In the report All About Games – European Key Facts 2022 from Videogames Europe and the European Game Developer Federation (EGDF), we get a detailed insight into both consumer behaviour and professional activities in -you guessed it- Europe.
First of all, some numbers on European gamers. 126.5 million people play games in Europe. 46,7% are female, that’s about 59 million. The 45-64 year olds make up the largest age group with 31.3 million players. In fact 76% of all gamers are older than 18 years, averaging out in 32 years. Most people play on their mobile phone (68%), followed by console (58%) and PC (48%). Average playtime has returned to pre-covid levels, and is 8,8 hours a week. Games lag well behind other forms of entertainment though, on average Europeans spend 14 hours per week on social media and a whopping 24 hours on tv.
Largest workforce
Now, on the professional side, things are looking up as well. According to the report 110.000 people are working in the European games industry. That’s a 12% increase year on year. Of that workforce only 23,7% is female. Even though that’s better than -say- the IT sector (in which only 17% is female) and a slight growth from 22% the year before, it’s clear that there’s still some catching up to do. The UK has the largest game workforce, followed by France and Poland.
Gamers vs. Parents
The report also mentions the 20th year anniversary of the Pan-European Video Game Rating System, better known as PEGI. “PEGI ensures that games are sold and advertised responsibly and that companies have tools and safeguards in place to ensure that online game play environments are free from illegal and harmful content.” 38 countries use the rating system and more than 35.000 games are classified so far. The PEGI labels are clear for both gamers and parents. However, to no one’s surprise, parents think they are ‘slightly more useful and trustworthy’ than gamers do.