In 2025 the European video‑game market recorded 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 continuing shift toward online distribution and in‑app purchases across the continent.
A major development in the 2025 edition of VGE’s flagship publication, the All About Games report, is its broadened geographic scope. Where previous editions focused on the five largest European gaming economies – the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain and Italy – the new study now incorporates data from an additional eleven nations: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Sweden and Switzerland. By extending the coverage to 16 countries, VGE aims to provide a more comprehensive picture of the market dynamics that shape the entire European region.
To compile the dataset, VGE engaged the market‑research firm Ipsos, which drew on three major sources: GameTrack, the German Software Distribution (GSD) data, and the freshly published EGDF‑VGE Video Games Industry Insight Report. The combined effort resulted in a survey of 39,371 respondents, offering a robust statistical foundation for the analysis. When the numbers are broken down by the original “EU5” bloc, total revenue actually slipped by 4 percent compared with the previous year, falling from €26.8 billion in 2024 to €25.7 billion in 2025. Germany remained the top‑earning country within this group, generating €6.5 billion, followed by the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Italy.
Employment figures paint a similarly detailed portrait of the industry’s health. Across the United Kingdom and the European Union, there were 123,000 individuals working for roughly 8,700 development studios in 2025. Women accounted for 24 percent of this workforce, a modest but notable representation in a traditionally male‑dominated sector.
The United Kingdom employed the largest share of staff – 28,520 workers – while Poland and Germany followed with 14,930 and 12,410 employees respectively. Platform preferences among European gamers continued to evolve. Mobile phones and tablets dominated usage, with 82 percent of players reporting these devices as their primary way to access games.
Consoles were the second‑most popular platform at 47 percent, and personal computers accounted for 34 percent of usage. In terms of revenue generation, mobile and tablet gaming contributed nearly half of the total €30 billion, reinforcing the importance of the handheld market.
The console segment saw Electronic Arts retain the top spot in 2025. EA’s flagship sports titles, EA Sports FC26 and its predecessor FC25, occupied the two leading positions on console sales charts, with the military‑themed Battlefield 6 taking third place. Battlefield 6 also led the PC market, where it was followed by Rockstar Games’ long‑standing hits Red Dead Redemption 2 and Grand Theft Auto 5, both of which continue to attract sizable audiences despite their age. On mobile devices, the most‑downloaded and highest‑earning game was Coin Master, a casual title that blends slot‑machine mechanics with social features.
It was trailed by Royal Match, a puzzle‑matching game, and the evergreen Candy Crush Saga, which remains a staple of the mobile gaming ecosystem. Player demographics revealed that 199 million Europeans engaged in video‑game play during 2025. Women comprised 46 percent of this audience, translating to 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 active gamers. Average weekly playtime across the region fell slightly to 8.39 hours per player, down from 9.4 hours in the previous year. Younger gamers, however, still devoted considerable time to their hobby: children aged 6‑11 logged an average of 11.35 hours per week, while teenagers aged 12‑17 averaged 14.30 hours. Parental involvement in gaming habits remained high.
Seventy‑five percent of European parents indicated they like to be part of the decision‑making process when it comes to setting limits on their children’s gaming. Moreover, 79 percent reported using one or more family‑setting tools – such as time‑limit features or content filters – to supervise or restrict gameplay.
Seventy‑four percent said they have explicit agreements, monitoring practices, or family‑setting configurations in place to manage online interactions and protect their children from inappropriate content. In the EU5 markets specifically, 72 percent of parents stated that their children did not make in‑game purchases.
Among the minority who did, a striking 93 percent of parents claimed they kept a close eye on those transactions, indicating a high level of vigilance when real‑money spending is involved. Notably, the average amount spent by children who were permitted to buy in‑game items dropped by 13 percent compared with 2024, suggesting either tighter parental controls or a shift in spending behavior among younger players.
Overall, the 2025 All About Games report paints a picture of a mature, digitally focused industry that continues to expand its geographic reach while navigating the challenges of consumer spending habits, platform competition, and parental oversight. The data underscores the importance of mobile gaming, the resilience of legacy titles, and the growing role of women both as players and as part of the workforce, all of which will shape strategic decisions for developers, publishers, and policymakers in the years ahead.