Apple continues to casually dominate gaming

Apple won’t at all times appear to know PC players, but it surely stays a vastly dominant pressure in that market. Newly printed analysis reveals that in 2025, the App Store made considerably extra money from video games than the opposite two main platforms mixed.

According to SensorTower’s State of Gaming 2026 report, which recounts key findings from the earlier yr and predicts what we will anticipate on this one, the App Store made gross income of $52.5 billion in 2025, in comparison with simply $30 billion for Google’s Play Store and $11.7 billion for Valve’s Steam platform. Steam is doing its greatest to catch up–its income was up 13 % on the earlier yr, whereas Google and Apple noticed progress of simply 2.8 % and 0.6 % respectively—however Apple retains its large lead available in the market.

(Just as a notice on methodology: SensorTower says its income figures for the App Store and Google Play are based mostly on IAPs inside video games fairly than the price of the video games themselves, presumably as a result of the overwhelming majority of apps offered are free. They embrace each the cash made by the video games writer and the share skimmed off by the platform holder.)

Interestingly, whereas Apple is forward on income, it’s a great distance behind on quantity. SensorTower reviews {that a} whopping 81 % of downloads in 2025 have been on Google Play (that’s all video games, not simply cellular), in comparison with 15 % for Apple’s App Store. The distinction is that iPhone homeowners are way more more likely to spend cash.

Services, the class of income which incorporates the App Store together with subscription providers reminiscent of Apple Music and, relevantly to this dialogue, Apple Arcade, is a cherished supply of earnings for Apple as a result of it scales so effectively. There aren’t provide points when the product is solely digital, and as such, Services is the corporate’s second-largest income generator after the iPhone, and topped S30 billion within the final quarter.

All of which ought to clarify why Apple is so reluctant to permit builders to direct customers by their very own fee techniques with a purpose to cut back or keep away from the App Store income reduce.

Just a few years again a court docket ordered the corporate to permit “buttons, external links, or other calls to action that direct customers to [external] purchasing mechanisms,” however its response was to put a charge on purchases made outdoors the App Store in addition to on these made inside. This coverage, which calls to thoughts an outdated Onion article about American Airlines charging non-passengers, didn’t go down effectively with the choose. But you’ll be able to type of see why they have been tempted to strive.