Europe

Europe as a Whole

Market

• In 2020, the European games market was valued at €23.3bn, an increase of 22% over 2019's figure. (ISFE, Aug 2021)

• The key European markets of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK were collectively valued at €17.6bn in 2020, an increase of 26% over 2019. (ISFE, Aug 2021)
  • Across device type, these revenues were split 44% (+1%) console, 40% (-) mobile/tablet, 14% (-1%) PC and >2% on-demand and streaming.
  • The source of this revenue was split into 40% (+3%) online (full game downloads, in-game extras such as DLCs, social games, browser games), 20% (-4%) physical and 40% (+1%) apps (paid apps, in-app purchases).
  • In 2020, online revenue was €14bn, representing over triple its value in 2015. 64% (-2%) of this total came from in-game extras, additional downloadable content for games already bought, 25% (+4%) from full game downloads and 11% (-2%) from subscription services and social games.

• In 2020, game streaming services generated €391m in revenue, an increase of 16.5% over 2019. (ISFE, Aug 2021)

• 2019 saw $574m invested in European games companies (Atomico, Nov 2019)

• Since 2015, the total investment in European games companies stands at $2.86b (Atomico, Nov 2019)

Audience

• Across the five key European markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK) 50% of the population aged 6-64 play video games. 47% of European video game players are women. (ISFE, Aug 2021)

• The average age of a video game player in Europe is 31.3 years old. (ISFE, Aug 2021)

• 60% (+1%) of all European players play on mobile or tablet, 54% (-) play on console and 49% (-2%) play on PC. (ISFE, Aug 2021)

• The average weekly video game playtime across Europe's five key markets was 9.5 hrs, with 76% of players saying they play video gams at least one hour per week. (ISFE, Aug 2021)

France

• French-made games represent 6.1% of the volume and 5.4% of the value of all physical games sales in the French market in 2019. (BILAN 2019, section 4.4, 2020)

• France has 32.8million players, who spent $3.1billion in 2018. (Newzoo, Aug 2018)

• As of 2018, France is the world's 7th largest games market. (Newzoo, Aug 2018)

• In 2017, the turnover of the French video game amounted to 4.3 billion euros (up 18% from 2016), making France the third European market for the sector after Germany and the United Kingdom. (SELL, Feb 2018)

• Growth in sales vs 2016: console ecosystem +23%, PC gaming ecosystem +6%, and mobile ecosystem +22%. (SELL, Feb 2018 )

• 77% of French people consider video gaming a leisure for the whole family (SELL, Feb 2018 )

• The most popular gaming platform is the console (61%), followed by smartphone (60%), PC (55%), tablet (38%), handheld devices (23%),online broadband (10%) (SELL, Feb 2018 )

• 53% of French people play games regularly (SELL, Feb 2018 )

• 64% of those aged 6-64 in France said that they played games in 2018. (ISFE, 2018)

• In 2015, the turnover of the video game amounted to 2.87 billion euros, making France the third European market for the sector after Germany and the United Kingdom. (SELL, Jan 2017, LINK)

Germany

• In 2018, German-made games represented 4.3% of all game sales in the German market. [https://www.game.de/en/proportion-of-sales-attributable-to-german-developed-games-falls-further/ GAME, Aug 2019)

• In 2019, there were 614 games companies developing and distributing games in Germany. (GAME, Aug 2019)
  • This breaks down as 312 development studios, 20 publishers and 272 companies that both develop and publish games.
  • These companies employ 11,014 people in Germany, a decrease of -5.9% from the previous year.
  • Including employment in the wider German games industry’s extended labour market (service providers, retailers and the media, among other categories) there was a small decrease of -1.2%, to 27,854 employees.

• The German games market in 2018 increased 9% to €4.37bn in 2018. In-game purchases (including DLC) were the largest single segment, contributing €1.95bn, up from €1.5bn the previous year. (GAME, Mar 2019)
  • Overall, games software revenues grew +14% to €3.5bn. Game hardware revenues decreased -8% to €859m.
  • Full-game purchases (physical and digital) declined -10% to €1.1bn, whereas revenues from online services nearly doubled to €353m. Subscription revenues fell -25% to €125m.

• In 2018, there were 524 games companies operating in Germany, comprising 368 development studios, 38 publishers and 118 companies operating as both developer and publisher. (GAME, Feb 2019)

• In 2018 the German games industry employed 11,705 people in development or publishing roles, and up to 28,746 people if broader industry role such as journalism and retail are included. (GAME, Feb 2019)

• Hamburg and Berlin are considered the key games development hubs, and at least 9 games companies in Germany each employ more that 200 staff. (GAME, Feb 2019)

• The German games market grew to €3.3billion in 2017 (game, Aug 2018)

• Germany has 44.3million players, the 5th largest games market. (Newzoo, Aug 2018)

• German players spent $4.7billion in 2018. (Newzoo, Aug 2018)

• German games market will total $4.7 billion by the end of 2018, placing it at #5 and the largest market by game revenues in Europe. (Newzoo, Jun 2018)

• Games sales in Germany achieved 1.5 billion euros in the first half of 2018. (game, Aug 2018)

• However, market share of German developed games fell to 5.4% in 2017 from 6.4% in 2016. (game, Aug 2018)

• The market share achieved by German game app developers fell from 4.2% to 3.7%, in 2016 and 2017 respectively. (game, 2018)

• Only in PC and console games did the market share of German game developers rise: from 0.5% to nearly 1% in 2017. (game, 2018)

• 53% of Germans aged 6-64 play any type of game (2018) (ISFE, 2018)

• The most popular platform for gaming in 2018 was PC – 36% of Germans said they played games on computers, followed by consoles (23%), smartphones (22%), tablets (9%), and handhelds (8%). (ISFE, 2018)

• As of July 2018, there are 35 games companies in Germany employing over 50 people. The largest employer is Nintendo of Europe at 850 people and the largest developer is InnoGames at 420 employees. (gameswirtschaft.de, Jul 2108)

• 12,726 people were employed in the development and publishing of games at 450 companies in Germany. (BIU, Jan 2017)

• As of 31 March 2015, 12,726 people were employed in the development and publishing of games at 450 companies in Germany. (BIU, Jan 2017)

• Of the 450 games companies in Germany, 276 primarily focus on development, while 67 concentrate on publishing. The remaining 107 companies are both developers and publishers. (BIU, Jan 2017)

• Considering the multiplier effect of associated roles such as journalists, government agencies and retail sales people, the number of jobs created by the computer and video games industry in Germany totals 30,231. (BIU, Jan 2017)

Italy

• Italy's 26.2million players spent $2billion in 2018, making it the 10th largest games market in the work. (Newzoo, Aug 2018)

• The Italian trade body AESVI has revealed that the Italian games market was worth $1.8 billion in 2017. (AESVI, GI.biz, Apr 2018)

• €1.05 billion was made from video game software, with a further €428 million from hardware and accessories. (AESVI, GI.biz, Apr 2018)

• The accessories sector was worth €94 million (driven primarily by controller sales), while console hardware generated €333 million (portable sales made up €16 million of that number). In total, 1.115 million home consoles were sold in Italy last year, and 135,747 portable machines. Retro games devices (such as Nintendo's SNES Mini) accounted for 86,946 machines. (AESVI, GI.biz, Apr 2018)

• Physical sales make up 1/3 of the market and generating €370 million. Mobile is the largest segment, accounting for 37% of all game revenue and generating €385 million. Digital console and PC is the smallest area, with a 28% market share, or €294 million. (AESVI, GI.biz, Apr 2018)

• In Italy 17 million people have had a gaming experience in the last 12 months, of which 59% are men and 41% women. Gaming is a practice that is widespread across all age groups, with a particular concentration on the 25-34 years old group. (AESVI, GI.biz, Apr 2018)

Poland

• In 2020, there were 440 game development studios in Poland, employing 9,710 FTEs in game production. (GIC, Sept 2020)
  • These studios release 480 titles in the previous 12 months, generating €479m in industry revenues.
  • 96% of Polish industry revenues are generated from exports, with approximately 50% generated form US sales.

• 44 Polish games companies are listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, including 12 on the main trading floor. The total capitalisation of these companies is €11.7bn, with CD Project Red alone accounting for €8.7bn. These 44 listed companies account for 55% of Polish games industry revenues. (GIC, Sept 2020)

• Given the outsize impact of CD Projeckt Red on the Polish industry (accounting for between 20-25% of the overall Polish sector revenues in a given year), a valuation of the sector excluding CDPR showed that the rest of the Polish industry has grown at a consistent rate of 27-28% each year since 2016. (GIC, Sept 2020)

• The Polish games consumer market was valued at $596m in 2020, with 16m people playing video games in Poland. The Polish esports market was valued at $11.5m. (GIC, Sept 2020)

Serbia

• The Serbian trade association SGA has over 60 members, ranging from indie teams, esports businesses, VFX studios, to globally recognized game developers. (SGA, No 2019)
• There were 1,281 people working in the Serbian games industry in 2018, including 351 women in game development roles, and expects to grow by around 130 new employees in 2019. (SGA, No 2019)

Spain

• Spain has 24.6million players who spent $2billion in 2018, making it the world 9th largest games market. (Newzoo, Aug 2018)

Sweden

Current

• Sweden had 667 (+14%) games companies in 2020, including 81 new registrations. 48% of these are solo developers, 34% have <10 employees, 12% 10-49, 4% 50-199 and 2% >200. (Game Developer Index, Dataspelsbranschen, Oct 2021)

• These companies supported 6,596 (+11%) workers in Sweden. The largest employers were Ubisoft Sverige, EA Dice and King. (Game Developer Index, Dataspelsbranschen, Oct 2021)

• The workforce was 78.6% were men and 21.4% were women. (Game Developer Index, Dataspelsbranschen, Oct 2021)

• Revenue for the Swedish games industry was €3.312bn (+43%) in 2020. (Game Developer Index, Dataspelsbranschen, Oct 2021)

• Dataspelsbranschen estimate that 1 in 4 people worldwide have played a game made in Sweden. (Game Developer Index, Dataspelsbranschen, Oct 2021)

Historical

• Swedish games jobs increased by 24 percent, over 1047 new full-time positions to 5338 employees. It is almost the double amount of new positions compared with 2016. (Dataspelsbranschen, Sep 2018)

• There were 287 active games studios in Sweden in 2016, an increase of 22% on the previous year. (Dataspelsbranschen, Sept 2017)

• These companies employed 4,267 full-time positions, increasing 15% (558 FTEs) from 2015. The Swedish games workforce is 82% male, 18% female. (Dataspelsbranschen, Sept 2017)

• Revenue (turnover) of Swedish game developers increased to €1.4 billion in 2016, representing a 1000 percent increase since 2010. (Dataspelsbranschen, Sept 2017)

• Nearly 10 percent of Swedish games companies are working on virtual reality experiences. (Dataspelsbranschen, Sept 2017)

• 1 in 10 players worldwide have played a game made in Sweden. (Dataspelsbranschen, Sept 2017)

• Swedish game development looks in good shape: in 2014 its turnover increased by +35%, to reach €930m. The compound annual growth rate for the 2006-2014 period is an impressive +39%. The majority of companies were profitable, and the combined profits were also the largest so far, with a record €353m (+35% vs 2013). (Dataspelsbranschen, Game Developer Index, Sept 2015)

• Employment increased by +23%, an additional 583 full-time positions, of which 17% (roughly 100) were hired by newly established companies. This brings the total of employees to 3,117, of which over three quarters (78%) are located in 2 cities: Stockholm and Malmö. (Dataspelsbranschen, Game Developer Index, Sept 2015)

• In terms of diversity the number of women has grown by +39%, compared to a +17% for men, and since 2010 the number of women working in games development has increased by nearly 5 times in 5 years. They are mainly found in mid- to large-sized companies. The largest companies are multicultural and have employees representing over 30 different nationalities. (Dataspelsbranschen, Game Developer Index, Sept 2015)

• The 5 biggest companies in number of employees represented 52% of all employment and the 5 biggest in turnover accounted for 77% of the whole turnover. (Dataspelsbranschen, Game Developer Index, Sept 2015)

• The total value of Swedish game developers was estimated to be over €2.75bn in 2014 (this includes the value of acquisitions). (Dataspelsbranschen, Game Developer Index, Sept 2015)

Turkey

• Turkey has more than 30 million active gamers, spending 70% of their gaming time on PC (GamingInTurkey, Jun 2018)

• Total Turkish game generated revenue in 2017 was $810m, increasing from $755m in 2016. The 2017 figure is split $437.6m PC / console revenues, $372.4m mobile. (GamingInTurkey, Jun 2018)

• There are approximately 20,000 cyber cafes in Turkey, visited by 7.5m players a month. (GamingInTurkey, Jun 2018)

Eastern Europe

• The Digital market is worth $2.2bn in 2014. Interestingly the 3 key countries cover a 84% share at $1.9bn. Russia is a clear leader, with a 50% share ($1.1bn). (Superdata, Dec 2014, LINK)

• The digital market saw a +7% growth in 2014 vs 2013, with free-to-play MMOs ($794m, +6%) and social games ($451m, +16%) having the largest market share. Social games also grew strongly - localization seems to be key. Pay-to-play MMO decreased by -6%, but shows a slower decline than in other regions. Digital PC ($267m, +9%) grew thanks to full game conversion and average revenue per paying user - there’s wariness toward regular in-game payment and full game spending is preferred. (Superdata, Dec 2014)

• In 2014, Digital Console, smallest market share in region, still grew the most in percentage terms (+23%). (Superdata, Dec 2014)

• In 2014, Mobile, a hype segment in Asia (+30% there) and the third largest in Eastern Europe (mostly Android), still has potential for growth in Eastern Europe, which faced small mobile penetration and doubts about payment security so far. (Superdata, Dec 2014)