The analytics company Newzoo released an extensive report focused on the situation in the console and PC gaming market in 2024. Below is a brief overview of its key points.
- According to Newzoo's calculations, console and PC games collectively earned $80.2 billion in 2024 (-2%).
- In the PC gaming segment alone, revenue amounted to $37.3 billion (+0.1%). Slightly more than half of this figure came from microtransactions — $24.4 billion (+1.4%). Next were sales of paid games ($10.7 billion, -2.6%) and DLC sales ($5.3 billion, +0.8%).
- The console games segment earned $42.8 billion (-3.9%). The main source of revenue was sales of paid games, generating $19.9 billion (-14%). Microtransactions took second place ($13.9 billion, +4.5%), followed by subscriptions ($6.9 billion, +14.1%) and DLC sales ($2.2 billion, +2.5%).
- Analysts expect total revenue in the console and PC gaming market to grow over the next three years, reaching $92.7 billion by 2027. Among the growth drivers are the release of GTA VI and Nintendo Switch 2 in 2025.
- In 2024, gamers spent 6% more time playing games than in 2023.
- Playtime increased significantly on PlayStation — Sony console owners spent 21% more time gaming. On Xbox, the figure grew by only 3%, and on PC, it even fell by 1%.
- 57% of all gaming time in 2024 was spent on games older than six years. 32% was on games three to five years old, and 12% on new releases.
- The most popular game remained Fortnite, accounting for 9.3% of the annual playtime. Among new releases, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 led (2.7%), followed by EA SPORTS FC 25 (1.1%) and Helldivers 2 (0.9%).
- In 2024, Steam users played an average of 10 games each — two more than the previous year. PlayStation owners launched the same number of games (an increase of two games as well). Xbox owners played an average of nine games a year — one less than in 2023.
- One-third of the Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox audience in 2024 tried no more than three games. Back in 2021, such gamers were about a quarter of the audience.
You can view the full report here. It contains 95 pages with detailed descriptions of how different platforms are faring.