Recently, the Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE) and the European Games Developer Federation (EGDF), presented Key Facts from 2021. Video Games: A force for good. This study updates the reality of the sector after the report of the previous year.
In 2021, the market value for the whole of Europe remained stable at €23.3 billion, following the exceptional increase from 2019-2020 due to the role video games played in helping millions of people connect whilst being apart during the strictest of the COVID-19 lockdowns. When considering revenue split by device, 45% corresponded to Smartphone/tablet (v 40% in 2020); 42% to Consoles (v 44% in 2020); 6% to PC (v 14% in 2020), and 2% to On-demand/streaming (v 2% in 2020). Digital ecosystem represents 81% of total revenue (80% in 2020).
The number of players has increased by 6% to 124.8 million. Playing games has gained popularity across all age groups, with the 45-64 age group being the fastest growing. Actual playtime, however, went down from 9.5 hours to 9 hours per week, showing that playing video games regained its pre-pandemic place in players’ routines. With 52% of Europe’s population playing video games, including children, the industry continues to take responsibility towards players very seriously, particularly with regard to minors.
Besides, the European Union had 4,600 game developer studios and publishers. Together, these companies employed 74,000 people (98,219 people in Europe) and had a combined turnover of €16.6bn in the EU. From the whole working force, 22% of estimated employees are women (compared to 17% of Europe’s ICT specialists), according to the European Institute for Gender Equality report
About Esports, following games and Esports analytics firm Newzoo, this segment had 205 million enthusiasts worldwide in 2021. This number is expected to increase to 286 million by 2024. Esports boast a total audience of 436 million, and will reach 577 million in 2024. Europe ranks 2nd, globally, in Esports revenue per enthusiast.
EUROPEAN VERSUS U.S. GAMERS
Taking into account that most of the numbers only change modestly year-to-year, it’s interesting to compare these Europe trade groups’ bigger picture report with that of its American counterpart, the Entertainment Software Association’s Essential Facts report, normally released around E3 each year.
One area where the two markets were similar was in gender breakdown, with the U.S. having 48% of players identify as female and Europe seeing that figure comes in at 47.8%. For market size, while the European market in 2021 was of €23.3 billion, the ESA said Americans spent USD 60.4 billion on gaming last year, citing NPD Group/Sensor Tower figures. That discrepancy is naturally related to the player base. While the ESA said there were more than 215 million active players in the U.S. last year, the European Key Facts report put the continent’s indicator at just under 125 million.
The two reports also had different criteria for what constituted a game player. In the U.S. report, someone had to play video games for an hour a week to be considered a game player. In the European report, the minimum threshold was playing games once a year (7% of European gamers played once a year). The inclusion of such sporadic players may have impacted Europe’s average playtime figures, which were reported as 9 hours a week in Europe for 2021, down from a pandemic-boosted 9.5 hours in 2020. In the U.S., the ESA’s 2022 data found that average time spent playing games each week was 13 hours, up from 12 hours in the 2021 report.
There were also differences in the two markets’ ratings systems. While the ESA reported that 84% of American parents were aware of the ESRB ratings system, only 67% of European parents were aware of PEGI age labels.
The European Key Facts study noted that there has been a significant drop-off in children making in-game purchases, falling from 42% in 2018 to 19% in 2020. The American Essential Facts text instead said 92% of children must obtain their parents’ permission to make in-game purchases, and separately stated that 67% of players make in-game purchases at least a few times a year.