The 2026 PC and Console Gaming Report from leading video game analytics company Newzoo is packed with dozens of interesting insights, covering everything from the continued decline in subscription MMORPG revenue to the 20 most playable games on Xbox and PlayStation. However, the statistic that has everyone’s attention is the continued rise in “under $30” purchases on PC, which have increased by a a whopping 156 percent from 2022 to 2025.
The year of Newzoo PC and Gaming Report for 2026 dropped on March 12, and the biggest revelation, spotted by GamesIndustry.bizis that “Steam-led PC growth” will lead to PC game sales exceeding total console game sales revenue by 2028. To clarify, this is not some sort of average statistic: Newzoo predicts that PC game sales will exceed PC game sales. combined sales of Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S/X games by 2028.
Of course, this only includes game purchases. As the report points out, Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony still make a lot of money from subscription services like PlayStation Plus and Xbox Games Pass, which, of course, Steam doesn’t offer. However, this remains a mind-boggling statistic even with this stipulation in mind, so what exactly is causing the growth in video game sales in the PC market? Cheap games, apparently.
By “cheaper”, Newzoo is not referring to games on sale; The report specifically notes that games retailing for less than “$30” are to blame for this upward trend. In fact, in 2025 alone, Appendix I, CULMINATE, REPO. accounted for a total of 3.2 percent of the top PC games under $30.
New releases under $30 also accounted for about 9% of total PC revenue in 2025. Additionally, games under $30 accounted for 32% of the PC revenue breakdown by launch MSRP. For comparison, games under $30 made up just 7% of PlayStation’s revenue split based on launch MSRP and just 9% for Xbox.
According to Newzoo Consulting Director Ben Porter, who spoke with GamesIndustry.biz at GDC, this is partly due to the “cycles” of console generations. “It doesn’t grow in the same way that consoles do, because consoles have these cycles: You have a generation of consoles, and you’ll see upgrades, and then you’ll see changes in people’s spending behaviors on that.” Personally, I can’t wait to see how much of the stat is below $30 Kill the Arrow 2 compensates in Newzoo’s 2027 report.
