Mobile gaming generated 2.6 times more revenue than PC gaming in 2025

Mobile games generated approximately $2.60 for every dollar earned by PC games in 2025, according to finalized industry estimates.

Mobile gaming revenue reached $113.3 billion, compared with $43.6 billion from PC gaming. However, PC was the faster-growing platform: PC revenue rose 12% year over year, ahead of mobile’s 10.7% increase (Buijsman, 2026).

Mobile and PC gaming compared

Mobile generated 56.2% of worldwide video game revenue in 2025. PC accounted for 21.6%, while console gaming represented 22.2%. Mobile was therefore larger than PC and console combined, although only by $25 billion.

Steam releases reached another record

Mobile may lead by revenue and audience reach, but the supply of new PC games is expanding rapidly. SteamDB records 21,377 games released on Steam during 2025, up from 18,494 in 2024 (SteamDB, n.d.).

That represents a 15.6% annual increase and a 74.5% increase since 2022.

The growth demonstrates both the accessibility of modern development tools and the difficulty of discovery. More games are being released, but players still have limited time and attention. Our indie game statistics deep dive breaks down what that release volume actually means for developer profitability.

Where does console fit into the mobile vs. PC picture?

Mobile and PC aren't the whole market. Console gaming generated $44.7 billion in 2025 — slightly more than PC and enough to claim 22.2% of global gaming revenue, just ahead of PC's 21.6%. Put all three platforms together and mobile alone still out-earned PC and console combined, but only by about $25 billion, a thinner margin than the 2.6× mobile-vs-PC comparison suggests on its own.

For the full picture of how gaming's $201.6 billion 2025 total stacks up against another entertainment industry entirely, see our comparison of gaming revenue to the global box office.

Why mobile releases cannot be compared directly with Steam

A precise “mobile games versus PC games released” figure sounds simple, but the available public datasets do not measure the markets consistently.

SteamDB tracks games released through one PC storefront. Mobile-market datasets may combine Apple’s App Store and Google Play, count a cross-platform title twice, include regional versions, or mix new games with rereleases.

A defensible title-level comparison would need to include both major mobile stores, deduplicate Android and iOS versions, separate games from other apps, distinguish new titles from regional listings and apply equivalent rules to PC storefront data. Without those controls, a simple platform release comparison would be misleading.

Mobile’s advantage is accessibility

Mobile’s commercial lead begins with distribution. A smartphone is already an everyday device for billions of consumers, removing the need to purchase a dedicated console or gaming computer. Mobile games also fit into short periods of available time and can be discovered, downloaded and played with little planning.

This accessibility has made mobile gaming a central part of new consumer gaming trends, particularly in markets where smartphones are the principal means of accessing digital entertainment.

PC is growing through depth and variety

PC gaming supports premium releases, competitive multiplayer games, modding communities, independent development and titles designed for longer sessions. The platform’s 12% revenue growth in 2025 was not attributed to a single blockbuster; Newzoo described a broad premium slate spanning multiple price tiers.

These conditions point toward innovations in online gaming that make distribution easier while placing greater importance on creators, communities and word-of-mouth discovery.

The platforms are beginning to overlap

The future is unlikely to be a straightforward contest between mobile and PC. Publishers increasingly design games that move between smartphones, computers and consoles. Cross-progression lets players retain accounts and purchases, while cross-play allows people to participate together across different hardware.

Mobile wins on reach and revenue. PC grew faster in 2025 and supports a rapidly expanding catalogue through its largest storefront. The larger trend is convergence: consumers increasingly expect games, accounts and communities to follow them from one screen to another.

Methodology

Beacon Digital PR compared Newzoo’s finalized 2025 mobile, PC and console revenue estimates. Ratios and shares were calculated using the reported $201.6 billion total market value. Steam release figures were collected from SteamDB’s continuously updated database and represent games listed on Steam—not every PC game released worldwide.

Mobile-store release totals were not directly compared with Steam because the public datasets use incompatible classifications and may count the same title more than once.

References

1. Buijsman, M. (2026, June 18). Global games revenue cracked $200 billion in 2025. Newzoo. https://newzoo.com/articles/global-games-market-2025
2. Sensor Tower. (2026). State of gaming 2026: Mobile, PC, & console trends. https://sensortower.com/report/state-of-gaming-2026
3. SteamDB. (n.d.). Steam game release summary by year. Retrieved July 24, 2026, from https://steamdb.info/stats/releases/