- A survey of game users released on December 18th showed a 9.7% year-on-year decrease in game usage to 50.2%.
- Weekend gaming time remains flat, while PC gaming time reaches a five-year high.
- Platform-specific usage rates increased by 4.3 percentage points year-on-year for PC, 1.9 percentage points for console, and 2.6 percentage points for mobile.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister Choi Hwi-young) and the Korea Creative Content Agency (Acting President Yoo Hyeon-seok, hereinafter referred to as KOCCA) published the ‘2025 Game User Survey’ report on the 18th to provide game usage data in response to changes in the game industry and technological environment.
The Game User Survey is conducted annually to support the establishment of domestic game industry policies and business strategies for game companies based on user statistics. The survey questions are supplemented to reflect the rapidly changing game industry and technological environment, thereby enhancing the reliability and effectiveness of the survey results.
This survey targeted 10,000 game users nationwide, aged 10 to 69, who had played games in the past year. The survey focused on usage status, overall usage experience, and available spending amounts, covering usage patterns and perceptions.
PC and console game usage rates are increasing, while overall game usage time is decreasing.
The survey results show that the game usage rate over the past year has decreased by 9.7 percentage points year-on-year to 50.2%, and the average annual growth rate (CAGR) over the past five years has shown a downward trend at -6.8%. Among game users, ▲PC game usage rate was 58.1%, up 4.3 percentage points year-on-year, ▲console game usage rate increased by 1.9 percentage points to 28.6%, ▲mobile game usage rate decreased by 2.6 percentage points year-on-year to 89.1%.
The average daily gaming time spent by gamers decreased by 7 minutes (171 to 165 minutes) on weekdays and 1 minute (253 to 252 minutes) on weekends, with the weekend usage time decreasing less. By platform, daily PC gaming time averaged 117.9 minutes on weekdays and 193.4 minutes on weekends, marking the highest level in the past five years and continuing an upward trend.
Meanwhile, mobile game play averaged 90.9 minutes per day on weekdays and 116.4 minutes per day on weekends, declining year-on-year. Console game play averaged 53.4 minutes per day on weekdays and 103.8 minutes per day on weekends, showing a year-on-year decrease on weekdays but an increase on weekends. While overall game play declined, weekend play remained similar to the previous year, likely due to the rise in PC and console game play.
◆ Lack of time is the key factor in game abandonment, and the alternative leisure activity is watching videos.
This survey included a new question targeting “non-gamers” to analyze factors contributing to game abandonment. The most common reason for non-gaming was “lack of time” (44.0%), while the primary reason cited was “video watching, including OTT, TV, movies, and animation” (86.3%). This suggests a shift in the focus of gamers toward video watching as a substitute for game abandonment.
◆ 46.4% of victims experienced cyberbullying, but 57.3% simply ignored it.
The percentage of victims who experienced cyberbullying in games decreased by 8 percentage points year-on-year to 46.4%. The survey shows a significant decline in cyberbullying experiences over the past three years, with 56.2% in 2023, 54.4% in 2024, and 46.4% in 2025. The most common types of cyberbullying experienced in games were verbal abuse (38.3%) and sexual harassment (17.6%). Of these, 57.3% responded that they did not respond, and 28.7% reported the incidents to the game company.
KOCCA hopes that this survey will be actively utilized in establishing business strategies for game companies and industry support strategies for policymakers, and will continue to provide domestic and international industry insights to help the domestic game industry grow.
Meanwhile, this 2025 Game User Survey Report can be found on the KOCCA website ( www.kocca.kr ).
