Analytic Dreamz: Notorious Mass Effect - "GLOBAL VIDEO GAME CONTENT SALES GREW TO $195.6B IN 2025 WHILE PRIVATE FUNDING TOOK A MASSIVE DIP"

Episode Date: February 19, 2026

Linktree: ⁠https://linktr.ee/Analytic⁠Join The Normandy For Additional Bonus Audio And Visual Content For All Things Nme+! Join Here: ⁠https://ow.ly/msoH50WCu0K⁠The latest Notorious Mass Effect segment from Analytic Dreamz dives deep into the 2025 video game industry landscape, drawing from Matthew Ball's State of Video Gaming 2026 report. Global content sales reached a record $195.6 billion, up 5.3% year-over-year, marking three straight years of growth and surpassing the 2021 peak despite ongoing structural challenges.This episode breaks down the paradox: record revenue contrasts with a 55% collapse in private funding, ongoing layoffs totaling ~44,000 jobs from 2022-2025 (9,200 in 2025 alone, down 40% from 2024), and a surge in outsourcing now at 35.5% of content investment. Console spending hit $41.6 billion, driven by subscriptions like PlayStation Plus, Xbox Game Pass, and Nintendo Switch Online offsetting declining direct sales, while PC grew strongly to $40.7 billion.Key drivers include China capturing 38% of global spending growth and Roblox alone accounting for 67% of net industry expansion, with peaks of 47.3 million concurrent users. Mobile shows warning signs of flat growth reliant on price hikes rather than new players.Analytic Dreamz explores projected 2026 opportunities in non-core markets, advertising, direct-to-consumer models, external development, and platforms like Roblox. The takeaway: the industry isn't monolithic—growth is uneven, concentrated, and service-driven across segmented ecosystems.Tune in for this essential analysis on the state of gaming today and tomorrow. Hosted by Analytic Dreamz on Notorious Mass Effect.Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Now, safe to say, ladies and gentlemen, this is the epitome of what notorious mass effect is all about. Because, of course, over here we dive into the gaming and music IPs that notoriously affect the masses. But safe to say, for this specific segment, we are about to get into the global revenue of the video game industry. Shepard, just look at the state of gaming. Like, what is going on? So safe to say, as far as what's going on, the video game industry, as far as global sales for 2025, has surpassed $195.6 billion,

with the B, billion dollars, a 5.3% increase as far as year over year. So, of course, this is the all-time industry, a new all-time industry high, surpassed the prior record, say, in 2021, and some of y'all may be saying, I thought COVID was the peak of consumerism

in video game because of how everybody was inside. Well, I guess, objectively speaking, you are now incorrect as right now, dare I say that we are in the golden age of video games. Shepard, just look at the state of gaming. Like, what is going on? Because, of course, as far as the plethora of games that people have been diving into as a gamer, you have your EA games going insane to the point where they just sold, or I think there was bought out or something like that,

as far as, because I remember covering it. I want to see if I could find it. So as far as EA, I think about typing Saudi. It should pop up Saudi. Yeah, here we go. All right, I covered it October 8th, 2025. EA sold for $55 billion to Jared Kushner and the Saudi investors. And we're going to get more to Saudi and their investment firms in the second.

But the main thing I wanted to focus on is just one of the biggest notorious mass effect gaming the publishing studios out there that led to this type of. mammoth of a rise in gaming history because of course i always give mario the biggest kudos for saving gaming right i mean as you can see at this chart right here analytic dreams video on spotify to see the video along with the audio as you can see by far super mario bros is leading the pack you know punting triple entendre don't even ask me how but when you look at this entire chart safe to say the immense respect that needs to be put on mario's name for not only saving the gaming industry back in what 1980s but essentially making it to where people didn't look at gaming as such a kiddie

hobby as far as like they did in the past a lot more respect has been putting on a gaming has been put on a gaming industry because of mario and it's similar to how anime connoisseurs started to put more respect on people who watch anime when the dragon ball z's the nartos of the worlds came along right so anyways uh with that being said getting back into the overall revenue when you look at the development right as far as 50 plus billion spent on content development the second consecutive year at this level you come to realize not only are we having record-breaking revenue from the get video game industry but also the development causes is rising as well so a lot of developers are out here thinking to themselves well maybe we should raise the price and all i

got to say to that hold on now you guys see that's the problem i know you ain't see you ain't see Fortnite come out as a free-to-play game and completely decimated the competition, right? So if you think you're going to come out as a non-free-to-play game and get the attention of gamers when this field is as competitive as it's ever been, well, I got some bad news for you. I know, I don't want to throw any games under the bus as far as, you know, being a prime example of that. All I'm going to say is, you know, make sure to go watch notorious mass effect episode 157. As you know, when we dove into a specific game, you know, I'm not really going to say what type of game I'm talking about. You know what I'm saying?

I'm not going to, you know, that would be too much. You know what I'm saying? I would never put a game like that on blast because I'm pretty sure what the developers are going through is more than enough scrutiny as far as an example of how gamers can move on from a solid game. But just because the competition is so hectic, people just move on like that. So as far as the development costs arising and attention on your certain product being increasingly difficult to attain the masses, I think when it comes to the development price, a lot of people who are publishers are developed, yeah, publishers because they basically front the bill. They're more hesitant to go on to basically risk their money on IPs that aren't as acclimated in the gaming culture. for example um the old god of war remake i think the old god of war trilogy got a remake because of how cemented that ip is is less of a gamble than let's say a new ip that may have just completely

blown everybody out of the water right so for every expedition 33 publishers are still looking at that as too much of a gamble and that's why i got to say it's a shame you guys see that's the problem so getting into the profitability of the 2019 so getting into the operating profits it remains below 2019 levels so despite the growth and overall revenue and despite the 40% increase in consumer spending since 2019 because of the development costs growing as well some are saying that the operating margins are far below pre-pandemic levels so now you come to a crossroad where video game industry is making so much money, but, and I don't think it's a bad thing. They're investing or reinvesting a lot of that revenue back into the next project,

which I don't think it's a bad thing back. Once again, I do not think it's a bad thing. But when you come to the overall perception of gamers, I do believe these developers are fronting when they talk about how much money they're actually making from games because of the development costs offsetting that. Now, I'm not saying it is deserving or fair for them to raise prices. I'm just saying that they need to find a better way on making games at a lower development cost, which may be easier said than done.

But guess what? It's also easier to find a game that is an animation style versus a lifelike style as far as a GTA, which just skyrockets the budget through the roof, right? So for every GTA, you need to look at them, look at the copycats, Monsi, for example, and just say to them, Hey, not every game could be a GTA-like game with development costs through the route. Sometimes the animation type of game, I mean, take a page out of, actually take the whole book from Nintendo. The reason why their graphics are at a certain level is because they want to keep their profit margin at a certain level. So at some point, developers do need to recognize that instead of trying to replicate the next GTA.

Anyways, as far as private funding has been down 55% year over here, I actually don't know why, but the most year to climb from the pandemic highs probably is why you know the investors probably like i'm not making as much money while putting in the same amount of dollars let me just pull out so as far as it being down 55 percent year over year that's the only reason i could come up with why that makes sense now as far as the quarter of four of 2025 investment activity you have 40 total deal uh deals just a little under 100 million in precede funding and about 200 plus million in early stage funding. I don't know the difference of that, but hey. So for a pandemic comparison, early stage funding was around 1.3 billion.

Goodness gracious. And quarter three of 2021, quarter four of 2025, it was around 200 million, 85% difference, right? Precede funding for the peak, you know, COVID times. Quarter one of 2022 was around 400. plus million and then 2025 of quarter four was a little under a hundred million a 75% difference right and now you look at the quarterly deal count as far as in the pandemic quarter four of 2020 of 2021 was 210 plus and there was 40 deals and quarter four of 2025 five times fewer deals so now you come to realize that not only are we working with a very ample sample size but that

the main thing is gaming is making as much money as ever but the development costs does not need a skyrocket to the moon because of it it's almost as if developers out here making so much money from different video games that they that they develop that they think they need to keep up with the jones is because they're looking at what rock star is doing sometimes if you make a lot of money you can reinvest that into other things that doesn't skyrocket the budget for a prime example will probably be, well, once again, I keep saying Nintendo. Make a content or a graphic, like a budget-friendly, graphically enhanced game, right?

Meaning animation and things of that nature. Like a high-fire rush. People enjoy that game. I would assume, as a Spider-Man fan, let me put this as an example. As a Spider-Man fan, you have this comic book-style Spider-Man game. I forget what it's called. I think it's spectacular Spider-Man or something like that. Let's see.

Spectacular Spider-Man. I don't know what it's called. Venom. Video game. It's like the comic book one. Comic book. I don't know if it's going to pop up, honestly. So, let's see.

Ultimate Spider-Man, that's what it's called. Okay, so this game right here. So basically, what I'm saying is, if you make a game like this that's immaculate right in every stretch of the imagination when you look at a game like this you come to realize that this game is it's fantastic so i don't know how to pull this up without uh seeming like uh oh man so let me just screenshot it so this game right here right let me see screenshot that and then okay so ultimate spider-man this game because i don't want to give like problems without the solution so this game is immaculate right all spider-man fans or real

Spider-Man fans will say this is a fantastic game, right? You look at the graphics style and you compare it to a game like Spider-Man PS-4. If the budget cost is lower due to this type of graphics, but the storytelling is still Spider-Man PS-4, you think people would care? You know what I'm saying? People would just enjoy the game and be like, hold up now. You only enjoy it because of the graphics. And you're not even paying attention to the story, the heart-wrenching moments at the end,

all because of the graphics like this. I think that's why when developers are making games, I think that's what they're going wrong at. You can still make a fantastic story without having the graphics at a certain level as far as lifelike. So anyways, hopefully an example made sense. So as far as the development costs is rising with the money that they're making in the global revenue,

I think they're trying to keep up with the Joneses as far as that specific quote, which means you're basically trying to keep up with the competition as far as a lifestyle. And you just can't afford it. You just simply can't afford the development costs that a rock star can, that an EA can, right? And even EA has lost a lot of money. So anyways, that's a little solution I would give.

Anyways, let's get back into layoffs because with all the revenue, we cannot dismiss the layoffs, especially in the field of, we can't dismiss the layoffs, especially in the field of video games. As in 2025, when you look at the 9,200 jobs lost, which is 40%, versus 2024. 2024 had 15,000 layoffs. Crazy, right? The four-year total,

2022 had 8,500 layoffs, 2023 had 10,000 layoffs, 2024 had 15,000 layoffs, 2025 had 9,000 layoffs. So 44,000 layoffs in total, we're just talking about the gaming industry right here. So now, when you look at North America, 61% of layoffs,

only 22% of global job openings in Europe 16% of layoffs 22% of job postings so I think the year over year pandemic effects made a lot of developers feel like they're making all of this money they can raise development costs and cut off more people cut off staff members because they feel like with more money maybe they could use AI and deal with less staff members which is a you know it's wrong assumption but they're learning some developers of learning it the hard way and then getting into the outsourcing surge i mean that's uh that's that's more nerdy i don't know if i want to get into that i may lose some of y'all let's get to the console market so of course when you look at the console market and what it has attributed

to the global revenue of the video game of the video game industry you have 41.6 billion as far as in 2025 consumer spending and of course that is up 2.3% versus the 2020 record that was 41.1 billion so 2025 consumers are spending more than ever once again i believe consumerism is that an all-time high which is why we get these you know off-the-wall takes as far as a game being terrible or just mid and technically it's like a seven or eight out of five like you know to me something that's mid is like a five or six right i guess a five would be terrible uh like a six right um because i'm thinking middle of the pack but i think when people say mid it's basically covered so many different games that don't deserve it in my opinion as far as being called mid

that solid to good games are being called mid because it's not great but once again the reason why i'm saying that is circling back to the consumer spending so many people are diving into the video game lane that they're starting to give an opinion that they aren't really as educated about that they believe they are right so anyways um getting into the nintendo Switch with that hardware it surpassed 17 million units which sold quickly of course Nintendo is just selling like hotcakes when it comes to the

Switch platform like when they put out what was it the Wii U? I think it was the Wii you thought I mean not we but you know a lot of people was like man Nintendo may not be able to top the Wii the original Wii right and they was like Nintendo they lost it they can't make another great console to save

their life and then guess what the Nintendo Switch came so now we already accounted for the 2025 sales when it comes to the Nintendo Switch 2 specifically selling around or surpassing 17 million units selling out quickly. Let's get into PC

side of what it attributed to the global revenue as PC content rose to $40.7 billion in 2025 up from $31.4 billion in 2020. And of course when it comes to the 30% growth since 2020,

I mean, that's just a phenomenal accomplishment. Now, I ain't gonna lie, I spilled a whole drink on myself while trying to talk. Hey, I'm not cutting that out either. Anyways, back to it. So now when you look at PC

in its notorious mass effect, dare I say, you know, pun intended, to add to the global revenue by 40 billion. Some would say, and don't kill me for this, this may be a hot take, but some would say PC gaming may be the premier system to experience

as all type of games on. Now, you know, I'm not trying, hey. Woot-D-D-Doo. Don't snitch on me. Woot-N-D-Doo. All I'm saying is if you have a PC, there's a plethora of ways to play every game from every platform, you know what I'm saying? Shepard.

All I'm saying is in, anyways. PC gaming is one of the best ways to game, in my opinion, especially for being up front, you are going to be spinning a lot, right? There's just no way around it. But when you come to the gaming side of PC, as far as Steam, you come to realize that games go on sale more often than a Nintendo PlayStation or Xbox. You go to Steams and sometimes are like 70, 80% off. And these are like games that just came out, right?

You go to a game like Nintendo or a popular game from Nintendo. You think that game going on sale? Oh, my fault. You guys. You think that game going on sale? You guys. And you look at a video game from PlayStation and Xbox. You know, they're definitely not going on still.

So when you look at PC Market, I think that is honestly one of the of the better ways to gain as an avid gamer especially the different ways you can play games from every single platform i'm not going to tell y'all how but you know who don't they do that'll be snitching who don't they do i'm just saying that it's possible it's possible with a little research you know google is your friend so anyways um pc attributed 40.7 billion to the global revenue of video game industry and of course we have to talk about china now i do not have the donald trump china uh ad live from him because you know of course you're not trying to have him on my soundboard but that's what I think of as far as how China came through and just very much taking over the video game field as far as having 20% of global players spending, 308% of global spending growth.

Even though it's not majority, the growing aspect is way faster and much faster than a lot of other regions. And I do believe when it comes to Chinese dollars as far as investing in different developers in the states, that's a real thing that's currently happening. And to put it in layman's terms, if people from somewhere else as far as Saudi, as far as China is investing into American developers, safe to say a certain change is going to happen in a way that games are structured and put out. Hopefully I put that in the most lamest terms possible. Because if I'm giving you money and overseeing a project, and let's just say I don't like something about the project, you think you're going to at least. even in or you think because I'm funding the whole thing you're going to take it out.

Y'all let me know. So with that being said, um, 2025 overall, it's just been a fantastic year for gaming. I definitely wanted to dive into this once I saw it as far as the analytical data. Um, as far as, you know, this being a, well, 2025 being the most successful year and with two months of the 2026. So that's why I wanted to touch on this because of course, coming off of the most consumerism type of year, especially with what was the number again especially with consumers spending over uh well i had it i had it for uh consoles but i don't think i have it overall yeah i don't have it overall but as far as the the

revenue let's just go with that a 195.6 billion dollars in global video game revenue which is a 5.3 percent year over year increase a new all a new all-time industry high so whenever we're getting into to the video game IPs that notoriously affect the masses, I like to have a, you know, take a second, have a bird's eye view, and basically point out certain things that's globally or that's helping with the global revenue for video games. Because I do not see mobile games on here.

Now, I'm not going to lie to you. That kind of struck me. I'm like, hold on, where's mobile game? No, mobile gaming, they definitely have a whole market. I don't see that on here. I see Roblox. Now, obviously, oh, here we go. Okay, I spoke too soon.

So when you look at mobile spending and as far as the numbers for them, they don't really talk too much about mobile games. Interesting. Mobile games, then the mobile player base definitely attributes a lot to the global revenue of 2025. Actually, let me look at it up because why don't know where's that down on my notes? Got to do some Mickey research right quick. Mobile gaming. And to global. Hey, y'all laugh at my Mickey research.

Hey, guess what? He got us the answer, didn't it? So I've been to spend a lot of drink. I'm a little kid, man. I ain't going to lie to you. Anyways, according to New Zoos, a year-end analysis that ended in December 2025, the global games market reached a record 100. Oh, shout out to what in the world?

Yo, what type of name is that? Yeah, that's a crazy name. And for people watching after the fact on my podcast platform, just know I'm currently live. That's all you need to know. But shout out to you for following, man. I don't know about that name, man. I ain't gonna call you see town man shout to you man I appreciate you for following

um anyways what was the same oh yeah so new zoo projections um uh estimate estimated that uh 103 billion came from mobile okay that's why i was like hold on now i know mobile game it had a huge part to do with that because mobile in general is how most people game i mean if you're a grandma if you see your grandma playing that little block or a tetris game on her mobile Tablet, guess what? She's a mobile gamer. Sheppard.

Just look at the state of gaming. Like, what is going on? So now when you look at New Zoo in general, as far as the reports of mobile gaming being 55% of the global revenue

overall, that makes more sense. I'm like, hold on now. Mobile makes way more money than any of these platforms. I'm not going to say combined, but it's close. Like, you know, Drake

leaps and bounds. is ahead of a lot of rappers when it comes to analytical numbers. That's how mobile is when it comes to gaming industry, right? So let me say it. It's Dominance and sustained, of course, 7.7 year-over-year increase for the global mobile gaming revenue. So, you know, I definitely wanted to, because if I didn't talk about mobile, then what is this whole list for?

Like, well, I talk about the global revenue of gaming if we couldn't dive into the mobile side. So I'm glad I was able to do that because it was not on my initial notes, but I'm glad I remember to look that up. Um, as far as the development costs, I don't want to be the dead horse, but like I keep saying, can't keep up with the Joneses if you're going to shut down as a studio. What I mean about that, if you're going to make a lot of money and then also raise development costs and the sacrifice of your staff members, I think the best route to go is to make a graphically,

a graphic budget friendly game, hopefully that makes sense, and just have the same amount of storytelling that you would have with a live action game, similar to the, my, Spider-Man example if you had an ultimate Spider-Man level of game it's a level of graphics right but you had a Spider-Man PS4 level of story I don't think anybody would care and ultimate spider-man is a great game don't think I'm trashing the story but if Spider-Man PS-4 was that same type of graphics I think people would still enjoy it I mean you know it's really about the gameplay loop and I'm not even going to say the graphics like who cares that the the hair molecules or on the nose as far as we zoom in I just want to notice it does it

have a great gameplay loop and does it have a fantastic story this is not a movie it doesn't have to be lifelike at all times right so anyways that's my last time again on that soapbox so uh yeah that's basically as far as me breaking down how video game industry is just doing phenomenal um once again shout to the game is out there actually playing their games you know i'm saying actually supporting the developers you know what i'm saying actually showcasing all right my fault y'all get the point so with that being said If you don't take anything out of this, immense deep dive into the global gaming industry. Just know this.

$195.6 billion that we generated in 2025, a 5.3% year-over-year increase. But more importantly, the new all-time industry record. So with that being said, click my link here in my bio. Let me know on one of my social medias. What do you think about the global video game revenue in 2025 being around 100%? $195 billion. And of course, overall, what do you think that gaming developers and publishers need to keep doing to increase the revenue? Or not even increase the revenue, but increase the enjoyment level for consumers going into this year, the rest of this year, and next year.