Alongside its push to build ‘the world’s biggest’ projects and steady expansion into every key industry, Saudi Arabia has set its sights on turning the kingdom into a gaming powerhouse. With the record-breaking payout of $70 million, the Esports World Cup in Riyadh drew a huge global crowd as chess, Valorant, and new game categories joined the roster for the first time.
The prizes are expected to go above $100M by 2030, with global spending on games surpassing $200B – so markets now follow Asia’s lead, which tops a billion mobile installs every quarter.
Hits in Tokyo Can Land Very Differently in America
Japan’s mobile market made $7.5 billion last year, and its 10% rise continues through anime-focused brands and visual novel hybrids. 35 RPGs ranked inside the top 100 grossing games as of November 2025 – a share far above anything seen in Western markets, where sports franchises and shooters make most of the charts.
Titles such as Monster Strike, Pokémon TCG Pocket, and Fate/Grand Order kept positions throughout 2025, with Japanese publishers capturing 52% of domestic revenue despite only accounting for 31% of downloads. Asia-Pacific took 46% of global gaming at $88.1 billion, while North America had the highest spending users and some of the earliest cloud-gaming growth.
Mobile passed the halfway mark this year, turning into the space where most sessions actually happen. From Cod and Genshin Impact to Poker and Blackjack, titles made for phones dominate year after year, mostly because people already know how they play and can start instantly.
And those phones now drive a huge betting sector, with mobile casinos climbing past $80 billion last year as users jump into quick rounds whenever they find a moment. Even from unregulated states like Texas, according to Cardplayer’s analysis, players legally join online platforms and move between table games and slots the same way they switch between mobile apps during breaks.
The money side moves just as fast, with quick withdrawals and sealed transactions making state boundaries feel irrelevant for everyday play. At this pace, online gambling is expected to reach $245 billion by 2034, rising roughly 8.88% each year as more regions open up or quietly allow offshore sites to fill the gap.
Western Markets Still Run on Consoles and Long Sessions
Americans and Europeans play differently since about 50% of U.S. players still boot up a PlayStation or Xbox for their main gaming sessions, even though 70% also game on their phones.
That console preference keeps the hardware market alive – PlayStation holds around 45% of console sales, Nintendo sits at 27%, and Xbox takes 23%. The Switch 2 that launched this year added better specs and more third-party games, pushing Nintendo toward a broader release strategy.
Microsoft went the opposite direction, though, and doubled down on Game Pass subscriptions and cloud streaming through xCloud, basically saying you don’t need to buy their console if you’ve got a decent internet connection and a monthly subscription.
Asia-Pacific still buys nearly half the world’s consoles despite mobile dominating the region, mostly because China, Japan, and India have growing middle classes with money to spend on gaming hardware. PC gaming runs strong in Asia and Eastern Europe, where competitive shooters and MMOs pull crowds that rarely touch consoles.
You’ve got three separate ecosystems – mobile in Southeast Asia, consoles in the West and parts of East Asia, and PCs in China and Eastern Europe – and they’re not merging anytime soon despite cross-platform play becoming standard.
Geography of Play Isn’t Changing
Cloud gaming hit $9.71 billion and is expected to reach $121 billion by 2032, but infrastructure still decides who can actually use it. South Korea and Japan have 5G coverage above 90% so their players can stream games without lag. Many North American cities, on the other hand, still lack edge servers close enough to cut latency. The rest of the world still waits for internet speeds to catch up.
Gaming proves that technology links people, while taste decides the rest. Whether it’s Texans playing poker despite restrictions, Saudis building futuristic gaming cities, or Brazilians turning gaming into family time, each region writes its own gaming story.
Developers learned that the safest bet is tailoring games to local habits, humor, and expectations rather than chasing a single global formula.
