According to SensorTower on September 17, PC and console game downloads have exceeded 1 billion times in 2025, with Steam holding the largest market share due to its dominance in the PC platform. PlayStation follows closely behind, while Xbox maintains a considerable market presence. Steam not only leads in user acquisition but is also poised to set new revenue records. Compared to the same period in 2024, the platform's game purchase revenue has grown 15% year-to-date in 2025, with expectations to surpass $12 billion by year-end.
Regarding game genre popularity, classic core categories remain the top choice for PC and console players. From a downloads perspective alone, action games (262 million downloads), shooter games (189 million downloads), and role-playing games (131 million downloads) performed best in 2025 to date.
Electronic Arts (EA.US) currently leads as the publisher with the highest download volume, with its success attributed to sports games, IP game series, and collaborative titles from the EA Originals program such as "Split Fiction" and "It Takes Two." Microsoft (MSFT.US) and Sony (SONY.US) rank second and third respectively, both securing market positions through their respective PC and console game portfolios. A closer examination of these platforms reveals that Sony content performs better on PlayStation, while Microsoft content is more popular on Xbox. Microsoft games' substantial download volume on the Xbox platform is partly due to deep integration with Game Pass.
The remainder of the rankings includes both familiar popular games and new entries. NetEase's (09999) "Marvel Rivals" was the most downloaded PC/console game of the year, while Kepler Interactive gained significant influence with AA hit titles "Clair Obscur: Expedition 33" and "REMATCH."
Microsoft's outstanding performance this year is primarily attributed to acquisitions of the "Call of Duty" and "Minecraft" franchises, both being cross-platform blockbusters. On PC and console platforms, Bethesda Softworks and Xbox Game Studios account for the majority of downloads, while King dominates over half of mobile platform downloads.
In the AAA gaming sector, sports games such as "EA SPORTS FC 25" and "NBA 2K25" continue to dominate the market, with action RPG "Monster Hunter Wilds" also showing strong performance. Among AA games, "Clair Obscur: Expedition 33" is undoubtedly the winner, receiving unanimous critical acclaim. This turn-based RPG's download numbers even exceeded those of "NBA 2K25."
In the indie gaming space, "R.E.P.O." achieved the highest sales, consistent with its phenomenal popularity among content creators and social circles. Nevertheless, the second-ranked indie game "Schedule I" achieved comparable download performance despite being priced at double the cost.