Web gaming market booms as other sectors stall
A new report indicates the web gaming market is rocketing, in stark contrast to the levelling-out of the broader mobile, PC, and console markets.
According to research by Playgama, the market for browser-based games has grown 2.7 times in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. This represents a 4.9-fold increase over the first half of 2023. The second quarter of 2025 alone saw the release of more than 15,000 new titles, a figure that surpasses the total number of new games released in 2021, 2022, and 2023 combined.
This boom in the web gaming market is partly attributed to the oversaturation and intense competition within traditional gaming spheres. Advertising costs on mobile platforms have soared, extending the time horizon for a return on investment to between one and two years. Simultaneously, the production costs for major AAA console and PC games have reached astronomical levels, creating a high barrier to entry.
The analysis from Playgama, based on public data, analysed the game engines fuelling this expansion.
Unity continues to be the dominant force, powering 55 percent of all new web games in the second quarter of 2025. Its position as the industry leader has been solidified over the past two years. The introduction of WebGPU support in Unity 6 in 2024 has been a key factor, enabling higher fidelity graphics and smoother gameplay directly within a web browser.
However, Unity’s leadership is facing a growing challenge from lighter, more accessible engines.
Construct, for instance, now holds a 16.4 percent market share, having grown from 13.7 percent in the first half of 2024. This no-code engine is particularly favoured by solo developers and newcomers to the web gaming market, thanks to its user-friendly visual editor and block-based logic. Other players include Cocos at 8.1 percent, Phaser with 7.1 percent, and LayaAir at 5.2 percent.
While some engines like Cocos and LayaAir – which were once strong in regional markets – have seen their market share decline due to a lack of global support and modern monetisation tools, others are thriving. Phaser, an open-source engine, continues to perform strongly, supported by an active community. A competitive field of other engines, including GDevelop, Defold, and PlayCanvas, is also emerging, vying for the attention of developers.
However, technological advancements aren’t limited to just game engines.
“The processing power of mobile devices and tablets has nearly caught up with that of average laptops, and new technologies now make it possible to run fully-fledged 3D games directly in the browser,” Kachmar stated.
The integration of AI is another factor contributing to the web gaming market boom. AI tools are accelerating development by a factor of five or more, handling tasks such as documentation, bug fixing, and refactoring. This is making the entire web game development stack faster, cheaper, and more scalable.
“Add AI to the mix, and by 2030, over half of all games could be developed on cross-platform engines with instant web export as default,” Kachmar predicted.
“In this future, every screen becomes a gaming device, and distribution is no longer bound to app stores. The future belongs to cross-platform game engines, they’re no longer just a niche for browser titles.”
This technological shift is also attracting more experienced development studios to the web gaming market. The potential for strong revenue, combined with the ability to create games approaching AAA desktop quality in a browser, presents clear economic and technical incentives.
(Photo by NASA)
See also: Mistral launches full AI coding stack alongside Codestral 25.08
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