According to Newzoo's PC & Console Gaming Report 2026, the long tail keeps getting longer—and in gaming, its longest on PC. "In Western markets," the report states, "titles ranked 21+ grew from 48% to 56% in 2025. More than half of PC revenue in these markets now comes from games outside the Top 20."
As well as buying more games from outside the top 20, we're playing them for longer as well, with playtime for those games up 44% "while total PC playtime grew 14% and Top 20 playtime was effectively flat to slightly down."
Titles benefitting most from this continued interest in games beyond the new hotness include "durable catalogue games like Cyberpunk 2077, Elden Ring, and Skyrim" but also a lot of survival games and action RPGs—two genres where ongoing support, updates, and balancing keep players involved for longer. Rust, DayZ, and Path of Exile 2 are among the games benefiting most from continued interest.
Meanwhile, on PlayStation those catalogue games "still compete directly with annualized sports franchises, which continue to absorb meaningful playtime even below the top tier." W...
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