The US is on track to break 200 million by next year

After a mini boom in 2020 (5.8% growth), US gamer increases have mostly paralleled national smartphone growth metrics. Over 90% of gamers will use their mobile phones this year, while roughly 50% will be console gamers, and about 48% will be on desktop/laptop. Console and desktop/laptop gaming have been losing users recently—and are projected to lose more—but the Nintendo Switch 2 (coming this year), next-generation Xbox (rumored to release in 2026), and PlayStation 6 (speculated to arrive in 2027) could stem future console losses.

China’s gamer growth is back on a solid trajectory after its government-induced declines

Policymakers have rolled back some of the gaming industry roadblocks from 2021 and 2022.These measures included severe time-limit restrictions for underage players and an unofficial moratorium on approving new games for commercial release. The underage-gaming restrictions remain in place, but the floodgates reopened for new game approvals in 2023 and 2024. China’s gamer growth saw a decent acceleration last year as a result. Increases will tail off going forward, but China will still lead the world in gamers by a wide margin, crossing the 600 million mark next year.

Among the countries we break out, India will grow its gamer base the fastest in 2025 and 2026

Although its growth rates won’t be exceptional compared with most digital economy metrics, India will add nearly 47 million new gamers by 2028. At that point, it will have over 500 million players. India’s gaming growth is driven primarily by its fast-growing economy and ever-expanding base of smartphone users. India also has more headroom for growth than any other country thanks to the huge share of its population that is not yet online (49.2% as of 2025).

Read the full report, Worldwide Digital Gamers Forecast 2025.