Global video game market revenue by category 2026

In 2021, social and casual gaming generated more revenue than PC and console gaming combined. The mobile-heavy segment saw approximately 148 billion U.S. dollars in annual global revenues, while PC gaming generated 33.7 billion U.S. dollars in annual sales. Digital revenue is dominating the gaming segment, as physical gaming sales are declining for a variety of reasons.

Revenue of the video gaming market worldwide from 2017 to 2026, by category (in million U.S. dollars)

Characteristic	Social/casual (mobile) gaming	PC games	Console games
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Release date

July 2022

More information

Region

Worldwide

Survey time period

2017 to 2021

Supplementary notes

* Forecast

Traditional gaming comprises revenues associated with playing games on PCs and games consoles (both TV-connected and portable). This includes physical (disc-based) game sales at retail (both bricks-and-mortar and online retailers), digital game sales (including Steam, Good Old Games and Origin for PCs, and the PlayStation Store, Xbox Games Store and Nintendo eShop for consoles), and additional downloadable content (DLC) and subscription services. Online/microtransaction revenue also includes spending associated with free-to-play Massively Multiplayer Online games (MMOs), but does not include spending on social and casual browser-based games, which are included in the social/casual gaming component.

Social/casual gaming revenues includes consumer spending on and in app-based games on tablets and smartphones, and browser games aimed at a casual audience (e.g. Ruzzle and Zynga’s Words with Friends). This includes revenues associated with the purchase of social and casual game apps, subscription services for social and casual games, and the purchase of virtual items within social and casual games. This also includes revenues associated with “hardcore” mobile games (e.g. Infinity Blade 2).

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