The Malaysian gaming market is expected to be worth just over US$1 billion in 2024. By 2033, it will have grown to twice that size. The main drivers of this expansion are affordable smartphones, faster internet, and the unparalleled rise of esports.
This begs the question: What do people in Malaysia actually do for fun in 2025? And how do classic types of games link into esports and even online casino play?
Esports, Mobile Games, and Malaysia’s Online Casinos
Malaysia has a history of video games that goes back a long time. Games like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, PUBG Mobile, and Dota 2 are played at local tournaments, on college campuses, and in malls. In fact, Mobile Legends reached more than a third of Malaysia’s online urban population. As more people get phones and cheap data plans, this trend has only grown stronger.
At the same time, casino-style play has moved online. And it’s no longer just slots and roulette on those offshore sites. They now have full e-sports sections, live dealer tables, crash games, and sports betting all in one place.
The Esports’s MY online casino guide is a good example among others. The focus is explicitly on Malaysia-friendly casinos that accept MYR or easy e-wallet methods, highlight Asian live-dealer studios, and offer global sports markets for betting. It also explains practical details that matter locally, like how to deposit money with DuitNow, get your crypto payouts, and find sites that accept Malaysian players without using vague language.
For a lot of young Malaysians, that means one continuous ecosystem. You can watch an MLBB stream, play a ranked match on your phone, and later place a small bet on an international Mobile Legends or CS2 series. The genres are the same. Only the context changes.
Mobile First: What Malaysians Actually Play
Malaysia is a typical market that puts phones first. Android is by far the most popular phone for gamers, as most of them choose it over consoles or PCs.
A breakdown of the most played mobile games in Malaysia in 2024 explains how this works in real life. Phone Legends: Bang Bang is at the top in the action/MOBA slot. In terms of type, Clash of Clans comes in second, followed by Candy Crush Saga in third, Roblox in fourth, and a long list of shooters, such as Free Fire and PUBG Mobile, in fifth. Games for sports fans, like eFootball and EA SPORTS FC Mobile, also do very well.
A clear picture shows up when you group those hits by genre. A lot of people like action and shooter games. Casual and puzzle games are popular with people of all ages, but people over 30 love them the most.
The “mid-core” group plays strategy games like Clash of Clans and Clash Royale every day and spends the same amount of money over time. People who like to play for a long time and build worlds like adventure and RPG games like Roblox and Genshin Impact.
Most-Played Video Game Genres in 2025
Globally, the same eight genres carry most of the load in 2024–2025: shooters, adventure games, RPGs, battle royale titles, strategy, sports, puzzle, and idle games.
On PC, shooter games are the main revenue driver. They account for 14.1% of global PC gaming revenues and are projected to grow by 4.9% year-on-year, faster than the PC market as a whole. That aligns neatly with what you see in Malaysian cybercafés and on Steam: Counter-Strike 2, Valorant, and similar team shooters remain core titles for competitive play and streaming.
There aren’t as many Malay console gamers as there are mobile or PC gamers. However, the ones that are there are very active and tend to play expensive games. There are a lot of great sports games for consoles.
Just look at the PlayStation Store for Malaysia: EA SPORTS FC 26, eFootball, and NBA 2K26 are some of the best games in the country. Grand Theft Auto V, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Ghost of Yōtei are all big open-world action-adventure games on the same top-10 list. Shooter and co-op fans will also enjoy Battlefield 6 and ARC Raiders, and fighting game fans will enjoy Tekken 8.
So, even though mobile has more players than consoles, it’s clear which genres are popular on PS4 and PS5 in Malaysia. Locally, people play and spend most of their money on cinematic adventures, open-world action games, football and basketball sims, squad shooters, and one-on-one fighters.
How Malaysians Spend Inside Games
Genre preferences shift once money enters the picture. The national survey that measured penetration asked about in-game purchases. It found that puzzle games are the most popular genre when no spending is involved. When players do pay, the top categories are action, adventure, and racing games.
The pattern you see fits with what you see in the charts of the biggest hits. A huge number of people download casual puzzle games. For many players, they’re just free time-wasters with ads or small purchases that they don’t have to make. Action games, online role-playing games, and racing games all have smaller but more loyal fan bases that are willing to pay for things like skins, characters, season passes, and upgrades.
So you get two very different roles for genres in Malaysia. Puzzle and creative online games bring people into gaming and keep them playing for free. Deeper action, strategy, and RPG games convert a smaller group into regular spenders.
Conclusion
Malaysia won’t have a simple “top game genre” by 2026. It has many levels of the ecosystem. Most of the time, people play action, casual, strategy, sports, and adventure games on their phones.
On top of that, MOBAs and shooters that work well on phones and in arenas are what make e-sports grow. Then, offshore casinos use a lot of the same themes in their slots, live tables, crash games, and e-sports betting, which can all be done on the same devices.
