Until recently, the PC was still the number one gaming platform in Germany. But now the smartphone has narrowly surpassed it. Germany loves to play on mobile.
The new top gaming platform: According to a study and press release from “game – Verband der Deutschen Games Branche”, the number of users on smartphones as a gaming platform has massively increased in just one year. A total of around 18.2 million users are said to regularly reach for their smartphones when they want to play a game. This marks an increase of 900,000 players and a growth of 5 percent compared to the previous year.
PC no longer in the top position
What about the PC? The PC was until now the primary gaming platform in the Federal Republic. However, smartphones now have well over a million more players. The PC registered only 17.3 million players in the data collection.
Consoles are doing well: Another winner in the survey were the consoles. PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch are used by 16 million players. Thus, they were able to reach 200,000 more users (1 percent) than in 2017.
Tablets unchanged: However, the number of players on tablets has not changed significantly. They are still used by 11.5 million players, clearly placing them at the bottom.
One in two Germans is a gamer, 47% are women
A total of 34.3 million people play in Germany. Of these, 47 percent are women and 53 percent are men. The average age of gamers in Germany rose to over 36 years in 2018.
Apps reach new players
People who have never played: However, the numbers do not necessarily imply that the PC is no longer of interest. Rather, many new gamers have come in due to the now extremely powerful smartphones, who had nothing to do with consoles or PCs in terms of gaming.
“Games are becoming increasingly popular. The smartphone particularly reaches many people who previously had little or nothing to do with gaming, thanks to its wide distribution and low entry barriers,” says Felix Falk, managing director of “game”. “The growing variety of gaming platforms with millions of audiences is also important for indie developers: with small budgets and great creativity, they are captivating more and more people with their bold and surprising game ideas.”
German games market breaks 3 billion euro barrier
The market is booming: Overall, the German market for games and related hardware grew by 15 percent to over 3.3 billion euros in 2017. This is the first time that the 3 billion euro barrier has been crossed.
Mobile apps clearly leading: As expected, one of the largest growth drivers remains gaming for smartphones and tablets: in 2017, revenues from gaming apps in Germany grew to 497 million euros.
App revenue nearly doubled: This is an increase of 21 percent compared to 2016 (409 million euros). Thus, revenue from gaming apps in 2017 grew significantly stronger than the entire German gaming market and has more than doubled since 2014 (241 million euros).
Where do the data come from? The data used are based on surveys from the GfK Consumer Panels, GfK Entertainment, and GfK POS Measurement.
