The PC and console gaming landscape in 2025 delivered strong results across blockbuster releases, long-running franchises, and unexpected indie hits. New data from Alinea Analytics highlights which titles attracted the most players across Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox, while also offering a clearer picture of how revenue was distributed on Steam throughout the year. Together, the numbers point to a market where premium releases remain dominant, while socially driven indie games continue to gain traction.
Player Engagement Defined the Biggest Releases of the Year
Player reach across platforms remains one of the clearest indicators of a game’s impact, and 2025 saw a mix of familiar names and surprise successes rise to the top. Battlefield 6 led all new releases by total players, surpassing 26 million users when including its free-to-play REDSEC mode. Base game sales exceeded 20 million units, reflecting a renewed interest in the franchise after design changes that aligned more closely with long-standing fan expectations.
EA also saw significant engagement with skate., its free-to-play reboot of the skateboarding series. The title reached around 23 million players during the year and maintained more than 750,000 daily active users despite a post-launch decline. Its emphasis on accessibility and creator-friendly systems helped position it as a social platform as much as a traditional sports game.
Several of 2025’s biggest successes came from outside the usual blockbuster space. Cooperative horror title R.E.P.O. reached nearly 19.6 million players, while PEAK, a physics-driven climbing game, surpassed 15 million players on Steam alone. Both benefited from proximity voice chat and systems that encouraged emergent, shareable moments between players. EA Sports FC 26 completed the top five, continuing to perform strongly on console despite lower unit sales, supported by increased monetisation within Ultimate Team.
Steam’s Revenue Growth Shows a Stable PC Market
Steam generated an estimated $17.7 billion in revenue during 2025, representing a 15% increase year over year. This growth came despite the release of roughly 20,000 new games on the platform, illustrating how concentrated revenue remains. Only a small fraction of those releases crossed the $1 million revenue threshold, reinforcing the challenges of visibility and scale on PC storefronts.
Premium games continued to account for the majority of Steam’s revenue, contributing approximately 78% of total earnings. Free-to-play titles made up the remaining 22%, though many of the largest free-to-play games operate through external launchers and are not fully represented in Steam’s data. The takeaway from 2025 is that premium PC games remain commercially viable when supported by strong launches or sustained post-release engagement.
Indie Games Continued to Punch Above Their Weight
Indie titles accounted for roughly $4.5 billion of Steam’s revenue in 2025, representing more than a quarter of the platform’s total earnings. While the number of indie releases remains high, a small group of standout games drove a disproportionate share of revenue.
The five highest-grossing new indie games collectively generated more than $500 million. Schedule I led the group, followed closely by R.E.P.O., with PEAK, Silksong, and Escape from Duckov also posting strong results. Many of these games were relatively unknown a year earlier, underscoring how quickly momentum can build when a title resonates with players.
A key trend behind this success was the rise of social-first cooperative experiences. Games built around shared challenges, proximity voice chat, and physics-driven interactions often encouraged players to create and share clips organically. This player-driven visibility functioned as an effective marketing loop, particularly on platforms like TikTok and Discord.
Cooperative Design Became a Commercial Advantage
The success of games like R.E.P.O. and PEAK suggests that cooperative design is no longer a niche strategy. These titles leaned into high-stakes scenarios where player mistakes became part of the entertainment, creating repeatable moments that extended their lifespan beyond traditional marketing beats.
Throughout 2025, data showed that cooperative games generated growing revenue and engagement, particularly among friend groups looking for shared experiences rather than competitive play. This trend reinforced the idea that co-op-focused design can be both cost-effective and scalable, especially for independent developers.
A Fragmented but Healthy Industry
By the end of 2025, PC and console gaming looked less like a single market and more like a collection of overlapping ecosystems. Large-scale shooters, annual sports titles, premium single-player games, and low-fi cooperative experiences all found sizable audiences. Games such as Expedition 33, Monster Hunter Wilds, and Split Fiction demonstrated that premium releases could still succeed without relying on free-to-play models, provided they reached the right audience.
As the industry moves toward 2026, the data suggests continued room for experimentation alongside established franchises. Player behavior in 2025 showed a willingness to engage with both familiar brands and unconventional new ideas, as long as the experience offered something worth sharing or returning to.
Source: Alinea Analytics
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What was the most played new game of 2025?
Battlefield 6 was the most played new release of 2025, reaching more than 26 million players across PC and consoles.
Did indie games perform well on Steam in 2025?
Yes. Indie games generated over $4.5 billion in revenue on Steam, accounting for more than 25% of the platform’s total earnings.
Are premium games still successful on PC?
Premium games accounted for roughly 78% of Steam’s revenue in 2025, showing that paid releases remain a major part of the PC market.
Why were co-op games so popular in 2025?
Cooperative games benefited from social mechanics like proximity voice chat and physics-based interactions, which encouraged players to share gameplay moments and attract new audiences organically.
How did EA Sports FC 26 perform compared to previous entries?
While unit sales declined year over year, EA Sports FC 26 generated higher revenue due to increased monetisation, particularly within Ultimate Team on console platforms.
