The PC gaming market has been dominant for decades, with nearly 1 billion players and more games sold than consoles. However, a new report shows that PlayStation has been experiencing significant growth in gaming hours over the years.
The "2025 PC and Console Game Report" released by the research company Newzoo shows that despite the continuous development of PlayStation, the PC and Xbox platforms can only maintain stability and avoid decline. Not only that, new games on PlayStation have a higher play rate than old games.
Sony's performance was so good that the report called PlayStation the "lone bright spot" in the gaming industry.
PlayStation has seen growth in the number of games played globally, with the most significant growth occurring in South Korea (+52%), France (+20%) and the UK (+18%). Conversely, Xbox and Steam declined globally, with Japan and South Korea seeing the biggest declines on both platforms. This means that more players around the world prefer to play games on the PS platform.
In addition, PlayStation has the most stable player participation in various games from 2021 to 2024. The average number of games played by Steam and Xbox players has dropped significantly, ranging from 6 to 13 games.
The report also predicts that the console market will drive 7% growth in the gaming industry from 2024 to 2027, while the PC market's contribution is expected to be 2.6%.
At the same time, the report pointed out that 58% of PC game revenue comes from microtransactions, and Steam users are more likely to play non-competitive and PvE games than console players.
