The most popular PC games are typically free-to-play multiplayer titles, but gamers on all formats are increasingly moving away from them.
It’s already well known that the most popular video games nowadays are long-running older titles, with the likes of Fortnite, Roblox, and Minecraft holding a monopoly on player retention.
Just last year, it was reported that most players are spending almost half their time playing the exact same games. By the end of 2025, the top five most played games in the US were the exact same ones people were playing in 2024.
That’s unlikely to change in 2026 but a new report has unearthed some interesting statistics; namely that on PC, the top 20 games generated less than half of the platform’s revenue for all of 2025. Which is a good thing.
According to a Newzoo report, the 20 most played PC games consist almost entirely of multiplayer exclusive games. There are some exceptions, but those still offer multiplayer functionality and/or receive consistent updates, such as GTA 5 (which persists through the GTA Online multiplayer mode) and Genshin Impact.
However, the amount of money those games have generated has declined since 2022, where they made up 52% of all PC revenue made that year. That percentage went up to 57% in 2023, only to drop to 51% in 2024, and then 44% in 2025.
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The same can’t be said for consoles, though. Most of the revenue made on the PlayStation and Xbox consoles has come from their top 20 games, which aren’t identical to the PC list but are very similar.
Furthermore, PC play time in general has only grown since 2022, with games outside of the top 20 seeing an increase of 44%. Basically, most of the platform’s growth isn’t coming from any of the usual suspects.
Instead, it’s being driven by role-playing games and adventure games. Newer examples include Monster Hunter Wilds and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, but Newzoo also lists ‘durable catalogue games’ such as Cyberpunk 2077, Elden Ring, and Red Dead Redemption 2.
‘On PC, the space below the top 20 is becoming more economically meaningful. That doesn’t make the market unconcentrated, but it does make games below the very top more commercially relevant than before,’ says analyst Tianyi Gu.
She adds that outside of the top 20, player engagement comes mostly from premium and back catalogue games, whereas the top 20 is dominated by free-to-play ecosystems: ‘That does not mean new releases do not matter. But it does suggest that once a title is outside the very top tier, longevity and depth often matter more than novelty alone.’
Given how many of those top 20 games are free-to-play, this seems to suggest that even the people who are spending money on those games aren’t outspending those looking for premium experiences.
On one hand, this wouldn’t be that surprising. Just last month, Epic Games admitted Fortnite, despite its popularity, wasn’t turning a profit and is losing player attention, which resulted in over 1,000 layoffs.
In fact, of the top 20 franchises across all platforms, most of them have seen declines in play time. Fortnite in particular, saw its play time drop by 29% by the end of 2025, losing its top spot to Roblox, which saw its play time grow by 52%.
The continued success of Roblox is no doubt why there’s been a vested interest in player-made content. Fortnite’s been pushing this for a while, allowing players to also make money off their content, and GTA 6 is rumoured to follow suit.
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