Nournews: The video game market is no longer merely an entertainment industry; it has evolved into one of the world's largest digital economies. The market’s value surpassed $180 billion in 2025, and competition among countries to secure a larger share of this industry is intensifying every year. Among different segments, mobile games account for 55 percent of global gaming revenue, making them the main driver of the gaming economy, followed by console games with 24 percent and PC games with 21 percent.
China and the United States remain the two undisputed powers of the global gaming industry. China ranks first with $54.6 billion in revenue, while the United States follows closely with $50.8 billion. Japan ranks third with $17.6 billion, followed by South Korea with $8.3 billion, Germany with $7.1 billion, the United Kingdom with $6.8 billion, France with $4.3 billion, Canada with $3.2 billion, Italy with $2.5 billion, and Mexico with $2.3 billion.
Beyond revenue figures, gaming penetration rates are also significant across countries. South Korea has the highest share of gamers among the surveyed countries, with 65.9 percent of its population playing video games. It is followed by the United States with 64.4 percent, Germany with 63.6 percent, the United Kingdom with 62.1 percent, Japan with 60.5 percent, Canada with 60.3 percent, France with 60.2 percent, and China with 51.1 percent. In Iran, gamers account for 31.7 percent of the population, indicating considerable room for further market expansion.
Iran’s gaming industry has also experienced rapid growth in recent years. The direct turnover of the domestic gaming market increased from 720 billion tomans in 2017 to 19 trillion tomans in 2021, and then surged to approximately 70 trillion tomans in 2025. These figures only include direct household spending on purchasing and using games and do not account for infrastructure costs, hardware, and related services. Therefore, the actual size of Iran’s gaming economy is estimated to be significantly larger.
Iran’s gaming consumption pattern has also followed the global trend, shifting increasingly toward mobile platforms. According to published statistics, 94.5 percent of Iranian gamers use smartphones for gaming, while more than half of players have turned to online games. This trend suggests that developing mobile games could generate the highest economic returns for industry players.
A comparison between Iran’s domestic capacities and the global market shows that the country has a strong foundation — in terms of the number of players, market turnover, and popularity of mobile gaming — to become a significant player in the region’s digital economy. Targeted investment in locally developed games, support for domestic studios, expansion of payment infrastructure, and international distribution could substantially increase Iran’s share of the multi-billion-dollar global gaming market.
Today, gaming is no longer merely a cultural and entertainment sector; it has become one of the key engines driving the global digital economy.
Nournews