The demand for games hardware as well as in-app and in-game purchases was the biggest driver of this growth.
Game, the German games industry association, has released a new report revealing that the sales revenue from purchases of games, hardware, and accessories in 2021 in the country increased by 17% compared to the previous year, which already saw record-high results, reaching €9.8 billion.
The figure means that the German market remains the largest video games market in Europe and the fifth largest in the world.
Software sales, including sales of video games, subscriptions, and in-game purchases, comprised the major part of total revenues generated in the country – they amounted to €5.4 billion, reflecting a 19% year-on-year growth. Digital sales were the main driver of spending with 60% of German gamers purchasing games digitally.
In-game and in-app purchases also were one of the biggest drivers of growth – this segment increased by 30% compared to 2020 reaching €4.2 billion. The major part of this was delivered by mobile in-game purchases which generated €2.76 billion, while in-game purchases from PC and console titles generated €1.5 billion.
German mobile games market, in general, saw a 22% growth with its revenues amounting to €2.78 billion. Sales revenue of games hardware also saw significant growth, up 18% from 2020, reaching €3.6 billion, with sales of video game consoles increasing by 23% compared to the previous year and reaching €808 million. The analysts noted that this result was reached even despite delivery bottlenecks and supply issues.
Revenues of gaming subscription services saw just a slight increase of 4%. Such services as Xbox Game Pass, EA Play, and Ubisoft+ made a key contribution to this growth – their revenues increased by 22% to €220 million.
At the end of the report, Game published a graph reflecting the development of the German games market since 1995. The graph shows that the market saw a significant increase, especially in the last six years. In 2016, the total revenues amounted to about €2 billion which is a third of what they were in 2021.
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