Inflation, Ads, and Webstores Change Everything We Know

Inflation, ads, and webstores reverse nearly every trend in gaming—and then reverse it again.

These aren’t rounding errors either—they’re GDP-level phenomena (literally), and the inability to account for them is warping our perception of reality in the gaming industry.

– Adjusting for inflation completely reverses the growth in mobile spending between 2020 and 2023, from +8% to -9%.

– Adjusting for inflation slashes Newzoo’s 2026 PC & Console forecast by 39%, from +15% to +9%.

– Ads revenue is likely a double-digit percentage of gaming revenue, and all we have to estimate is King’s quarterly earnings.

– Adjusting for webstores completely reverses the revenue decline in some midcore genres, casting cold water on the “move to the middle” thesis.