The Download – June 2026
Game industry financials show a tilt away from consoles towards China
Welcome back to the Download, the monthly newsletter from Moore Kingston Smith’s video game team.
In this month’s edition, we look at the financial results from the video games industry’s biggest publicly traded companies to give you a state of play within the business.
The steady transformation of the global video game industry
Over the past five years, the industry has steadily transformed. The latest batch of results from the largest games companies show how these trends are playing out across the world.
Console manufacturers are finding it tough to keep a competitive advantage as the cost of invaluable components like RAM is driven up by the demands of AI businesses.
Sony reported sales of £22.3bn (¥4.7tn) in its Games and Network branch latest financial year, flat compared to the previous year. XBOX’s hardware revenue’s dropped by 33% year-on-year in its third quarter results. Sony recently raised the cost of its PlayStation console due to component shortages, while XBOX’s poor performance was not helped by its costly ASUS ROG.
Nintendo recorded much better results, driving net sales of £10.9bn (¥2.3tn) and gross profit of £4.2bn (¥909bn) in its latest financial year after launching the Switch 2. But its stock price slid after the company admitted that price increases for the console were on the way. With console companies reliant on shipping devices to sell more games, the rising cost of components is squeezing business badly.
Software businesses are having to adapt to the challenges of releasing into a market where purchases of consoles and games are reducing due to economic pressure. Some are doing so more successfully than others.
Ubisoft saw revenue decline by 21.8% year-on-year in its full-year results as the restructured business suffered due to underperformance of both its premium and service games. Capcom, by contrast, recorded the best results in the company’s history. Its tight focus on big franchises like Resident Evil, Monster Hunter and Street Fighter, cost discipline in development and consistent release schedule is the model most companies are seeking to emulate.
So, where are the opportunities for growth in games? Roblox may still be unprofitable in its current form, but its growth is impressive. Revenue on the platform jumped up 39% year-on-year to reach $1.3bn in the first quarter of its financial year, while its daily active user count increased by 35% to 135m. The power of the network effect within its game creating ecosystem is putting it at the centre of the game economy.
Finally, Tencent’s full year financial results show how big China’s game market is. The company recorded £18.06bn (RMB164.2bn) of revenue in the last financial year in its domestic video game market alone, driven by mobile hits like Honor of Kings and a cross-platform version of Valorant. Entry to the biggest video game market in the world isn’t easy, but Tencent’s results show that the scale of the market may be too big for game companies to ignore.
Games industry business news in brief
Asia and the Middle East set to surpass $100bn in games revenue by 2028
To underscore the importance of Asia and the Middle East to the global games industry, consultancy firm Niko Partners has forecast that game revenues will exceed $100bn in the territory in 2028. Its latest paper on the state of the Asian market, which draws on responses from 11,000 players, suggests that revenue across the territory is already touching $89bn this year.
British-made James Bond game 007: First Light off to strong start
British-developed James Bond game 007: First Light appears to be a hit. Alinea Analytics has estimated that the game has generated 2.2m sales and $150m in revenue in its first week on sale. The analytics firm forecasts that the game is likely to have a long tail for sales deep into the summer.
Mobile games contribute €5.39bn to European economy
Mobile games generate more than €5.39bn in gross value add for the European economy, according to new research published by Candy Crush Saga developer King. Its new report Mobile Matters, created in partnership with Nordicity, also shows that the sector supports over 66,000 jobs across the continent.
Keep up with Moore Kingston Smith
Develop: Brighton
The video game team will be heading to Develop: Brighton in July to meet the UK games industry at its largest annual meet-up.
If you’d like to chat to one of our team about any of our accounting services, get in touch by emailing Rob Kersse, Rob Husband or Rod Cerqueira.
Video Games Market Outlook survey: tell us how your game business is doing
The Moore Kingston Smith Video Games Market Outlook is a brand-new survey that asks how your company is doing, your thoughts on the market and your opinion on the effectiveness of government support.
The survey, which is based on similar forms we’ve produced for other media sectors, is short and takes around 5 minutes to complete.
We will share the results with the market with the aim that it becomes a useful benchmarking tool, and with partners like Ukie to inform their public policy work. All responses will be kept anonymous.
We’d be grateful for your input. You can complete it here.
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