Weekly Gaming Reports Recap: September 22

Reports of the week:

1. VideoGamesEurope & EGDF – Facts in regards to the European Game Industry in 2024

2. Valve: Steam in 2025

3. Newzoo: Top 20 PC/Console Games by Revenue and MAU (August’25)

4. Games & Numbers (September 10 – September 23, 2025

5. Niko Partners: Chinese Gaming Market in 2025

Before we begin, I’m completely happy to announce that within the upcoming months, the e-newsletter might be powered by Xsolla! It’s an enormous step for the e-newsletter, and I respect the assist of the Xsolla crew, their perception within the work I do!

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The content material of the e-newsletter gained’t change, and I’ll proceed to cowl the gaming market numbers as normal. Thanks to Xsolla for the assist in these endeavors! ❤️

In the report, survey information is used (1,000 folks offline per 12 months; 1,000 folks on-line per 30 days). It additionally contains information from GSD, which accounts for each bodily and digital precise gross sales, reported by builders and publishers.

• 54% of Europeans aged 6 to 64 play video games. 75% of individuals in Europe over 18 play video games.

• The common age of a participant is 31 years outdated.

• The complete variety of gamers in Europe reached 128.3 million. This is a brand new file and the biggest determine within the final 5 years.

• France has the very best share of its inhabitants taking part in video games – 63% (30.8 million folks). The lowest amongst Central and Western European nations is Italy, with 33% of the inhabitants (14 million folks).

• 45% of all gamers are girls. The common age of feminine avid gamers is 32.

• The age composition of gamers has hardly modified in comparison with 2023. There are 1% extra gamers aged 15–24 and 1% fewer gamers aged 6–14. Overall, gaming penetration is rising throughout all ages besides the 6–10 section.

• 75% of gamers in Europe spend at the very least 1 hour per week taking part in. 15% play lower than 1 hour, and 10% play only a few occasions a 12 months (virtually in no way).

• The most energetic gamers are in Germany, averaging 11.5 hours per week. Italians play the least, averaging 6.6 hours per week.

• Interestingly, 2024 set a file since 2012 (when monitoring started) for common weekly playtime. People now play a median of 9.4 hours per week.

• Games are nonetheless behind different media. People spend extra time on social networks (16.75 hours per week) and watching tv (23 hours per week).

• People performed extra on smartphones and consoles in 2024 in comparison with 2023, and fewer on PC. Interestingly, this contrasts with the rising PC platform income.

• Top cellular genres within the 5 largest European markets are puzzle (25%), RPG & technique (17%), and phrase video games (17%). On consoles, gamers largely play racing (31%), sports activities (28%), and journey (28%). On PC, journey (23%), shooters (20%), and technique (20%) dominate.

• 74% of individuals say video games are a great way to “stretch the brain.” 67% say video games assist them distract from day by day issues. 68% say video games assist deal with stress. 75% agree that video games are leisure for all ages.

• As of the tip of 2024, 116,419 folks work in European recreation firms. This is up 1.8% from 2023. This confirms latest reviews stating that the majority layoffs affected U.S. studios.

• 24.9% of all workers in Europe are girls.

• 23.3% of all workers are in administration, publishing, or buyer assist. The relaxation are instantly concerned in improvement.

• Revenue of the European recreation market continues to develop. In 2024, the European markets reached €26.8 billion (+4% YoY).

• Mobile’s share in income grew (44% vs. 41% in 2023), whereas PC (15% vs. 14% in 2023) and streaming providers (4% vs. 3% in 2023) additionally elevated barely. The share of consoles decreased (38% vs. 41% in 2023).

• Digital income share continues to develop (90% in 2024 vs. 85% in 2023). Accordingly, bodily distribution income was 10% in 2024. Digital segments on PC, consoles, and particularly cellular continue to grow.

• Top console hits in 2024: EA FC 25, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, and EA FC 24. On PC: Helldivers 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, and C&C Generals (surprisingly). On cellular: Coin Master, Royal Match, and Brawl Stars.

• On PC and consoles, 12.3% of video games launched in 2024 had been aimed toward audiences over 18. Most initiatives (67.3%) had a PEGI ranking of three–12 years.

• According to the report, 80% of oldsters make recreation buy choices for his or her kids based mostly on scores.

• 95% of oldsters actively monitor how their kids spend cash in video games.

• 76% of oldsters say their kids don’t purchase in-game content material. An attention-grabbing quantity, contemplating Roblox stats.

• Children’s spending in video games dropped by 21% in comparison with 2023.

Source

Erik Peterson from Valve shared the newest platform numbers at Gamescom’25.

• From 2020 to 2025, the quickest viewers progress got here from Japan, Brazil, China, Germany, and the USA.

• Simplified Chinese (33.6%), English (33%), and Russian (8.4%) are the most well-liked languages on the platform.

• From August 1, 2024, to August 1, 2025, Steam noticed a median of 109,000 new patrons every day, making their first-ever buy.

• That’s greater than 75 new paying customers per minute.

• Sales occasions proceed to carry out properly on the platform. Revenue from the Spring Sale grew by 19%, and from the Summer Sale by 8%. This is in comparison with the earlier 12 months, with full-price recreation gross sales excluded.

• In 2024, greater than 540 new video games crossed the $250,000 income mark inside their first 30 days (together with pre-orders). In the identical interval, 224 video games earned greater than $1 million.

• Looking on the high 100 most profitable initiatives over the previous 4 years, greater than half of them are priced below $50, and 1 / 4 are below $30. This reveals that not solely massive AAA blockbusters succeed on the platform.

• Over 500 initiatives earned greater than $4M (Gross) in 2024. That’s virtually double in comparison with 2020.

• By the tip of 2025, Valve expects practically 20% extra video games to hit this milestone.

Source

Newzoo tracks the markets of the US, UK, Spain, Germany, Italy, and France.

• In August, three main new entries hit the highest 20: EA Sports Madden NFL 26 (2nd place), Mafia: The Old Country (sixth place), and Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater (fifteenth place).

• Mafia: The Old Country earned about two-thirds of its income on PlayStation, pushed by participant preferences on the platform and its viewers dimension.

• World of Warcraft jumped up 12 spots to eighth place, because of the beginning of preorders for The Midnight enlargement on August 19.

• Apex Legends returned to the highest 20 following the Showdown replace.

• Helldivers II had a robust debut on Xbox, taking 2nd place by income in August, behind solely EA Sports Madden NFL 26.

• On PlayStation, Gears of War: Reloaded launched in 14th place. Not the strongest debut, however the magnitude of video games is sort of completely different.

• Nintendo Switch noticed three new entries within the high 20: Tiny Bookshop (third place), EA Sports Madden NFL 26 (tenth place—highlighting very completely different viewers preferences), and Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar (fifteenth place).

• There was unusually excessive motion within the MAU rankings. First, Battlefield 6 entered the general chart in third place—and that’s simply the beta. On the again of its recognition, Battlefield 2042 additionally climbed again into the highest 20.

• Delta Force launched on consoles, pushing it into the general high 20. Helldivers II additionally spiked in exercise, boosted each by its new replace and Xbox launch.

• On Nintendo Switch, there was one new MAU entry – Tiny Bookshop.

Source

• By the tip of 2024, the market dimension reached $49.2 billion. This is 3.6% increased than final 12 months.

• Niko Partners expects that by the tip of 2025, the market will develop to $50.7 billion. By 2029, it’s projected to succeed in $54.8 billion with a CAGR of two.2%.

• At the tip of 2024, there have been 722 million gamers within the nation — twice the inhabitants of the US. This quantity will develop to 753.7 million by 2029 (CAGR – 0.9%).

• ARPU of Chinese gamers on the finish of 2024 is $68. By 2029, this determine will rise to $73.

• Growth might be pushed by cellular and PC segments. A powerful contribution is anticipated from Nintendo Switch 2, the launch of next-gen consoles, the rise of premium PC video games, and the rising recognition of Mini Games.

Xsolla recently released the global gaming market map, which covers greater than 200 areas.

This is a huge work, every market has:

GameDev Reports – powered by Xsolla is a reader-supported publication. To obtain new posts and assist my work, contemplate changing into a free or paid subscriber.

• Main market numbers (inhabitants, gaming income, distribution of income by platform and far more).

• Top online game genres.

• Recommendations for recreation localization.

• Largest recreation improvement studios & video games from the area.

• Cultural concerns & native holidays.

• Top streaming platforms, influencers, native reveals.

• Salary benchmarks for the gaming trade.

• Payment information, taxes info, and authorized concerns.

So far, it’s the most complete database of the gaming market I’ve seen thus far (excluding my e-newsletter, in fact, ha-ha).

200+ nations lined, and there’s a very candy alternative to obtain the information for the pitch within the .pdf format (based mostly available on the market).

Check it out!

This part comprises outcomes from a survey of 1,058 Chinese gamers.

• Chinese gamers are focused on generative AI. 85.2% are conversant in this expertise, and 39.4% are inquisitive about its purposes in video games. According to Niko Partners, greater than 60% of Chinese builders use generative AI of their initiatives.

• Mini Games in China continue to grow. 84.4% play them. 17.7% of ladies play mini-games day by day, in comparison with 10.3% of males. Currently, this section generates about 10% of complete gaming income.

• 41% of customers in China uncover new video games via quick video platforms, 38.7% comply with platform suggestions, and 33.9% get info from social media.

• 46.5% of gamers in China interact with esports indirectly. Every fourth participant in China actively watches influencers.

• 11 of the highest 20 video games in Chinese streaming platforms are both launched by abroad builders or based mostly on main IPs. Niko Partners additionally highlights the recognition of video games that haven’t been formally launched available in the market (for instance, Apex Legends).

Source