Shortly before Christmas, Newzoo issued a new market forecast based on data from the first eleven months of the year. It assumes a global market volume of US$197 billion. In addition, market researchers have identified a concentration of the most important IPs among fewer and fewer companies.
The results are not final, and given the importance of December sales, especially in the console business, there could still be some changes. Nevertheless, the preliminary recap for 2025, which Newzoo compiled based on data from January to November, shows the approximate direction in which the global gaming market will end up in 2025.
In terms of sales volume, the market volume will ultimately amount to US$197 billion. That is 7.5% more than in the previous year. Slightly more than half of this, or US$108 billion to be precise, is generated by the mobile games sector. That is 7.7% more than in the previous year. Console and PC games will share the rest almost equally, reaching a volume of $45 billion (consoles) and $43 billion (PCs), respectively. The increase for PC games will be in the double digits, while the market volume for console games will grow by only 4.2%.
"The 2025 outcome reflects players spending more deeply within games and ecosystems they already value, rather than growth being driven by a sudden expansion of the player base," says Michiel Buijsman, Principal Market Analyst.
The top sales lists compiled by Newzoo based on data up to the end of November paint a predictable picture, with Battlefield standing out in particular for how far it has left its competitor Call of Duty behind. However, it was only launched in November, so the charts published in the interim report should be considered preliminary at best.
More exciting is another finding that is unlikely to change in December. Newzoo's market researchers have concluded that the era of game publishers as we know them has come to an end.
The reason for this statement is the sale of EA and the associated de facto delisting. However, this is only the tip of the iceberg of an ever-increasing consolidation of the most important game IPs in the hands of a few companies. Or as Manu Rosier, Director of Market Intelligence at Newzoo puts it: "The EA deal reflects a broader structural shift toward ownership concentration and tighter portfolio management. A smaller number of companies now control a larger share of the industry’s most influential IP, while platforms increasingly shape which games are funded, distributed, and scaled."
