In 2025 the European video‑game market amassed a total of €30 billion in revenue, with digital transactions representing an overwhelming 91 percent of that figure, according to the latest data released by Video Games Europe (VGE). This milestone underscores the continuing shift toward online purchases, downloadable content, and subscription services across the continent, confirming that the traditional retail model now accounts for only a small slice of the overall income stream. A notable development this year was the broadening of VGE’s flagship publication, 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 has now been extended to cover sixteen countries. The additional territories include Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Sweden and Switzerland.
By incorporating these markets, VGE aims to provide a more comprehensive picture of consumer behaviour, developer activity and revenue distribution across the wider European landscape. To compile the expanded dataset, VGE commissioned market‑research firm Ipsos, which drew on information from GameTrack, the Global Software Distribution (GSD) platform, and the freshly published EGDF‑VGE Video Games Industry Insight Report. The resulting survey captured responses from 39,371 participants, offering a robust sample size that lends credibility to the findings and enables detailed segmentation by country, platform, age group and gender.
When the numbers are broken down by region, the traditional “EU5” bloc – the original five markets – recorded a modest 4 percent year‑on‑year decline, slipping from €26.8 billion in 2024 to €25.7 billion in 2025. Germany remained the top‑earning nation within this group, generating €6.5 billion, followed by the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain. The contraction in the EU5 is offset by growth in the newly added countries, where rising smartphone penetration and increasing broadband availability have spurred higher spending on digital games. Employment figures paint an equally encouraging picture.
Across the United Kingdom and the European Union, an estimated 123,000 individuals were employed by 8,700 game development studios in 2025. Women represented roughly one‑quarter of the workforce (24 percent), highlighting gradual progress toward gender diversity in an industry historically dominated by men. The United Kingdom employed the largest number of professionals, with 28,520 staff members, while Poland and Germany followed with 14,930 and 12,410 employees respectively.
These numbers reflect not only the health of established studios but also the emergence of indie developers and ancillary service providers such as quality assurance, localisation and marketing firms. Platform usage data reveals that mobile devices and tablets continue to dominate the European gaming scene, accounting for 82 percent of all play sessions. Console usage sits at 47 percent and personal computers at 34 percent, indicating a still‑significant but comparatively smaller share for traditional hardware. In monetary terms, mobile and tablet gaming contributed nearly half of the total €30 billion revenue, underscoring the importance of touch‑based experiences, freemium models and micro‑transactions in the region’s economy.
The console market in 2025 was led by Electronic Arts, whose flagship sports titles EA Sports FC 26 and FC 25 occupied the top two slots on sales charts, with the long‑running first‑person shooter Battlefield 6 taking third place. On the PC front, Battlefield 6 also claimed the number‑one position, while Rockstar Games’ evergreen titles Red Dead Redemption 2 and Grand Theft Auto 5 maintained strong followings, illustrating the staying power of high‑quality, narrative‑driven experiences. Mobile gaming trends showed a slightly different set of leaders. The casual‑strategy title Coin Master topped the list, followed closely by Royal Match and the ever‑popular Candy Crush Saga.
These games benefit from low barriers to entry, frequent updates, and highly effective monetisation strategies that keep players engaged over long periods. Overall player penetration reached 199 million Europeans in 2025, with women representing 46 percent of that audience (approximately 91.5 million female gamers). The United Kingdom emerged as the single largest market, boasting 25 million active players.
Average weekly playtime across the continent fell slightly to 8.39 hours per person, down from 9.4 hours in the previous year. Younger demographics, however, continue to log substantial hours: children aged 6‑11 averaged 11.35 hours per week, while teenagers aged 12‑17 averaged 14.30 hours. Parental involvement remains a critical factor in shaping the gaming environment for younger users. Seventy‑five percent of European parents expressed a desire to be actively involved in setting limits on video‑game usage for their children.
In practice, 79 percent reported using one or more family‑setting tools—such as screen‑time controls, content filters or purchase restrictions—to monitor or curb gameplay, while 74 percent indicated they have established agreements, actively supervise, or employ technical safeguards to manage online interactions. Within the EU5 markets, 72 percent of parents said their children did not make in‑game purchases at all. Of the minority who did, a striking 93 percent of parents reported that they kept a close eye on those transactions, suggesting a high level of vigilance when it comes to micro‑spending.
Moreover, the average amount spent by children who are permitted to buy in‑game content dropped by 13 percent compared with 2024, reflecting either more cautious parental oversight, increased awareness of spending habits, or perhaps a shift toward free‑to‑play titles with less aggressive monetisation. Taken together, these data points illustrate a vibrant, evolving European gaming ecosystem. While revenue growth in the traditional powerhouses shows signs of plateauing, the inclusion of new markets and the continued expansion of mobile gaming are driving overall industry health. Employment remains robust, gender diversity is slowly improving, and parental engagement is high, all of which bode well for the sector’s sustainable development in the years ahead.