Germany Video Game Market

The gaming market in Germany has been consistently growing and is expected to continue growing. In 2019 the market volume was $7.5 billion. The biggest growth drivers are online services and in-game purchases.

Market Trends
34 million Germans play video and computer games, 36% regularly and 42% occasionally. The average German gamer is 37.5 years old. The most common gaming platforms in Germany are mobile devices, with the biggest revenue stream being in-game-purchases. 48% of gamers are playing both on PCs and consoles with 42% only playing PC games and 10% playing on consoles only.

Mobile gaming has the largest player base on the German market. 19.5 million German gamers are using their smartphones and 11.2 million are using their tablets to play mobile games.
PC gaming is the second largest market in Germany with 16.3 million users in 2019, followed by consoles with 15.9 million players in 2019.

Demand
The demand of gamers in Germany is diverse. When asked for their favorite genres in 2020, German gamers answered that their favorite genres are strategy (37%) followed by action adventure (29%), simulation (29%), action (28%), adventures (27%), role-playing (26%), sports (25%), and shooters (22%); multiple answers were possible. 

Distribution
Games in Germany are primarily distributed via online stores such as Steam (PC), Epic Games Store (PC), Apple App Store (mobile), Google Play Store (mobile), PlayStation Store (console) or the Microsoft Store (PC/console).

Gamescom
Germany is home to Gamescom, the world’s largest gaming trade fair. It is open to business and public visitors and welcomes more than 370,000 visitors and more than 1,100 exhibitors each year. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Gamescom 2021 (August 25-29) will be a hybrid online and offline event.

For further information contact Office.Frankfurt@trade.gov