Most established live service and evergreen games were flat or declined year over year in the first half of 2026 compared with the same period in 2025, according to data published by research firm Newzoo in its Global Games Market Report. The finding covers the six months to June 2026 and indicates that growth across the sector was concentrated in a small number of titles rather than spread across the long-running games that typically sustain revenue between major releases. The result matters for publishers that depend on recurring spending from established franchises, because it suggests the audience for those titles is no longer expanding at the pace seen in previous years.
Newzoo found that growth was limited to a few titles, including World of Warcraft, Diablo 4, Overwatch, Roblox, and select international releases from Tencent. The remainder of the established live service and evergreen catalogue was either flat or down year over year.
Subscription and digital revenue trends
PlayStation Plus is expected to support growth for multi-game subscription services. Even so, digital revenues declined year over year in the first half of 2026 across six Western markets. Newzoo attributed the decline to free to play and annualised premium weakness outweighing strong new releases. That combination indicates that a healthy slate of new titles was not enough to offset softer performance in the free to play and annualised premium segments during the period.
Console outlook and hardware drivers
Newzoo forecasts console player growth of 3 percent this year, up from nearly flat growth of 0.5 percent in 2025. The firm links the increase to the launch of Grand Theft Auto 6 and to a reacceleration driven by PlayStation. Grand Theft Auto 6 and first party titles on Nintendo Switch 2 are expected to expand the install base for generation 9 consoles.
Recent Nielsen IQ data shows that PlayStation 5 and Xbox console sales in the UK rose by 33 percent and 34 percent respectively following the Grand Theft Auto 6 premiere on Netflix.
Emmanuel Rosier, Newzoo’s director of market intelligence, who is also known as Manu, recently told GamesIndustry.biz that without Grand Theft Auto 6, console revenues would remain flat compared with 2025. His assessment places a single title at the centre of the console segment’s expected recovery for the year.
Top public games companies in Q1 2026
Newzoo’s report lists the top 10 public games companies for the first quarter of 2026. Collectively they generated 37.4 billion dollars in game revenue, up 6.7 percent.
Tencent led the group with revenue up 11.9 percent to 10.8 million dollars, followed by Sony at 5.2 million dollars, down 0.9 percent, and Microsoft at 5.1 million dollars, down 5.5 percent. Roblox grew 39.3 percent year over year to 1.4 million dollars, ranking tenth.
Full year market forecast
As previously reported, Newzoo forecasts the global games market to reach 213.9 billion dollars in 2026, up 6.1 percent year over year.
The Asia Pacific region is expected to generate nearly half of global revenue at 100.7 billion dollars. China is forecast to reach 58.1 billion dollars, while North America is second at 56.9 billion dollars, with the United States totalling 53.5 billion dollars.
Player growth is expected to reach 3.7 billion in 2026, up 4.4 percent year over year. Of that total, 44.6 percent of players are categorised as spenders, up from 39.4 percent in 2015.
Total average revenue per paying user, or ARPPU, a measure of the average amount each paying player spends over a given period, is forecast to reach 129.6 dollars, up 1.4 percent year over year. Newzoo attributed that increase to deeper spending within the existing base, meaning higher expenditure from players who already pay rather than growth in the number of paying players.
The findings position the remainder of 2026 around a small set of expected catalysts. Console player growth, digital revenue performance across Western markets, and the trajectory of established live service titles will be measured against the launch of Grand Theft Auto 6 and the first party line up on Nintendo Switch 2. Newzoo’s full year forecast of 213.9 billion dollars and its projection of 3.7 billion players provide the benchmarks against which subsequent quarterly data will be compared.
