This year, as video viewing crowded out gaming, the game usage rate fell, and the market is being reshaped around PC and consoles rather than mobile.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) stated accordingly in the "2025 game user survey" report published on the 18th. The survey was conducted with 10,000 people ages 10 to 69 nationwide who had played games in the past year.
The survey found that the game usage rate over the past year was 50.2%, down 9.7 percentage points (p) from a year earlier. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the past five years was -6.8%, continuing a decline.
By platform, the PC game usage rate was 58.1%, up 4.3 percentage points from a year earlier; the console game usage rate was 28.6%, up 1.9 percentage points; and the mobile game usage rate was 89.1%, down 2.6 percentage points from a year earlier.
The average daily game time per user decreased by 7 minutes on weekdays (171 minutes→165 minutes) and by 1 minute on weekends (253 minutes→252 minutes). The decline on weekends was relatively small. By platform, on a per-day basis, PC game time was 117.9 minutes on weekdays and 193.4 minutes on weekends, the highest levels in the past five years, and it continues to rise.
Mobile gaming averaged 90.9 minutes on weekdays and 116.4 minutes on weekends, down from a year earlier. Console gaming averaged 53.4 minutes on weekdays and 103.8 minutes on weekends; weekdays decreased from a year earlier, while weekends increased. Although the overall game usage rate declined, weekend usage time held at a level similar to last year, which appears to be due to higher PC and console game usage rates.
As for why game usage declined, "lack of time" was the most common answer at 44%. A total of 86.3% of users said they lacked time to play games because they were watching videos such as streaming services, TV, movies, and animation.