Games ranked outside the Top 20 are capturing an increasing share of revenue and playtime in Western markets, according to Newzoo data.
Further analysis of the data firm’s annual PC & Console Gaming Report shows titles beyond the Top 20 are gaining commercial significance across all major platforms.
Between 2022 and 2025, PC games outside the Top 20 increased their revenue share from 48% to 56%, while playtime rose from 33% to 45%. This growth was notable among premium and back-catalogue titles in the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain.
“The space below the Top 20 is becoming more economically meaningful,” said Newzoo market analysis manager Tianyi Gu. “That doesn’t make the market unconcentrated, but it does make games below the very top more commercially relevant than before.”
While shooters became less dominant, action RPGs and survival games showed strong growth. Among the games performing well were Path of Exile 2, Monster Hunter Wilds, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, as well as back-catalogue titles like Cyberpunk 2077, Elden Ring, and Skyrim.
Rust, Day Z, Dead by Daylight, and Red Dead Redemption 2 continue to engage players in the adventure genre, along with R.E.P.O., which launched last year.
Spending remained concentrated on major franchises on consoles, with the bulk of spending directed toward titles in the Top 20.
Lower-ranked titles accounted for 38% of total revenue on PlayStation in 2025, up from 33% in 2022. Over the same period, playtime for these titles rose 32%.
Significant playtime comes from first-party action-adventure titles such as God of War Ragnarök, Ghost of Tsushima, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, and The Last of Us Part 2, while adventure and RPG genres continue to dominate the platform.
Playtime for Xbox games not in the Top 20 grew by 12%. However, these titles accounted for only 35% of revenue in 2025, indicating that Game Pass subscriptions help drive playtime.
Also popular on Xbox are RPG and adventure games, though Newzoo notes that Game Pass enables more titles to “secure visibility and trial than they might otherwise.”
