The European video‑game market posted a combined revenue of €24 billion in 2024, supported by more than 6,600 development studios that together employed upwards of 95,000 individuals. These figures come from the European Video Game Industry Insights Report, a joint publication by the European Games Development Association (EGDF) and Video Games Europe (VGA).
The report is based on data collected throughout 2024, with each of the 28 EGDF member organisations first submitting national‑level statistics that were later merged into a continent‑wide overview. While the overall pool of talent in the region showed signs of stagnation—meaning the rate of new hires and growth in the workforce slowed compared with previous years—the number of active studios continued to climb. Across the EU, the studio count rose somewhere between five and ten percent during 2024, indicating that new companies are still being founded and existing ones are expanding their operational footprints.
Nations such as Finland, Italy and the Czech Republic exemplified this trend, each reporting modest but steady increases in both employee numbers and studio openings. Poland emerged as the clear leader in terms of human resources, employing the largest share of game‑development and publishing staff within the European Union. The country also topped the list for new releases, with 450 fresh titles hitting the market in 2024.
The United Kingdom, another major hub, recorded a workforce of 28,516 people working in various capacities across the sector, from programming and art design to marketing and quality assurance. The 2024 edition of the report marked the first inclusion of two previously unrepresented economies: Bulgaria and Cyprus. Cyprus, despite its relatively small size, generated €4.3 billion in turnover, earning the description of the "main game industry hub in terms of combined revenue" within the report.
Bulgaria, on the other hand, was highlighted as an "important regional hub surrounded by key European game industry talent"—a nod to its strategic location near Romania and Türkiye, both of which contribute significant expertise and skilled labour to the broader ecosystem. The EGDF underscored that, even in a challenging environment marked by market volatility and shifting consumer preferences, several countries managed to sustain growth on both revenue and studio‑count dimensions. This dual‑track progress helped lift the overall European metrics, suggesting resilience in the sector’s core business model.
Nevertheless, the report also warned of underlying headwinds. Layoffs, corporate consolidations and a modest decline in employment figures were observed in a handful of markets, representing the first measurable dip in the sector’s employment trend since its inception. These setbacks were attributed to a combination of factors, including rising production costs, heightened competition from global players, and the after‑effects of broader economic uncertainty across the continent. To put the numbers into perspective, the €24 billion turnover translates to an average revenue of roughly €3.6 million per studio, though the distribution is far from uniform.
Large, established publishers in the UK and Germany contribute a substantial share of that total, while smaller indie studios in the Baltic states and the Iberian Peninsula often operate on tighter budgets but bring innovative concepts to the market. The inclusion of Bulgaria and Cyprus also signals a geographic diversification of the industry. Both countries have been investing in education programmes, tax incentives and infrastructure to attract developers and publishers. Cyprus, for example, offers a favourable tax regime that has drawn several multinational studios to set up regional offices, while Bulgaria’s lower cost of living and growing pool of technical graduates make it an attractive destination for outsourcing and co‑development projects.
Looking ahead, industry analysts anticipate that the talent base may begin to recover as universities expand game‑design curricula and as more apprenticeship schemes are introduced. At the same time, the continued rise in studio numbers suggests that entrepreneurship remains strong, with many developers choosing to form boutique studios that focus on niche genres or emerging technologies such as virtual reality and cloud gaming. In summary, the 2024 European games industry snapshot paints a picture of a sector that, despite facing employment stagnation in certain areas, continues to generate significant economic value and to expand its organisational footprint.
The combination of robust revenue, a growing number of studios, and the emergence of new regional hubs points to a dynamic and adaptable industry poised to navigate future challenges while maintaining its contribution to Europe’s creative economy.