Console Industry Will Lose Blood in 2024
The console gaming industry closed 2024 with a surprising decline in revenues. According to the 2025 PC and Console Games Report published by Newzoo, console revenues decreased by 3.9% compared to 2023. The biggest reason for this decline is the 14% decline in premium game revenues. However, other models, especially microtransactions and subscription revenues, managed to offset this loss to some extent.
Premium Games Lose Share in Consoles
According to the report, premium game sales accounted for 46% of console revenues in 2024. However, this rate, which corresponds to $19.9 billion, indicates a significant decrease compared to previous years. In contrast, microtransactions increased by 4.5% to $13.9 billion and accounted for 32% of total console revenues. Subscription revenues, on the other hand, grew by an impressive 14.1% to $6.9 billion.
DLC sales also showed a remarkable increase. DLC sales increased by 2.5% to $2.2 billion due to games such as Elden Ring, Diablo 4 and Destiny 2. This shows that players are increasingly interested in in-game content. An increasing portion of console revenues comes from microtransactions and subscription models.
Popular games such as Fortnite, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and NBA 2K25 are among the main reasons for the increase in microtransaction revenues. The expansion of the user base of subscription services also supports growth in this area.
Newzoo predicts that the console sector will enter the growth path again in 2025. The report estimates that console revenues will reach $47.3 billion in 2025 and $52.4 billion in 2027. The most important factors that will support this growth are shown as next-generation games and console systems reaching wider audiences.
While 2024 has been a tough year for the console industry, the rise of microtransactions and subscription models has begun to make up for this loss. The future of the industry will depend on how well it can adapt to the changing habits of gamers.
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