The details:
- According to the report, PC has the highest conversion rate of any platform at 55%, meaning more than half of its 977 million players are paying. Newzoo attributes this to microtransactions regaining share alongside strong premium and mid-priced releases.
- Console growth nearly stalled in 2025 at just 0.5% year over year, but is forecast to reaccelerate to 3.0% in 2026 — almost entirely on the back of GTA VI's November launch. PlayStation leads the reacceleration, followed by Xbox and Nintendo.
- Nintendo Switch 2's growing install base is being largely offset by the decline of the original Switch. Newzoo notes that the 2025 Nintendo Switch annual playing user count fell 0.8%, signalling "that a new console launch alone does not guarantee net player growth."
- Mobile has 3.10 billion players — 84% of the total global player base — but downloads are falling at 25% year over year globally in H1 2026. Revenue keeps growing regardless, as deeper spending from existing players picks up the slack.
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