Weekly Gaming Reports Recap: October 27

Reports of the week:

1. mod.io & GameDiscoverCo: The Impact of UGC on Games efficiency in 2025

2. Vorhaus Advisors: American Digital User in 2025 – Games & Tech

3. Niko Partners: Southeast Asia Games Market in 2025

The research analyzed initiatives that earned a minimum of $1M of their first month after launch, a complete of 1,200 titles, 18% of which featured UGC help.

For consoles, solely video games that bought a minimum of 100,000 copies of their first month have been included. Among roughly 1,000 titles, these with UGC help made up 2% on PlayStation and three% on Xbox.

• According to the analysis, PC video games with UGC help generate 8% larger income after the primary yr in comparison with these with out it. Over a 5-year interval, the hole grows to 31%.

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❗️These figures ought to be interpreted rigorously. The report rightly factors out that UGC help could usually be a consequence fairly than a trigger of a recreation’s recognition. The $1M first-month income threshold robotically excludes numerous indie builders.

❗️This possible displays the habits of essentially the most engaged viewers phase, which explains the numerous distinction in extra content material gross sales.

Source

The survey polled 2,000 U.S. respondents aged 18 and older, evenly break up between women and men.

24% of respondents are 18–34, 38% are 35–54, and 38% are 55+. The common family revenue amongst respondents is $82,000 per yr.

10% of respondents personal a enterprise. Half are married. 66% personal their dwelling.

• Spending on digital leisure within the U.S. is rising. The heaviest spenders are 18–34-year-olds, averaging about $1,640 per yr.

• 83% stated they earned no revenue from their movies over the previous yr; 17% earned one thing. 36% reported incomes greater than $1,000 within the final yr from their movies, whereas 20% stated they earned lower than $25.

• Facebook stays the main platform within the U.S. by viewers curiosity, adopted by YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and X. Notably, amongst 18–34-year-olds, solely LinkedIn gained recognition during the last yr (+12%), possible tied to a harder job market pushing youthful customers to job-hunt on the location.

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• The common American maintains 3.5 energetic streaming subscriptions. Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu lead.

• Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and iMessage are the highest messaging companies within the U.S. Snapchat is declining. Reddit makes an look on the record. Discord holds a big share, particularly amongst youthful customers. Telegram additionally entered the highest 10.

• 80% of surveyed Americans play video games on a minimum of one platform – up 4% from final yr’s survey.

• Among 18–34-year-olds, 95% play video games. Among 35–54, it’s 87%. 64% of these 55+ play video games.

• 40% of respondents play cell video games each day.

• PC noticed an 8% YoY enhance in individuals who play greater than as soon as per week. Overall, the platform’s viewers is extra engaged than on consoles.

• On consoles, engagement is highest amongst youthful customers – their exercise rose 17% YoY. Conversely, amongst 35–54-year-olds, the share taking part in greater than as soon as per week fell 6% from 2024.

• 24% of respondents stated they need to play extra within the subsequent six months. This is particularly evident amongst console homeowners who, for varied causes, aren’t taking part in as a lot as they’d like.

• 22% of respondents stated they’ve both a Nintendo Switch or a PlayStation 5 at dwelling. 11% reported having an Xbox One; 10% – Xbox Series X. 9% have PS VR/VR2; 6% – Xbox Series X. Meta Quest is in 5% of households. Literally everybody surveyed has an iOS or Android, generally a couple of system.

• People play on handheld techniques greater than as soon as per week in 34% of instances. This is commonest amongst 18–34-year-olds (56%). The older the group, the much less frequent the play.

• 46% of respondents are wanting ahead to Nintendo Switch 2 (the system launched in the midst of the survey length). 27% wish to see a brand new PlayStation Portable, 15% are ready for an Xbox handheld (not the Asus ROG Ally X), and 11% would love a Steam Deck 2 announcement.

• Social media (42%), suggestions from family and friends (40%), on-line advertisements (32%), TV advertisements (20%), and on-line evaluations (16%) are the principle channels Americans use to find new titles.

• It’s vital to notice that the recognition of all these channels has declined since 2024.

• PlayStation Plus, Xbox Game Pass, Apple Arcade, EA Play, and Google Play Pass are the preferred subscription companies amongst U.S. customers. Overall, a minimum of three-quarters of their audiences are happy.

• 70% on PC (+38% YoY), 58% on cell (+19% YoY), 66% on consoles (+21% YoY), and 47% on the net (+25% YoY) spend greater than $30 per yr on in-game purchases.

❗️These are fascinating figures, since a number of earlier experiences cited a slowdown in U.S. in-game spending on account of financial pressures.

A phrase from publication sponsor

Xsolla and Flexion now work collectively on person monetization – Xsolla’s fee options might be robotically built-in into recreation builds by Flexion.

Flexion makes a speciality of distributing video games throughout different app shops – Samsung, Huawei, Amazon, Xiaomi, and ONE Store – by means of a unified SDK. From now on, video games launched on main third-party shops will come bundled with built-in fee options.

You can learn more about the details of the deal via the link.

Source

Niko Partners has tracked the area for the previous 11 years. The research covers six nations (SEA-6): Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

• In 2024, the video games business throughout the SEA-6 generated $5.37 billion, up 5.2% YoY.

• For 2025, a extra modest enhance is anticipated to $5.47 billion (+1.8% YoY). The slowdown is attributed to financial headwinds and new regulatory practices (e.g., Vietnam now requires licenses).

• By 2029, Niko Partners initiatives SEA-6 revenues to succeed in $6.47 billion, a 5-year CAGR of three.8%.

• There have been 285.82 million gamers in Southeast Asia in 2024 (+3.1% YoY). In 2025, the quantity rose to 290 million (+1.5% YoY). Niko Partners expects it to succeed in 324.4 million by 2029 (CAGR 2.6%).

❗️Given that greenback inflation is at the moment larger, regional income in USD phrases could successfully decline in actual phrases.

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• Over 45% of SEA-6 gamers actively socialize in video games.

• 52% of gamers in SEA-6 watch recreation livestreams — a preferred exercise within the area.

• In 2025, gamers within the area averaged 15 hours of gameplay per week. In 2024, the determine was larger at 21.8 hours.

• The share of non-paying customers is rising by 10–20% in every of the SEA-6 nations.

• Localization is essential for SEA-6 gamers. For many customers, having their native language is a important issue.

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