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AppWizard

October 6, 2026

Newzoo: F2P Games on PC and Console in 2026

Recent data from Newzoo indicates that free-to-play (F2P) games accounted for 29.3% of total gaming hours across PC, PlayStation, and Xbox in 2025, a decrease of 2.9 percentage points since 2021, while maintaining stable absolute playtime at approximately 31 billion hours annually. Roblox captured 7.9% of all gaming time, up 4.6 percentage points from 2021, while Call of Duty and Fortnite saw declines to 6% and 7%, respectively. The combined playtime of Fortnite and Roblox in the F2P segment rose to 44.2%. The average annual release of new F2P live-service games dropped from over 30 titles in 2017 to 14.7 between 2023 and 2025, a decline of 31%. Revenue concentration remains high, with the top five F2P titles on PC generating 65% of the segment's revenue in 2025, down from 68% in 2021, while console revenue concentration is at 72%, down from 79%. Overall revenue from F2P titles fell by 8.2% on PlayStation and 23.6% on Xbox, but PC saw a 10% increase in revenue per hour played. Gacha games increased from three major titles in 2021 to 17 by 2025, with PC gacha playtime rising by 92% to approximately 1.8 billion hours annually. RPGs grew on both PC and console, with PC RPGs accounting for 14.3% of F2P playtime in 2025, up from 9% in 2021, driven by newer titles like Wuthering Waves and Honkai: Star Rail.

AppWizard

October 6, 2026

Free-to-play playtime is broadly flat as gacha RPGs drive PC growth, says Newzoo

The Newzoo analysis indicates that the share of playtime for free-to-play (F2P) games is expected to decrease by 2.9 percentage points from 2021 to 2025, reaching 29.3%, although total hours spent on these games remain stable. The decline is linked to the rise of premium games and platforms like Roblox, with F2P playtime on PC increasing while it wanes on consoles. The number of F2P live-service launches peaked at 36 in 2017 but has since dropped by 31%, averaging 14.7 titles from 2023 to 2025. Revenue concentration among the top five F2P titles is decreasing, with their share on consoles falling from 79% in 2021 to 72% in 2025, and from 68% to 65% on PC. Gacha games are growing significantly, with major titles expected to increase from three in 2021 to 17 by 2025, and PC gacha playtime rising by 92%. RPGs are the only F2P genre gaining market share on both platforms, with PC RPG playtime increasing by 5.3 percentage points to 14.3%. New releases include EA Sports Madden NFL 27 debuting at No. 2 on console and Big Walk at No. 3 on PC.

AppWizard

October 2, 2026

The most profitable free-to-play games on consoles and PCs are gradually losing market share, study shows

Newzoo's study on free-to-play games in 2025 reveals that revenue from this segment is shifting, with the top five grossing titles' share of total console revenue decreasing from 79% in 2021 to 72% in 2025, and from 68% to 65% on PC. Players spent approximately 30 billion hours on free-to-play games in the previous year, a decline of 2.9% from 2021. Roblox's playtime has more than doubled to nearly 10 billion hours, increasing its share from 3.3% to 7.9%. While free-to-play playtime on PC has grown, console playtime has declined. The number of gacha games has increased from three in 2021 to 17 in 2025, leading to a 92% rise in playtime on PC. Newzoo's research covers 37 major markets, excluding China and India, focusing on revenue data from the USA, UK, Germany, France, Spain, and Italy.

AppWizard

September 12, 2026

New Open-World RPG Is Officially the #1 Best-Selling PC Game on Steam

A new open-world RPG, The Blood of the Dawnwalker, has become the best-selling PC game on Steam. It is developed by Rebel Wolves, a studio founded by former CD Projekt Red developers, and features a narrative and gameplay style similar to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The game has an 85% approval rating on Steam and a score of 83 on Metacritic. Players assume the role of Coen, a young man with newfound powers in a 14th-century Europe setting plagued by war and the Black Death. The gameplay experience ranges from 15 to 30 hours, or up to 50 hours for completionists, but it is currently listed as "Unsupported" for Steam Deck compatibility.

AppWizard

September 4, 2026

Onimusha: Way of the Sword PC Performance Analysis

Tomorrow marks the official release of Onimusha: Way of the Sword, and Capcom has provided a PC benchmark tool for gamers. Benchmark tests were conducted using an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D processor, 32GB of DDR5 RAM at 6000MHz, and various graphics cards including AMD’s Radeon RX 6900XT, RX 7900XTX, RX 9070XT, and NVIDIA’s RTX 2080Ti, RTX 3080, RTX 4090, RTX 5080, and RTX 5090, on Windows 10 64-bit with specific drivers. The game includes customizable graphics settings such as Textures, Meshes, Sky, Foliage, Shadows, Ray Tracing, NVIDIA’s DLSS 4.5, and AMD’s FSR 3.1. At 1080p with Max Settings, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 showed a bottleneck but achieved an average framerate exceeding 220FPS, with all tested GPUs maintaining over 60FPS. At 1440p with Max Settings, the top five GPUs also performed well, with the NVIDIA RTX 3080 providing a smooth experience, and the AMD Radeon RX 6900XT averaging 68FPS. At Native 4K with Max Settings, the NVIDIA RTX 4090, RTX 5080, and RTX 5090 maintained framerates above 60FPS, while the AMD Radeon RX 9070XT and RX 7900XTX offered satisfactory performance. The game's graphical fidelity does not match the latest Resident Evil titles, with noticeable visual shortcomings despite being powered by the RE Engine. The Ray Tracing feature does not significantly enhance visuals. The PC demo and benchmarking process showed no stutters or performance issues, even with Denuvo anti-tamper technology in use. Overall, Onimusha: Way of the Sword runs well on PC without requiring high-end specifications, although its visuals may not impress players.

AppWizard

August 29, 2026

New 95-Rated PC Game Beats Modern Warfare 4 and Mortal Shell II to #1 Best-Selling Steam Game

A new game titled How to Fish, priced at .99, has become the best-selling game on Steam for the week of August 18 to August 25, surpassing titles like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Mortal Shell II, and Star Wars: Zero Company. It has an "Overwhelmingly Positive" rating with a 95% approval from over 12,200 reviews. Developed by Dazed Games, How to Fish achieved this ranking within eight days of its release. Following it in the rankings are Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 at #2, Mortal Shell II at #3, Wardogs at #4, and Stalker 2 at #5. The previous week's best-selling game was Hell Let Loose: Vietnam, which has since dropped in sales. Several titles have fallen out of the top ten, including No Room in Hell 2 and Total War: Warhammer II. Star Wars: Zero Company is currently the #1 best-selling game, although its ranking may be affected by its shorter release window.

Tech Optimizer

August 16, 2026

Best Android Antivirus Apps 2026: Tested and Ranked

Bitdefender Mobile Security is rated as the best antivirus app for Android in 2026, achieving a 100% detection rate, 0.5% battery drain, and unobtrusive operation. The evaluation compared five antivirus applications on a Galaxy S26 Ultra, assessing detection rates, battery drain, scan speed, and permissions. Other notable antivirus apps include Norton 360 for Mobile, which is recognized for its features; Avast Mobile Security, known for its free version; McAfee Mobile Security, which excels in scam call and text filtering; and NordVPN Threat Protection, praised for web and Wi-Fi security. Most users may not need an antivirus app due to built-in protections like Google Play Protect, which automatically scans apps. However, specific scenarios warrant the installation of an antivirus app, such as sideloading apps, receiving scam texts and calls, assisting relatives, conducting banking and shopping on mobile, and using public Wi-Fi. The top five antivirus apps tested are: 1. Bitdefender Mobile Security: 100% detection, 0.5% battery drain, 31-second scan time. 2. Norton 360 for Mobile: 99.9% detection, 0.9% battery drain, 24-second scan time. 3. Avast Mobile Security: 99.9% detection, 0.7% battery drain, 26-second scan time. 4. McAfee Mobile Security: 99.78% detection, 1.0% battery drain, 34-second scan time. 5. NordVPN Threat Protection: 95.60% detection of web threats, 0.2% battery drain. Battery consumption varied, with NordVPN being the lightest and McAfee the heaviest. Permissions requested by each app also varied significantly, with Bitdefender requiring the most extensive permissions. Users are advised to check for legitimate antivirus apps by verifying the developer, installation count, update history, lab participation, and permission requests. Free antivirus apps like Avast and AVG offer effective protection but may lack some features of paid versions. Users should be cautious of fake security apps that mimic legitimate ones. If malware is suspected, users can run scans with Google Play Protect or other anti-malware apps and follow specific steps to remove malware if detected.

Tech Optimizer

August 7, 2026

Best Antivirus Software August 2026: I Tested the Top 5

The top five antivirus software packages for 2026 are: 1. Norton 360: - Best overall antivirus software. - First-year pricing: .99 for Standard, .99 for Deluxe, .99 for Select Plus. - Features: Fastest scanner, uncapped VPN, robust firewall, 50 GB cloud backup, dark web monitoring, and a refund guarantee. - Detection rate: 99.8% with three false alarms. - Scan times: Quick scan in 58 seconds, full scan in 13 minutes and 22 seconds. - Renewal prices: .99 for Standard, .99 for Deluxe, .99 for Select Plus. 2. Bitdefender: - Best value and lightest on system resources. - First-year pricing: .99 for Antivirus Plus, .99 for Total Security, .99 for Family. - Features: Advanced Threat Defense, multi-layer ransomware remediation, Safepay banking browser. - Detection rate: 99.8% with five false alarms. - Scan times: Quick scan in 1 minute and 4 seconds, full scan in 14 minutes and 3 seconds. - Renewal prices: .99 for Antivirus Plus, .99 for Total Security, .99 for Family. 3. Avast One: - Best free antivirus and ideal for gamers. - Free tier available; paid options start at .99 for the first year. - Features: Modular features allowing users to activate only what they need. 4. NordVPN Threat Protection Pro: - Best antivirus and VPN in one. - Pricing starts at .49 per month on the Complete plan. 5. McAfee+: - Best for unlimited devices and mobile. - First-year pricing: .99 for unlimited devices. - Features: Top-notch mobile applications. Overall rankings are based on independent lab results, system impact, bundled features, two-year cost, and customer support. Norton 360 is rated 4.8/5, and Bitdefender is rated 4.7/5.

AppWizard

July 11, 2026

Steam has raked in an estimated $11.1 billion gross revenue so far this year, says market analyst—its ‘biggest-ever six months’

Steam generated .1 billion in gross revenue in the first half of 2026, a 14.5% increase from the same period in 2025. Since 2017, Steam's annual earnings have risen from .5 billion to an estimated billion in 2025. In 2026, only 21% of Steam's revenue came from games released that year, down from 29% in 2024. The top five new games generating the most income in 2026 are Forza Horizon 6, Resident Evil Requiem, Crimson Desert, Slay the Spire 2, and Subnautica 2.

AppWizard

June 20, 2026

Forza Horizon 6 Dethroned as #1 Selling Steam Game

Forza Horizon 6 has lost its position as the top-selling game on Steam to Meccha Chameleon, a hide-and-seek game released on June 9, which has sold five million copies in ten days. Meccha Chameleon is priced affordably and has an 85% approval rating from over 6,000 user reviews. The top five best-selling games between June 9 and June 16 are Meccha Chameleon, Forza Horizon 6, Path of Exile 2, EA Sports FC 26, and Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade. The rankings for positions six through ten include 007 First Light, Gothic Remake, Burglin’ Gnomes, Rust, and Voidling Bound. Titles in spots ten through twenty are Dead by Daylight, Resident Evil 4, Road to Empress II, Subnautica 2, Hearts of Iron IV, Paralives, Monster Hunter Wilds, Witchspire, Gamble With Your Friends, and Resident Evil Requiem.