The most profitable free-to-play games on consoles and PCs are gradually losing market share, study shows
The analytics company Newzoo conducted research focused on the state of free-to-play games on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox in 2025. We have highlighted the key points from it.
Genshin Impact
- According to analysts' observations, the revenue of the free-to-play market on major platforms has long been concentrated around just a few projects. However, in recent years, gamers have been spending less money on top games. In 2021, the top five grossing games generated 79% of the total console free-to-play revenue, whereas in 2025, it was 72%. The decline on PC is less noticeable, but it is present—the figure decreased from 68% in 2021 to 65% in 2025.
- In total, last year, gamers spent about 30 billion hours in free-to-play games on PC and consoles. This accounts for 29.3% of playtime across all games on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox. According to Newzoo, compared to 2021, the share of free-to-play games in total playtime dropped by 2.9‰.
- Meanwhile, Roblox showed a significant increase in playtime, which analysts considered separately from the rest of the free-to-play market. Over five years, it more than doubled to nearly 10 billion hours. Roblox's share of the total playtime for games on PC and consoles increased from 3.3% to 7.9%.
- Additionally, it is noted that in 2025, PC free-to-play playtime grew, while console free-to-play playtime declined, but no figures are provided.
- Gacha games are currently doing particularly well. Firstly, their number has significantly increased. Newzoo calculated that three major gacha games launched on PC and consoles in 2021, while in 2025, there were 17. Secondly, as the number of games increased, playtime also rose. Just on PC, from 2021 to 2025, the figure increased by 92%—an additional 864 hours. On consoles, the growth was 85 hours, but the percentage is not specified.
Important: Newzoo's research covers 37 major markets, excluding China and India. Revenue data pertains only to the USA, UK, Germany, France, Spain, and Italy.