Free-to-play playtime is broadly flat as gacha RPGs drive PC growth, says Newzoo
A new Newzoo report challenges the narrative that free-to-play gaming is in decline, finding that while F2P’s share of total playtime fell 2.9 percentage points between 2021 and 2025 to reach 29.3%, the absolute hours spent playing F2P games remained broadly flat. The decline in market share is attributed to growth in other segments, particularly premium games and Roblox, which captured more player engagement rather than F2P losing players outright.
Platform-specific trends reveal a divergence between PC and console markets. On PC, F2P playtime actually grew in absolute terms even as its overall market share declined, with gacha RPGs driving this expansion. Conversely, on console, F2P playtime fell during the same period, reflecting different player preferences and engagement patterns between the platforms.
The analysis, based on Newzoo’s Game Performance Monitor tracking engagement across 37 markets (excluding China, India, and mobile), found that annual F2P and live-service launches fell 31% since the early 2020s. Despite this decline in new releases, the findings suggest the F2P sector is stabilizing rather than collapsing, with the data indicating that the market is maturing rather than dying.