Against the backdrop of globalization, global expansion has become an undeniable strategic direction for Chinese game developers. When discussing overseas expansion, attention often focuses on the fiercely competitive mobile gaming market. Recently, Amazon Ads released its 2025 Global PC & Console Gamer Insights Report, revealing a rapidly rising "new blue ocean" with enormous potential: the global PC and console gaming market.

The report interprets the current status and opportunities of the global console gaming market from aspects including blue ocean markets for PC and console games, global PC/console gamer insights, and the purchase process for successful PC/console game launches. The following content summarizes the report and combines Yeahmobi’s years of global digital marketing experience to provide more targeted growth strategies for Chinese game developers going global.

01 Rapid Global Market Growth: PC & Console Are No Longer "Niche"

One of the report’s core insights is that the global PC and console gaming market is expanding rapidly, presenting a dynamic incremental market.

1.1 Player Scale

As of Q1 2025, the total number of global PC/console gamers has reached 1.43 billion, representing a 19% growth rate compared to Q1 2023.

1.2 Regional Growth Outpaces Mobile

In the Big Five European countries and Japan, the PC/console market has grown faster than the smartphone gaming market. Particularly in Japan, the number of PC/console gamers is growing at 4 times the rate of mobile gamers, and its market size surpassed mobile gaming at the end of 2024, becoming the dominant gaming platform in the region.

1.3 Platform Convergence

Notably, PC and console gamers are not mutually exclusive with mobile gamers. Data shows that 77% of PC/console gamers also play mobile games, and approximately 35% of global PC/console gamers own all three gaming devices: smartphones, PCs and consoles. This provides enormous opportunities for Chinese game developers in cross-platform publishing and integrated marketing.

02 Gamer Profiles: Moving Beyond "One-Size-Fits-All" to Precisely Reach Regional Differentiated Needs

To succeed in global expansion, in-depth understanding of target market gamers is crucial. The report provides detailed profiles of gamers in major global regions, offering valuable "localization" marketing clues for game developers.

2.1 The "Main Battlefield" for Hardcore Gamers

The report shows that approximately 16% of global PC/console gamers are "hardcore gamers", but this proportion varies significantly across regions. In the United States, about 30% of PC/console gamers are hardcore gamers, who spend significantly more time, money and engage in deeper social interactions than gamers in other regions, making them an important group influencing market trends.

2.2 Japan’s "RPG Obsession"

While action-adventure games are popular globally, RPG (Role-Playing Games) dominate the Japanese market. Japanese gamers show extremely high loyalty to Japanese-style RPGs, anime aesthetics and games with deep storytelling.

2.3 "Competitive Culture" in European and American Markets

In the United States and Europe, shooter and sports games consistently rank among the top three player preferences. American gamers also have a higher preference for puzzle/platform games than their European and Japanese counterparts.

03 Consumption Habits: Tapping into Localized Consumption Potential to Boost ROI

In addition to gameplay preferences, gamer consumption habits also vary by region. The report reveals the monetization potential of different markets, providing a reference for developers to formulate more accurate business models.

3.1 Core Consumption Items

Full-game purchases remain the most popular consumption form globally. However, in-app purchases (IAP), downloadable content (DLC) and season passes have become important engines driving revenue growth.

3.2 Regional Consumption Characteristics

American gamers have significantly higher willingness to spend on in-game currency/content and season passes than European and Japanese gamers. This indicates that the U.S. market is more suitable for adopting IAP and subscription models to boost player lifetime value (LTV). Japanese gamers lead the world in DLC purchase rates, a statistic that contrasts sharply with their enthusiasm for full-game purchases.

As a programmatic advertising marketing service provider that has accompanied numerous Chinese game developers to reach global consumers and achieve marketing goals, Alex Wu, Director of International Marketing at Yeahmobi, shared insights on the report: "Chinese game global expansion is shifting from traffic dividend-driven extensive expansion to a high-quality growth phase that focuses more on efficiency, strategy and localization. This report from Amazon Ads provides a valuable data compass for Chinese game developers. The vast blue ocean of 1.43 billion global PC and console gamers is waiting for prepared Chinese developers to explore and conquer.

Against this backdrop, we believe that developers who elevate the PC and console market to the same strategic importance as the mobile market will have a better chance of achieving global growth. Furthermore, fully embracing localization, deeply understanding the unique preferences of gamers in each region, abandoning the blind 'one-size-fits-all' strategy, and adopting multi-category and multi-platform layouts—from game content localization to marketing localization—will break down all communication barriers with overseas players and achieve higher-quality and more sustainable growth."