In 2025 the European video‑game market produced a total turnover of €30 billion, with digital sales representing a dominant 91 percent of that figure, according to the latest figures released by Video Games Europe (VGE). This milestone underscores the continued shift toward online and downloadable content across the continent, as physical copies become a shrinking slice of the overall pie.
A notable development this year was the broadening of VGE’s flagship analysis, the All About Games report. Where the study previously focused on the five largest European gaming economies – the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain and Italy – it now incorporates data from an additional eleven countries: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Sweden and Switzerland.
The expansion provides a more comprehensive picture of the sector’s health and trends across the whole European region, rather than a narrow view limited to the traditional powerhouses. To compile the new dataset, VGE commissioned the market‑research firm Ipsos, which pulled figures from several established sources, including the GameTrack and GSD databases as well as the freshly published EGDF‑VGE Video Games Industry Insight Report.
The resulting survey captured responses from 39,371 participants, offering a robust statistical foundation for the conclusions drawn. When the numbers for the original “EU5” markets are examined in isolation, 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 nation within this core group, delivering €6.5 billion in sales, followed by the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain.
Employment data paints an equally encouraging picture. Across the EU and the UK, 123,000 individuals were recorded as working in the gaming ecosystem, spread across roughly 8,700 development studios, publishers and ancillary service providers. Women accounted for 24 percent of the total workforce, indicating gradual progress toward gender balance in an industry historically dominated by men. By country, the United Kingdom employed the largest number of gaming professionals – 28,520 people – with Poland (14,930) and Germany (12,410) trailing behind.
These figures highlight the importance of both established and emerging hubs in sustaining the sector’s growth. Platform usage trends continued to favour mobile devices.
Smartphones and tablets were the primary way Europeans accessed games, with an 82 percent penetration rate. Console usage stood at 47 percent and personal‑computer play at 34 percent. In monetary terms, mobile and tablet platforms generated almost half of the total €30 billion revenue, reaffirming the lucrative nature of the mobile market.
The console segment was led by Electronic Arts, whose titles EA Sports FC26 and EA Sports FC25 claimed the two highest‑ranking spots on the console leaderboard, while the long‑awaited Battlefield 6 secured the third position. On the PC side, Battlefield 6 also topped the charts, followed closely by Rockstar’s evergreen classics Red Dead Redemption 2 and Grand Theft Auto 5, which continue to attract substantial player bases years after release.
Mobile gaming saw a different set of leaders. The casual‑strategy title Coin Master held the number‑one slot, with Royal Match and the ever‑popular Candy Crush Saga occupying the second and third places respectively.
These results illustrate the diversity of player preferences across device categories. Overall participation numbers reached 199 million gamers throughout Europe, with women representing 46 percent of that audience – roughly 91.5 million female players. The United Kingdom emerged as the single largest national market, boasting 25 million active gamers.
Average weekly playtime for European gamers fell slightly to 8.39 hours, down from 9.4 hours in 2024. Younger demographics still logged the most time: children aged 6‑11 averaged 11.35 hours per week, while teenagers aged 12‑17 spent an average of 14.30 hours gaming each week.
Parental involvement remains high. Seventy‑five percent of European parents expressed a desire to be actively involved in setting limits on their children’s gaming activities. Moreover, 79 percent reported using one or more family‑setting tools to monitor or restrict playtime, and 74 percent said they have agreements, monitoring practices, or family‑setting controls in place to manage online interactions. In the EU5 markets specifically, 72 percent of parents indicated that their children did not make in‑game purchases.
Among the minority who did, a striking 93 percent of parents said they kept a close watch on those transactions. Notably, the average amount spent by children who were permitted to buy in‑game content dropped by 13 percent compared with 2024, suggesting either tighter parental oversight or a shift in spending habits among younger gamers. Taken together, these data points illustrate a vibrant and evolving European gaming landscape: robust revenues driven largely by digital sales, expanding geographic coverage in market research, a steady rise in employment, and a clear dominance of mobile platforms alongside enduring console and PC favorites.
The industry also shows signs of maturing in terms of parental engagement and gender representation, setting the stage for continued growth and diversification in the years ahead.