In 2025 the European video‑game market produced a total of €30 billion in revenue, with digital sales representing a dominant 91 percent of that figure, according to the latest data released by Video Games Europe (VGE). This milestone underscores the continued shift toward online purchases, downloadable content and subscription‑based services across the continent.
A noteworthy development this year is the broadening of VGE’s flagship research publication, the All About Games report. Previously the analysis was confined to the five largest European territories – the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain and Italy – collectively known as the EU5. The 2025 edition now incorporates data from an additional eleven countries: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Sweden and Switzerland. By expanding the geographic scope, VGE aims to provide a more comprehensive picture of gaming trends throughout the wider European economic area.
To compile the figures, VGE engaged the market‑research firm Ipsos, which extracted information from several industry‑specific databases, including GameTrack, the Global Software Distribution (GSD) platform, and the newly released EGDF‑VGE Video Games Industry Insight Report. The combined survey reached 39,371 respondents, representing a diverse cross‑section of gamers, industry professionals and households across the surveyed nations.
When the numbers for the original EU5 are examined in isolation, total revenue fell by 4 percent compared with the previous year, slipping from €26.8 billion in 2024 to €25.7 billion in 2025. Germany remained the top‑earning market within this group, generating €6.5 billion, followed by the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain in descending order. Employment figures also paint an encouraging portrait of the sector’s health. In 2025, the combined United Kingdom and European Union counted roughly 123,000 individuals working for about 8,700 development studios, of which women made up 24 percent of the workforce.
The United Kingdom alone employed the largest number of gaming professionals – 28,520 – with Poland (14,930) and Germany (12,410) trailing behind. These statistics highlight both the scale of the industry’s labour market and the ongoing need for greater gender diversity.
Platform usage patterns reveal that mobile devices and tablets continue to dominate player engagement. An impressive 82 percent of gamers reported using a handheld device as their primary way to play, while consoles were the second‑most popular platform at 47 percent and personal computers accounted for 34 percent. In terms of revenue generation, mobile and tablet gaming contributed almost half of the total €30 billion, confirming the lucrative nature of the freemium and in‑app purchase models that thrive on these devices. When it comes to top‑selling titles, the console segment was led by Electronic Arts, whose flagship sports franchise EA Sports FC 26 claimed the number‑one spot, with its predecessor FC 25 holding the second position.
The third‑place title was the long‑awaited Battlefield 6, which also secured the leading position on PC charts. On the PC side, Battlefield 6 was followed closely by Rockstar Games’ enduring classics Red Dead Redemption 2 and Grand Theft Auto 5, both of which continue to attract strong sales years after their initial release. Mobile gaming leaders were similarly clear. The casual‑strategy game Coin Master topped the list, with Royal Match and the evergreen Candy Crush Saga occupying the second and third places respectively.
These results illustrate the sustained popularity of low‑barrier, highly social titles that can be played in short bursts. Overall player participation reached 199 million Europeans in 2025, and women represented a substantial 46 percent of that audience – roughly 91.5 million female gamers. The United Kingdom emerged as the single largest market in terms of player count, with an estimated 25 million individuals actively playing video games. Average weekly playtime across the region fell slightly to 8.39 hours per player, down from 9.4 hours in 2024.
Age‑specific data show that younger children (ages 6‑11) still spent a relatively high amount of time gaming, averaging 11.35 hours per week, while teenagers (12‑17) logged the highest engagement at 14.30 hours weekly. Parental involvement remains a key factor in shaping gaming habits. Seventy‑five percent of European parents indicated they prefer to be directly involved in setting limits on their children’s gaming activities.
Moreover, 79 percent reported using one or more family‑setting tools—such as screen‑time controls, purchase restrictions or content filters—to monitor or curb gameplay, and 74 percent said they have explicit agreements, monitoring practices or family‑setting configurations in place to manage online interactions. Within the EU5 markets, 72 percent of parents said their children did not make any in‑game purchases. Of the minority who did, a striking 93 percent of parents reported that they actively supervised those transactions.
Notably, the average amount of money spent by children who are permitted to buy in‑game content dropped by 13 percent compared with the previous year, suggesting a combination of tighter parental oversight and possibly more cautious spending behaviour among younger players. These findings collectively illustrate a vibrant yet evolving European gaming ecosystem: robust revenue driven largely by digital channels, expanding geographic coverage in market research, a diverse array of popular titles across platforms, and a growing emphasis on responsible play and parental control.
As the industry moves forward, stakeholders will likely continue to monitor these trends, aiming to balance commercial growth with sustainable, inclusive and safe gaming experiences for all European consumers.