Most people still think of gaming as a hobby, a sideshow, a thing teenagers do. A respectable distance behind film and music — the real entertainment industries.
That picture is about a decade out of date.
In 2025, the global video game industry generated $188.8 billion in consumer revenue, according to market researcher Newzoo. In the same year, the world's cinemas pulled in roughly $33 billion at the box office (Gower Street Analytics), and the entire global recorded music industry — every Spotify stream, every vinyl, every CD, every download, everywhere on Earth — earned $31.7 billion (IFPI).
Add the world's movies and the world's records together and you get about $65 billion.
Gaming is roughly three times that.
For comparison, here is the picture for 2025:
- Global video games: $188.8 billion
- Global recorded music: $31.7 billion
- Global theatrical box office: $33 billion
- Movies + music combined: ~$64.7 billion
About 3.58 billion people — 60% of everyone with an internet connection — played a video game in 2025. Mobile alone generated $103 billion, more than three times the entire global box office. Console and PC together pulled in roughly $86 billion — also more than movies and recorded music combined.
The shift didn't happen overnight, but it was faster than most people noticed. As recently as 2010, the global games industry was around $60 billion — about the same size as movies and music together. The pandemic accelerated everything: console launches, mobile uptake, the live-service business model. By 2022, gaming had broken $200 billion for the first time. Hardware sales softened in 2025, but software and in-game spending kept the trajectory going.
There's a fairness caveat worth being honest about. The film industry is much larger than just theatrical box office — streaming, home video, television rights, and licensing add many billions more. Live music adds billions to recorded music. The "movies + music combined" comparison here is the visible industries — the part most people picture when they say "movies and music." On a fully-loaded basis, the gap is smaller. It's still enormous.
The next time someone tells you streaming killed the entertainment business, point them at a kid playing Fortnite on a phone in any country on Earth. The entertainment business didn't die. It just changed shape — and the new shape is bigger than the old one ever was.