The mobile game grew evenly in 2025, and the PC game entered another record year
The Digital Intelligence Analysis Company Sensor Tower recently published the 2026 Game Industry Status Report. The report shows that income from mobile games slowed in 2025, while the PC and host game markets recorded double-digit growth, the PC platform recorded a record number of sales of Steam.
In 2025, the total number of games downloaded by mobile, PC and mainframe devices was 52 billion. Despite the fact that an average of 95,000 mobile games per minute were downloaded throughout the year and that there was an increase in the expenditure on YouTube mobile advertising traditionally used to promote PC/host games, overall downloads were still below the level of 2024. Income from mobile games increased by only 1 per cent to $82 billion. The Sensor Tower analysis suggests that this suggests that the industry is moving “to focus on the retention, interaction and realization of existing players in mature markets through real-time operations, activities and IP linkages”. The PC and mainframe game markets increased their income by 13 per cent over the same period, while downloads and game distributions rose by 7 per cent and 8.4 per cent, respectively, largely as a result of strong performance by medium-sized and large distributors. 2025 is the year of shooting games. Field 6 became the best-selling PC/host game of the year, followed by EA Reports FC 25 and EA Reports FC 26 (which combined sales exceeded Field 6). In terms of downloads, Skye is the largest free game, followed by Manu Via, with Delta Action and Deadlock being the third and fourth categories.
R.E.P.O. and PEAK were rated as the best-selling independent game in 2025, “a further confirmation of the rise of confusing, cooperative and creatively friendly games”. The data show that the PPC gamers are younger, and that the percentage of women at home is higher in super-recreational games. The core elements of the report also include:Moving game to liquidity priority:As downloads continue to shrink and income remains stable, each download needs to create higher value. The retention, interaction and realization of existing players became crucial.The PC game is another record:Steam is more innovative in terms of sales, buy-out game revenues and game publishing, and growth is driven mainly by large and medium-sized distributors.
YouTube shares go from PC/host to mobile:Although the mobile game advertising budget is still mainly directed to mobile application networks and YouTube remains the preferred channel for PC/host games, its share of expenditure has shifted from PC/host to the mobile side.4X strategy game leads to mobile markets:Strategic games are the only products that have grown over time in terms of collection, downloads and users, and are dominated by Last War: Survival and Whiteout Survival, the top two in 2025. “In 2025, Oliver Yeh, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Sensor Tower, demonstrated the strong vitality of the PC/host ecology — the independent explosive of viral transmission, high-quality medium-sized games and reliable large-scale game lines that drive growth, as demonstrated by the annual sales champion, Field 6. As the sale of GTA6 approaches, this momentum will accelerate further in 2026.”
He added: “In the meantime, mobile games have reached a more mature stage. While downloads are difficult to grow on a large scale again, opportunities have shifted to those who prioritize retention, realization and innovation to achieve sustainable growth through strategies such as web shops, IP connections, etc.”
