02 German market for computer and video games

The German games market achieved significant overall growth in 2023. Sales revenue from games, gaming hardware and online gaming services rose by 6 per cent, to around 9.97 billion euros – a substantial gain following a revenue increase of just 1 per cent in the preceding year.

The biggest growth drivers included game consoles and related accessories as well as in-game and in-app purchases. The German games market thus remains the strongest in Europe in terms of sales revenue and ranks fifth internationally.

Across all platforms, purchases of computer and video games generated 4 per cent more revenue than in the year before. In total, sales revenue here rose to around 1.1 billion euros, representing a positive development in the market segment. Despite the wealth of top-flight titles, however, the number of games sold fell by 8 per cent. Many players seem to have bought top-class titles directly on release last year rather than waiting for the first discounts. Accordingly, the growth in revenue here is attributable to higher average prices. Additionally, because many of the top titles in 2023 are especially time-intensive to play, they didn’t leave room for players to acquire a large number of games. The market development for in-game and in-app purchases was significantly more positive, showing a revenue increase of about 6 per cent, to 4.7 billion euros.

The playing time of a given title is increasingly being individualised or extended through supplemental content – whether this be an armour upgrade for your character, a completely new campaign or a ‘season pass’ with lots of extra features. This development continues one of the defining trends of recent years: on top of the traditional sale of individual games, additional paid content has become standard, particularly in free-to-play and live-service games. The active communities around such games are thereby continually offered new content and game-playing experiences. Game companies benefit from the great popularity of this business model as well. With the success of a title no longer solely dependent on one-off game sales, the studio can generate revenue through in-game and in-app purchases of additional content that adapts the game on an ongoing basis. This serves the interests of the community while also reducing the economic risk posed by considerably increased production costs in the last few decades.

A large share of game sales revenue in Germany continues to be generated by games apps for smartphones and tablet computers. The market for mobile games remains on course for success. Within a year, revenue from games apps rose by a further 4 per cent, to 2.9 billion euros. This part of the games market has almost doubled since 2018, when revenues amounted to 1.49 billion euros. The great popularity of mobile games is due on the one hand to their accessibility and the availability of a large selection of casual games for everyone. On the other, the offerings for mobile devices have also included complex games and even esports titles for a long time now.

In 2023, a total of around 2.9 billion euros in sales revenue was generated with games for smartphones and tablets. This puts mobile devices in the leading position. Revenue from games for consoles amounted to around 2 billion euros, and the third-highest revenue, about 1.7 billion euros, was generated with games for PCs and laptops.

With regard to business models, consumer behaviour varies greatly between the gaming platforms. For example, 98 per cent of revenue on smartphones and tablets was achieved through in-app purchases, which is partly due to the high prevalence of free-to-play games for mobile devices. On game consoles, in contrast, 40 per cent of revenue was generated through the purchase of games and around another third through online gaming services, which can now be subscribed to on every console. On PCs and laptops, in-game purchases accounted for around two thirds of sales revenue.

After a number of years of strong growth, sales revenue from online gaming services plateaued at a high level in 2023. Revenue from these services fell slightly, by 1 per cent, to 860 million euros. Among the categories in this segment are fee-based subscription services that provide access to a large selection of games, cloud-based games, online multiplayer functions and the ability to save game progress in the cloud. Examples of such services include EA Play, Nintendo Switch Online, PlayStation Plus, Ubisoft+ and Xbox Game Pass.

Sales revenues from various categories of games hardware, such as game consoles, PCs and accessories, developed very differently in 2023. Game consoles were among the most important growth drivers, showing a total increase in revenue of 44 per cent and, at 1.1 billion euros, even breaking the billion-euro threshold. There was also strong demand for accessories for game consoles. Sales revenue in this area jumped 32 per cent, to 374 million euros. In sharp contrast, gaming PCs showed a significant decline, as revenue from sales of PCs and laptops marketed specifically for gaming fell by 17 per cent, to 547 million euros. The trend for gaming PC accessories, such as special input devices and graphics cards, was only slightly better, with sales dropping by 7 per cent, to just under 1.3 billion euros.

In Germany, video games are most frequently purchased as downloads. In 2023, the share of PC and console games purchased as downloads here even rose to 60 per cent for the first time.

Download purchases of games thus remained at the high level they have maintained since 2020, the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, when the share of downloads jumped from 45 to 58 per cent. But a closer look reveals major differences between the individual gaming platforms. In 2023, download purchases were most prevalent among PC gamers, who now buy nearly all of their games – 98 per cent – in this way. This was a slight rise from the 2022 figure of 97 per cent. Consoles are a different story, however. Most console players prefer to buy games as physical media. While the majority of console games – 60 per cent – were still purchased on data carriers in 2023, this marked a slight decline, of 3 percentage points, from the previous year .

Age also plays a role in how games are purchased in Germany. In 2023, younger players bought their games predominantly via download. This was true especially for players aged 20 to 29, who acquired more than 7 in 10 games for PC or console as downloads. But growing numbers of older players are now also turning to downloads. Those in the 50- to 59-year age group bought around 6 out of 10 games as downloads, whereas just a year earlier, they purchased 53 per cent of their games on data carriers. Purchases on physical media are most popular among players over 60. This group bought more than half of their games in this way in 2023 – which, however, represents a 12 per cent drop compared to 2022.