The Top Game Publisher of 2025 Won By a Truly Ridiculous Amount

The gaming industry has been in an interesting place in recent years, with record profits coming amid increasing costs. Successful companies can face closure even after big successes, while the indie space can elevate some releases while burying others. Gaming remains one of the biggest growing industries in the world, especially as titles designed for a mobile audience continue to become the norm.

The result is that, while the legacy publishers found plenty to be happy about in 2025, it was developers with a greater focus on mobile gaming that pulled ahead in terms of raw revenue. There’s one company that really pulled out ahead of the others in 2025, with a revenue that dwarfs the competition — and speaks to how one significant modern change in the industry landscape is here to stay.

Tencent Was The World’s Most Successful Game Publisher In 2025

Among the most successful game publishers in the world, Tencent’s massive windfall of $8.75 billion made it the biggest success in the industry in 2025. Tencent’s victory largely lies in its domination of the mobile gaming market, which now makes up roughly 50% of business in the industry. Over the course of 2025, Tencent earned $8.75 billion in revenue. While EA, Take-Two Interactive, and Capcom were among the biggest successes for console and PC games in America, other publishers like Nintendo did far better in other markets like the United Kingdom and Japan.

However, Tencent’s domination of the mobile market across the globe ensured that it was the most successful company in gaming in 2025. Even compared to other publishers that focus largely on mobile gaming, Tencent was ahead of most of the competition by billions of dollars. Among their releases were two of the top three grossing mobile games in the world, Last War: Survival (which earned $2.12 billion) and Honor of Kings (which earned $1.31 billion). That’s on top of Tencent’s controlling interest in enduring hits like League of Legends, as well as its partial ownership of massive titles like Fortnite. Tencent games also earned a total of 1.41 billion downloads across mobile platforms, indicating that the company’s games are also still being discovered by players.

How Tencent’s Success Compares To Other Game Publishers (And What It Means For The Future)

Even compared to the biggest publishers in the industry, Tencent’s success is impossible to downplay. The company’s focus on mobile gaming seems to have been the key to its success, as that relatively light production budget compared to the massive cost of AAA games from companies like EA likely helped ensure they came out on top. The company has also diversified in their releases, with multiple types of games (ranging from the easy action of Last War: Survival to esports mainstays like League of Legends) ensuring that the company didn’t need to rely on a single genre or release to generate their full revenue.

Other publishers like Nintendo had more unique situations, such as the release of the Switch 2, that make their final numbers murkier to figure out. However, Tencent’s massive windfall also highlights the changing nature of the gaming industry. Free-to-play and mobile games were massive successes, while games like Borderlands 4 were considered disappointments despite ranking among the best-selling games of the year. Mobile gaming has its own challenges, especially with a focus on younger players that can attract controversy (as seen with the constant challenges faced by Roblox despite its massive success as the top downloaded mobile game of 2025).

However, mobile gaming is only growing as a concern in the gaming space, with the remainder of the industry split between console and PC releases. Tencent’s success means mobile games are likely to continue becoming the standard approach for titles, especially new games looking for consistent players. While there will likely always be a space for home gamers looking for a more immersive experience, Tencent’s amazing 2025 ensures that mobile gaming remains the cornerstone of the industry.