the revenue rose by ************ U.S. dollars, though the increase followed an uneven trajectory rather than a consistent upward trend. The revenue will steadily rise by *********** U.S. dollars over the period from 2024 to 2030, reflecting a clear upward trend.Further information about the methodology, more market segments, and metrics can be found on the dedicated Market Insights page on Games.

The revenue in the 'Games' segment of the media market worldwide was modeled to stand at ************** U.S. dollars in 2024. Between 2017 and 2024, the revenue rose by ************* U.S. dollars, though the increase followed an uneven trajectory rather than a consistent upward trend. The revenue will steadily rise by ************** U.S. dollars over the period from 2024 to 2030, reflecting a clear upward trend.Further information about the methodology, more market segments, and metrics can be found on the dedicated Market Insights page on Games.

In July 2025, total video games sales in the United States amounted to **** billion U.S. dollars, representing a five percent year-over-year increase. Generally speaking, the video game industry has its most important months in November and December, as video game software and hardware make very popular Christmas gifts. In December 2024, total U.S. video game sales surpassed **** billion U.S. dollars. Birth of the video game industry Although the largest regional market in terms of sales, as well as number of gamers, is Asia Pacific, the United States is also an important player within the global video games industry. In fact, many consider the United States as the birthplace of gaming as we know it today, fueled by the arcade game fever in the ’60s and the introduction of the first personal computers and home gaming consoles in the ‘70s. Furthermore, the children of those eras are the game developers and game players of today, the ones who have driven the movement for better software solutions, better graphics, better sound and more advanced interaction not only for video games, but also for computers and communication technologies of today. An ever-changing market However, the video game industry in the United States is not only growing, it is also changing in many ways. Due to increased internet accessibility and development of technologies, more and more players are switching from single-player console or PC video games towards multiplayer games, as well as social networking games and last, but not least, mobile games, which are gaining tremendous popularity around the world. This can be evidenced in the fact that mobile games accounted for ** percent of the revenue of the games market worldwide, ahead of both console games and downloaded or boxed PC games.

In the fiscal year 2025 (ending March 2025), the sales revenue of Sega Sammy Holdings generated via full games amounted to over 76.4 billion Japanese yen, while free-to-play (F2P) games brought around 47.1 billion yen in sales. Major gaming IPs owned by Sega Sammy include the Sonic series, the Total War series, the Persona series, and the Like a Dragon series, which includes the Judgement game spinoffs.

In 2024, China's video gaming industry reported a total revenue of *** billion yuan, representing a **** percent increase compared to the previous year. Amid stricter regulations in the home country, Chinese game developers and publishers have been eagerly finding their footing in overseas big gaming markets, such as United States, Japan, and South Korea, and trying to tap into new markets, like ***********, *****, ******, and ******.

In 2025, the UK was the biggest video gaming market in Europe, with nearly **** billion U.S. dollars in annual revenues. Germany was ranked second with **** billion U.S. dollars, and France came third.

Take Two Interactive is a video game distribution company headquartered in the United States. The company is divided into different publishing labels depending on the type of games or target audience (Rockstar Games, 2K Games, Private Division and Social Point). Take-Two Interactive's global revenue from virtual currency, add-on content, and in-game purchases has shown a continuous increase since 2018. In the fiscal year 2025, Take-Two generated over 4.47 billion U.S. dollars in revenue through recurrent consumer spending, which translates to approximately 79.4 percent of the company's net revenue during the measured period. 2021 marked the first time that add-on purchases accounted for the majority of TTE's revenues and show the development of the gaming industry monetization as a whole.

In 2024, ****** remained the biggest gaming segment worldwide with approximately **** billion U.S. dollars in annual revenues. The console segment ranked second with **** billion U.S. dollars and PC gaming ranked last. Gaming revenue Revenues in the gaming industry are based on three major sources. Hardware, such as consoles, processors, screens, controllers, and other accessories; software, the actual games, as well as in-game purchases and live services. Some of the most important players in the computer and video games publishing market are Sony Computer Entertainment (Japan), Tencent Holdings Limited (China), Microsoft (United States) and Nintendo Company Ltd. (Japan). Traditional console and PC gaming companies may have worldwide name recognition but mobile gaming publishers are no slouches either: Shenzhen Tencent Tianyou Technology Ltd (formerly known as Tencent Mobile Games) generated more than ** million U.S. dollars in monthly app revenues in September, and the top-ranked mobile game publishers generate revenues worth millions in the double-digits every month. Several mobile gaming publisher have gone from being an indie company to an IPO in just a few years, with Rovio Entertainment, King, and Zynga just being a few examples of the mobile gaming boom in the mid-2010s. Mobile gaming monetization The majority of mobile gaming revenues are generated via smartphones, with tablet devices only accounting for a small share of mobile gaming gross. The average number of in-app purchases per paying user increased across all gaming genres in 2020-2021 as user engagement with gaming soared during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Another survey of mobile gaming developers found that platformers are the highest-monetizing free-to-play genre.

In the fiscal year ending March 2025, Bandai Namco generated sales of approximately *** billion yen through home video games. This represents a significant increase from the ***** billion yen in sales during the previous fiscal period. In the most recent fiscal year, Bandai Namco sold almost **** million video games.

In 2024, the revenue change in the 'Games' segment of the media market in the United States was modeled to stand at ***** percent. Between 2018 and 2024, the figure dropped by ***** percentage points, though the decline followed an uneven course rather than a steady trajectory. The forecast shows the revenue change will steadily decline by **** percentage points from 2024 to 2030.Further information about the methodology, more market segments, and metrics can be found on the dedicated Market Insights page on Games.

According to a 2023 survey among Spanish video game development studios and companies, revenues from the country's national sector totaled to around ***** million Euros in 2022. By 2023, the industry is projected to gain up to ***** million Euros, thus increasing up to ***** million by 2026.

In Microsoft's fiscal year 2024, which spanned from July 2023 to June 2024, gaming revenue reached 15.47 billion U.S. dollars, down from 21.5 billion U.S. dollars in the previous fiscal period. Microsoft's gaming segment includes revenues from Xbox hardware and Xbox content and services, comprising digital transactions, Xbox Game Pass and other subscriptions, video games, third-party video game royalties, cloud services, and advertising. Microsoft is earning the fruits of its acquisition labor In recent years, Microsoft has made many strategic acquisitions to grow its gaming segment, and these efforts have paid off. Finally closing its purchase of Activision Blizzard after about 20 months of regulatory negotiations across the globe, this success was immediately reflected in the company’s quarterly gaming revenue, which jumped from 3.9 billion U.S. dollars to 7.1 billion U.S. dollars between October and December 2023. Of course, part of this growth is also the Christmas season, which is responsible for the biggest months in gaming sales. However, revenue in the following quarter settled back to 5.4 billion U.S. dollars, which is significantly higher than the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Layoffs at Microsoft despite gaming segment growth Despite Microsoft’s financial success in its gaming segment, the company has announced and performed several rounds of layoffs at many of its owned gaming companies, as well as shuttering some game studios entirely. In January 2024, mere months after closing its record-breaking Activision Blizzard deal, Microsoft laid off 1,900 Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax, and Xbox employees, citing “areas of overlap” and an “alignment of strategy” and growth. These layoffs are on par with the current state of the industry – an early 2024 survey of game developers found that about a third of respondents had experienced layoffs in the last 12 months.

In the fiscal year 2025 (from April 2024 to March 2025), the video game publisher Take-Two Interactive generated a total revenue of 5.6 billion U.S. dollars, virtually unchanged from the preceding fiscal year. TTE is the owner of publishing labels 2K and Rockstar Games.

It is estimated that the North American gaming market will amount to 205.31 billion U.S. dollars annually in 2028, up from 114.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. The Asia Pacific region is set to remain the top-grossing gaming market worldwide.

In 2022, the video gaming market in Mexico generated annual revenues of over **** billion U.S. dollars. The mobile gaming segment generated the sector's biggest revenue shares, with around **** million U.S. dollars in the same year, and projected to reach *** million U.S. dollars by 2027.

Over the past decade, the Chinese technology group Tencent Holdings has invested heavily in developing its gaming business. In 2024, its online games grossed *** billion yuan – a considerable increase compared to the previous year. This made up almost ** percent of the Chinese tech giant’s annual revenue. Tencent’s gaming empire The entertainment giant has remained as the world’s top game publisher by revenue, leading the industry with ** million U.S. dollars in quarterly earning more than the second placeholder, Sony. Tencent's mobile games Peacekeeper Elite and Honor of Kings have been well-received in the Chinese market. In fact, the Chinese conglomerate controls stakes in some of the world’s popular games, such as League of Legends, Fortnite, and Clash of Clans. Its battle-royale game PUBG Mobile has gained immense popularity in overseas markets. The goldmine of online gaming in China In a country with over *** million gamers, the gaming market in China is massive and lucrative. Since 2017, the revenue of China’s video game industry has surpassed *** billion yuan and continued to grow steadily. Undoubtedly, Chinese consumers are highly engaged in mobile gaming. Role-playing, real-time strategy, shooter, and fighting games are the most popular genres. Besides mobile games, eSports is another booming game sector in China with role-playing games (RPG) and multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) being the major revenue powerhouse. Having scoped out the market potential of eSports, Tencent invested in the eSports streaming platform Douyu and acquired Douyu’s biggest domestic rival Huya in **********. It is quite unlikely for other market players to shake Tencent’s dominating status in the next few years.