E.U. topples U.S., becomes second largest gaming market

by David Hinkle { May 29th 2008 at 4:00PM }

Looks like we'll have to start focusing on your region more, Europeans, as it's come to our attention you folks love yourselves some video games. This news comes courtesy of Nielsen Games, who found out that the Europe Union spent over a billion more (in U.S. dollars) on video games in 2007.

Another interesting statistic comes from the average age of a gamer in the UK: 33 years old. On top of that, 42 percent of UK game players have children. This ties into another nice statistic, which shows 81 percent of parents across Europe admitting that they often enjoy games with their children.

It would seem the landscape is changing across Europe, for the better. Gaming is looking to be viewed in more and more of a favorable light. Now, if only we could get some of that over here in the United States. Because, here, if you play games, you must be a child.

Tags: business, europe, european-union, sales, salesfigures, uk

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Char6296 @ May 29th 2008 4:20PM

So, the UK is the most well known European country and our flag is at the back. Why!? Still, this shows that Europe is better than America at video games... which is ironic, because we get them later, and glitched, and English is left with American slang and spellings (apart from Hotel Dusk, despite being set in America.).

jgoreham @ May 29th 2008 4:34PM

That's a bit bold, to say that the UK is the 'best known' EU country. What's your quantifier?

I've found being an Euro gamer to be really educational, coming here from North America (a territory that gets it pretty good, gaming wise). It seems that region/territory is becoming less important with the rise of online shopping (in devices like the DS that are region free, anyway- I know I didn't have the energy to think about bringing my North American consoles with me to England. What if they blew up when I plugged them in? Which adapter would I need? Sod it, portables all the way!).

RossGough @ May 29th 2008 4:47PM

yeah that's a full on thing to say.. hah.
but i'm chuffed at the news, and hope it stays this way.
we could be getting the games sooner than elsewhere and other things in relation.
Recently, EU has been noticed to be quite fond of their games, and have a bit more focus on the area.
Also, i'm trying to start my career in games soon, which is awesome if it picks up even more money nowadays.

It all makes me happy when EU is noticed in the game scene, especially UK :)

Char6296 @ May 29th 2008 4:48PM

I think I phrased it wrong. Well, we were definitely the most global, having an empire that spanned the globe and all. We even ruled America! But they overthrew us and our English wooden houses and Queen's English and tea. (I hate that stereotype)

Nigeria @ May 29th 2008 5:14PM

Hey, kids. Char is showing us a great example of Little Englander syndrome. Can we have a round of applause, please!

Char6296 @ May 29th 2008 5:43PM

Sorry for being overly patriotic... and I'm not xenophobic. I suppose I am a bit ignorant to Europe, so... sorry, rest of Europe! Still, what is the most well known European country? France?

BlackDS @ May 29th 2008 8:34PM

I know the British are the most observed people in the world.

There are more video cameras watching the average Brit than anywhere else in the world.

A dubious distinction.

THEY are watching you Char 6296 ...

Peace.

Waffala @ May 29th 2008 11:59PM

When I think of Europe I think of Franc, Italy and Germany.. then Italy and Switzerland and other countries names start to flow through my head, but in my mind I see the French, Italian and German Flags.

Lord Bowser @ May 31st 2008 11:41AM

Leave Char alone!

Char6296 @ May 31st 2008 12:54PM

Thank you, Wise and Merciful Lord Bowser!

Mertruve @ Jun 1st 2008 5:18AM

If you look from the other side, your flag is on the front. Duh.

Char6296 @ Jun 1st 2008 7:26AM

Huh, never thought of it that way. Thanks.

Demotruk @ May 29th 2008 5:08PM

We recently became the worlds most powerful economy. It's probably due to a combination of this, and the fact that Europe loves non-games more than America(thus favouring the new Nintendo consoles).

Bebuzzu @ May 29th 2008 5:49PM

Maybe it is because patriot idiots get regularly shut down and beaten with a stick. Us Italians had an empire that makes your British thingy look like tinker toys. But I forgive you.

jgoreham @ May 29th 2008 6:07PM

@Char: Well, why not France? Or Italy, or Germany, or Switzerland, or whoever else is in the EU? Europe generally has given us a wide variety of things and our lives are better for it, including but certainly not limited to England. (hope you don't mind a bit of a ribbing, I'm not trying to be mean spirited or anything- I just think it's important for those of us in English speaking countries to remember that there's loads of other first world countries that are amazing places that have contributed to modern life too! We have a lot of privilidge living in the western countries we do and we all need to keep that in mind)

To keep this relevant to gaming, I'd just like to say that I don't like the European game cases for DS games (though the multi-lingual manuals are quite interesting- I thought we Canadians had it bad enough with English and French!). My shelf of games isn't neat anymore from the mish-mashing of different sized cases :(

Char6296 @ May 29th 2008 6:17PM

I can see why you're angry, so the ribbing is really understandable. Sorry for being... a Little Englander, to quote Nigeria. Then again, we are one of the ones who caused the Iraqi war, so we didn't do much helping there. The rest of Europe is a lot... cleaner in terms of war and such.

Also, I want to say that this may mean that we get stuff before America more often, so yay!

chispito @ May 29th 2008 6:26PM

I didn't read it. Is this compared to all of NA or just the US?

ZekeSulastin @ May 29th 2008 7:12PM

Not to be too much of a buzzkill, but in Europe, don't games cost something like twice what they cost in the US due to the craptastic method of price conversion (why, 50 USD = 50 Euros amirite?) ....

Ihar `Philips` Filipau @ May 31st 2008 4:32AM

+10

I think the "bubble" would end soon when US economy recovers.

[Disclaimer: I live in Germany]

Crazylink @ May 29th 2008 8:02PM

It makes sense that they spend more. Games cost a lot more over there.

BlackDS @ May 29th 2008 8:27PM

I'm not surprised.

AFAIK the dollar is worth 70% of what it was worth last January (against the Euro), and has depreciated about 50% against the Euro in the last 5 years.

We live in a world of the floating exchange rate, and the U.S. spending trillions on the war in Iraq has flooded the world economy with dollars. The more money your print, the less it's worth. So the dollar continues to fall, and gas prices (bought with weaker dollars) keeps going up in the U. S. (not to mention the record trade deficit).

Fortunately, DS game prices haven't gone up (yet).

Congratulations Europe. :)

Peace.

Gendreavus @ May 30th 2008 2:55AM

Woah, you mean that a continent of 39+ countries managed to make more money in video games than two countries? Knock me senseless. Who would have thunk it?

Char6296 @ May 30th 2008 6:27AM

However, those two countries happen to be more heavily populated.

Kurin @ Jun 3rd 2008 6:00AM

I think that's more than two

Also, the two countries itself are bigger than the 39+ countries, of which there is about 50.

Kimiko @ Jun 4th 2008 12:28PM

That's good to hear, that Europe is actually becoming a bigger gaming market than the USA. I wish game companies would pay attention to that and stop releasing games only in Japan and N-America or delay the European release.

For the time being though, I'll keep inflating the USA sales numbers. Not only are games slightly cheaper there (equal with shipping included), the current euro-dollar exchange rate means I can buy three games there for the price of two here.