Weekly Gaming Reports Recap: December 15 - December 19 (2025)
Newzoo 2025 global revenue forecast; the US gaming market in November by Circana; and more reports in weekly recap!
Reports of the week:
Niko Partners: The Indian Games Market in 2025
Alinea Analytics: The Most Successful PlayStation Games on Steam
Games & Numbers (December 2 – December 16, 2025)
game: The German games industry is optimistic about the future
GameDiscoverCo: People are spending less on games on Steam
Circana: The US Gaming Market in November 2025
Circana: The US Gaming Market in November 2025
Niko Partners: The Indian Games Market in 2025
In 2025, the number of gamers in India will reach 500 million. Their spending on games, excluding the RMG segment that was often included in earlier reports, will exceed $1 billion.
95% of gamers in India play on mobile devices.
Women make up 40% of all gamers. In 2020, their share was 22%.
60% of gamers in India engage with esports in some way. They either play esports titles, watch tournaments, or compete themselves.
Battle Royale is the leading genre in India. 40% of respondents said they expect to play games in this genre over the next year.
Social media (58.7%), short-form video apps (46.6%), and streamers/influencers (45.3%) are the main channels Indian gamers use to discover news about new games.
26.5% of gamers in India spend money in games. That is roughly 126 million people.
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India is the fastest-growing games market tracked by Niko Partners, which focuses on Asia and MENA.
By the end of 2028, the market is expected to grow to $1.5 billion, while the number of gamers is projected to reach 724 million by the end of 2029, roughly the same as in China.
Alinea Analytics: The Most Successful PlayStation Games on Steam
All figures below are estimates by Alinea Analytics.
PlayStation has generated more than $1.5 billion in revenue on Steam. Of this amount, Sony received nearly $1.2 billion, while Valve earned over $350 million in commissions.
PlayStation titles on Steam have been purchased more than 43 million times.
Top Sony games by units sold on Steam
Helldivers 2 is Sony’s most successful PC release. The game sold 12.7 million copies and generated over $400 million in revenue. One fifth of the audience has spent more than 100 hours in the game; Helldivers 2 still has over 200k daily active players on Steam; Steam sales exceed the PS5 version by more than two times.
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Horizon Zero Dawn sold 4.5 million copies ($170 million in revenue). However, the sequel, Horizon Forbidden West, is selling three times worse than the original.
God of War sold 4.2 million copies ($150 million in revenue).
Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered was purchased 2.7 million times ($116 million in revenue). Despite technical issues at launch, the game continues to sell well over time.
Days Gone is one of PlayStation’s most successful PC releases. The game sold 3.4 million copies ($108 million in revenue). The PC audience received the game very warmly, despite mixed reviews from console players.
PlayStation games on Steam
Early releases of PlayStation exclusives on Steam benefited from a novelty effect, which supported strong sales for Horizon Zero Dawn, Days Gone, and God of War.
However, this effect is fading. Sequels such as God of War Ragnarök and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 are performing worse than their originals.
God of War Ragnarök was purchased by only 13% of the audience that bought God of War. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 was purchased by 12% of users who bought the first game.
Even so, these projects still generate solid revenue. The Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 port brought PlayStation more than $32 million, while God of War Ragnarök generated over $45 million.
Alinea notes that shortening the time between console launches and PC ports on Steam helps Sony maximize total sales while keeping audience interest high.
With a potential launch of Steam Machine approaching, Sony’s attitude toward releases on Steam may change, as the platform could evolve into a direct competitor.
Bloodborne sold more than 9 million copies on PlayStation. A PC port of the game could have been a major success, but for now, it exists only in memes.
Games & Numbers (December 2 – December 16, 2025)
PC and console games
According to VG Insights estimates, Escape from Tarkov generated $38.9 million on Steam in a single month. Total units sold have already exceeded 1.1 million.
Devolver Digital announced that BALL x PIT sales have surpassed 1 million copies.
Don’t Scream Together was purchased more than 200 thousand times in its first week after release. The game launched with poor reviews on Steam (23% positive), and the developers are currently working actively on improving the project.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 became the largest third-party launch on Xbox Game Pass in 2025. The metric is based on the number of unique players during the first 30 days of availability in the subscription.
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Mobile games
Rush Royale has generated more than $470 million over five years of operation. During this period, the game was downloaded by over 100 million users.
Unico Studio, the creators of Brain Test, reported surpassing 1.6 billion total installs across their entire portfolio. In April 2022, the figure stood at just 500 million.
Where Winds Meet has been played by more than 15 million players across all platforms since launch. The developers shared this milestone on their X account.
In its Q3 investor report, Tencent stated that Valorant Mobile became the largest launch in China over the past year by DAU and gross receipts in its first month.
game: The German games industry is optimistic about the future
The survey included 202 companies from the German games industry, including developers, publishers, and other industry participants.
29% of companies expect positive changes for the German games industry as a whole in 2026, a significant increase compared to 17% last year.
31% of respondents forecast a negative outlook for the games industry (down from 45% last year).
The remaining respondents assess the prospects for the coming year as neutral.
53% of respondents believe their own business will perform better in 2026. Only 12% expect their situation to worsen (15% last year).
32% of companies plan to hire new employees in 2026.
15% of respondents believe they will face layoffs in 2026.
GameDiscoverCo: People are spending less on games on Steam
The analysis is based on the top 50 new games on Steam from February 2023 to October 2025. It looks at first-month sales, both in units sold and total revenue.
The inflation of prices is a tricky subject, which is correctly stated by GameDiscoverCo. Though, have a look at September’25 Steam charts - you won’t see any title in $25-55 section!
Top 50 by units sold
The average price of games in the top 50 changed only slightly, from $21.80 to $21.41 (-2%). This means the average price of new Steam hits has fallen by about 2% over roughly 2.5 years.
The median price dropped much more significantly, from $19.50 to $15.64 (-20%). In other words, the share of cheaper games in total sales has increased over the past couple of years.
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Top 50 by revenue
The average price of projects in the top 50 by revenue declined by 2%, from $26.20 in February 2023 to $25.76 in October 2025. This mirrors the trend seen in the top 50 by units sold.
When looking at the median price by revenue, the decline remains but is smaller: prices fell from $23.70 to $20.35 (-14%).
GameDiscoverCo links these changes to the growing number of popular low-priced projects in the $5–15 range. According to the analysts, the median price began to decline in late 2023; before that, it had remained stable.
In the AA segment, with projects priced between $25 and $60, it is becoming harder to compete. Pressure comes both from big-budget AAA releases and from cheap, viral indie games. In addition, the discounted back catalog of older titles is affecting this segment.
Circana: The US Gaming Market in November 2025
General market data
November revenue totaled $5.861 billion (-4% YoY).
Content sales grew by 1% to $4.84 billion.
User spending on subscriptions increased by 16%, and the mobile segment grew by 2%. At the same time, PC and console content sales declined.
Physical game sales in November declined by 14% YoY. Volumes are at their lowest levels since 1995.
Hardware sales fell by 27% YoY to $695 million. This is the lowest figure since 2005 ($455 million).
In November, 1.6 million devices were sold in the US (the anti-record was in November 1995, with 1.4 million units sold). For comparison, in November 2019, 3.9 million devices were sold in the US.
The average price of a gaming device in November was $439, up 11% YoY. In November 2019, the average price was $235. Average prices have increased significantly over the past few years. Check the chart below.
PlayStation 5 was the best-selling platform in November. Nintendo Switch 2 ranked second. Third place went to The NEX Playground, which outsold Xbox Series S|X in unit sales. The NEX Playground is a children’s console fully controlled by gestures (yes, the ideas behind EyeToy and Kinect are still alive).
Accessory sales declined by 13% to $327 million. Gamepad sales dropped by 19% YoY.
PlayStation Portal was the best-selling accessory of November in revenue terms, while DualSense led by units sold.
Nevertheless, after 11 months, total revenue in 2025 is still 1% ahead of 2024. The gap, however, is very small.
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Game sales
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 was the best-selling game of November in revenue terms. However, its sales are noticeably lower than the previous game in the series. However, this did not prevent the Call of Duty franchise from becoming the best-selling game in its launch month for the 18th time in a row.
Other new releases include Kirby Air Riders (10th place) and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment (11th place). Digital sales data is not available for both titles, so their actual ranking is likely higher.
Based on the first 11 months of the year, Battlefield 6, NBA 2K25, and Monster Hunter: Wilds are the top-sellers of the year. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 launched at 7th place, quite weak for the franchise.
MONOPOLY GO!, Royal Match, Last War: Survival, Candy Crush Saga, and Clash Royale were the top five highest-grossing games in November.
Platform rankings
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 led sales on both PlayStation and Xbox. The rankings are almost identical, with differences driven by PlayStation exclusives.
Fortnite was the MAU leader on both platforms in November.
Pokemon Legends: Z-A continues to hold first place in sales. New releases entered the top three.
Nintendo remains the strongest publisher on its own platform. Eight of the top ten games were published by Nintendo.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 also ranked first in sales on PC. Football Manager 2026 is also selling well, specifically considering this is the US market.
ARC Raiders took first place by MAU in the US Steam in November.
Newzoo: The gaming market grew faster than expected in 2025
The company analyzes the results of the first 11 months of 2025 and forecasts the outcome of the final month.
Overall market situation
By the end of 2025, total gaming market revenue will reach $197 billion, up 7.5% year over year.
The mobile market will amount to $108 billion (+7.7% YoY).
The console segment grew by 4.2% to $45 billion.
PC gaming showed the strongest growth, reaching $43 billion (+10.4% YoY).
Newzoo analysts expect the market to reach $208.2 billion in 2026 and grow to $227.2 billion by 2028.
Within the next 1-2 years, the PC segment is expected to surpass consoles in total revenue.
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Top-performing releases of 2025
Battlefield 6, Schedule I, and ARC Raiders generated the highest PC revenue during the first 11 months of 2025 across the six major Western markets (US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain).
Newzoo highlights the growing popularity of premium games, a trend toward AA projects, and the ability to launch new IPs (Schedule I, R.E.P.O). Shooters remain the most popular genre on PC.
EA Sports FC 26, NBA 2K26, and Battlefield 6 are the top performers on consoles. Among the same 6 markets.
AAA titles and sports games dominate console charts.
Exclusivity is not a death sentence for sales. Two exclusives made it into the top 10: Ghost of Yotei (8th place) and Pokemon Legends: Z-A (9th place).
Counter-Strike 2, Minecraft, Roblox, and Fortnite lead in MAU on both PC and consoles.
Peak is worth highlighting for its massive success, reaching 10th place by MAU on PC.
Call of Duty ranks second by MAU on consoles, though comparisons are not entirely accurate, as Activision has consolidated its titles under Call of Duty HQ, aggregating MAU across all entries and the free-to-play Warzone.
Despite the upcoming release of GTA VI, GTA V still ranks third by MAU on consoles. Beating that level of success will be difficult.