Annual Report of the German Games Industry 2025 (game - Verband der deutschen Games-Branche)

Summary

• The German games market generated around 9.4 billion euros in 2024, a decline of 6 percent versus the previous year.p.8
• Revenue from game purchases fell 17 percent to 921 million euros.p.8
• Mobile games revenue exceeded 3 billion euros for the first time and has grown 63 percent since 2019.p.10
• Online gaming services revenue grew 12 percent to 965 million euros.p.11
• The number of German games companies fell 4 percent to 910, the first decline in years.p.15
• Federal games funding is set to rise to 88 million euros in 2025 and to 125 million euros from 2026.p.4
• 37.5 million Germans play games, and the average age of players rose to 39.5 years.p.5

Key insights

1. Games hardware revenue fell 10 percent to around 2.9 billion euros, and game console revenue fell 26 percent to 807 million euros.p.11
2. In-game and in-app purchases generated around 4.6 billion euros, a decline of just 3 percent.p.10
3. Only 17 percent of games companies expected a positive development for the whole industry in 2025, up from 12 percent a year earlier.p.14
4. Of 910 companies, 454 only develop, 52 only publish and 404 do both.p.15
5. 72 percent of games developments in Germany would not have been realized without federal funding, and 34 percent could be implemented much more extensively.p.17
6. 71 percent of games companies rate political commitment to the games location as rather or very poor.p.17
7. Every euro of tax-based games funding would trigger 4.80 euros of additional investment, 3.40 euros of tax revenue and 8.70 euros of gross value added.p.19
8. A tax-based games incentive would provide tax credits of 30 percent or 35 percent for small and medium-sized companies.p.20
9. Bavaria is rated the best games location within Germany, ahead of North Rhine-Westphalia and Berlin.p.21
10. gamescom 2024 drew 335,000 visitors from 122 countries and 1,460+ exhibitors.p.25