A new report by global data firm Newzoo, in collaboration with monetization platform Tebex, has revealed striking trends in the gaming industry: just 20% of the world’s gamers account for nearly half of all global gaming revenue. 
These high-spending players fork out an annual average of $325 million collectively, with the bulk of this money coming from North America and Europe.
The study, titled Unlocking Games Revenue: Player Behavior and Payment Trends in the West, projects the global gaming market to reach $188.9 billion, with North America and Europe together making up 46% of that spending. But growth in these mature markets is slow-only 1.1% annually in North America and 3.1% in Europe between 2023 and 2027-pushing studios to rethink their monetization strategies.
“With modest payer growth in North America and Europe, studios must shift focus from acquiring new payers to maximizing value from existing ones,” the report states. This means moving beyond simple microtransactions or premium price hikes, and instead tailoring offers to match how and why players spend money.
Interestingly, mobile gaming dominates player numbers: nearly 3 billion mobile gamers compared to 930 million on PC and 653 million on consoles. However, as the report notes, platform doesn’t matter as much as it used to-games like Fortnite have become platforms themselves, thriving across devices.
Liam Wiltshire, head of payments and compliance at Tebex, summed it up: “Today’s players want to know what they’re paying for-and why. How you monetize matters more than ever.” As traditional markets slow, deeper and smarter monetization could be the key to keeping the industry thriving.