German market grew by 6% to around 9.97 billion euros in 2023 | Consoles +44% YoY; Gaming PCs -17% YoY

[Puff]

"The German games market once again grew significantly overall in 2023: sales of games, games hardware and gaming online services rose by 6 per cent to around 9.97 billion euros. This is a significant increase after sales had only risen by 1 per cent in the previous year. The biggest growth drivers include games consoles and their accessories as well as in-game and in-app purchases. Despite the large number of top-class titles, which increased sales of games purchases by 4 per cent, the number of games sold fell by 8 per cent at the same time. There were also significant declines in some cases for gaming PCs and laptops. The data on the German games market is based on surveys conducted by the consumer panel services GfK and data.ai."

German games market in 2023: strong development in turbulent times

Sales revenues from games, games hardware and fees for online gaming services rise by 6 per cent to 9.97 billion euros Game consoles as well as in-game and in-app purchases are among the biggest growth drivers Gaming PCs and related accessories see a clear drop in sales revenue Berlin, 9 April...

www.game.de

 

[J_Paganel]

And this is despite the fact that, as far as I know, handheld PCs are selling well in Germany, especially SteamDeck.

Before I played Gothic 1 on my SD, I watched tests on YouTube, and all the videos available at the time were from Germans.

Probably, some players simply transferred their library from desktop PCs to handhelds, or started using them as an additional device.

 

[Gediminas]

Consoles

 

[Sircaw]

Consoles

Give it a while; people will be coming in with it, the end as we know it.

 

[Box]

Sony needs to start a European Hero project, Europe has a lot of talented devs that only make PC games. It would be good to get more of them over to PlayStation

 

[Evilnemesis8]

That console growth is all PlayStation 5 baby!
Switch is continuing its decline and so is Xbox Series, but 2023 was the year shortages stopped being an issue in Europe for PS5.
In 2024, PlayStation will be seeing a YoY decline and joining the other consoles.

 

[shrike0fth0rns]

Sony needs to start a European Hero project, Europe has a lot of talented devs that only make PC games. It would be good to get more of them over to PlayStatioPS already has Euopean studios.

PS already has European studios. Mm in the U.K, housemarque in Finland, guerilla in the Netherlands, nixxies Netherlands, xdev in the u.k, when they eventually pick up arrowhead they will have one in Sweden, ballistic moon is 2nd party in the u.k. + many many more. Sony alrdy spends 100s millions on European games development they don't need a special funding intitive. That sought of thing is for areas that have a smaller investment pool but a talent pool that is difficult to get funding for games that can be distributed globally

 

[FatKaz]

In 2024, PlayStation will be seeing a YoY decline and joining the other consoles.

If Sony can get a permanent price cut it won't be that bad.

So far temp price cuts in the UK and Europe has done a great job in keeping those yoy declines small.

 

[Yurinka]

Additional info shared today on another page of the website:

In 2024, PlayStation will be seeing a YoY decline and joining the other consoles.

Yes, I think it's going to be the case.

In theory, for what Totoki said, last year was the peak year of PS5 hardware sales, which normally is it's year 3, year 4 or year 5. For all consoles this means that starting from this point of their sales life cycle curve, every year console sales would decrease until it gets discontinued several years later.

I assume that part of that peak was this time higher than in normal conditions because there sales delayed due to unsatisfied demand because of the shortages of the past. And I assume Totoki will have considered all that demand from the past has been finally satisfied after seeing they didn't achieve their too optimistic Q3 hardware sales estimates (but still performing great).

 

[Cool hand luke]

That's the last of the big three markets in Europe, alongside France and the UK where PC is either shrinking or represents a minuscule part of the pie. Nothing else is of consequence, so we can safely rule out some hidden pocket of PC power.

These are great stats because they show an almost terminal decline in PC hardware across multiple years (beginning in at least 2021), and that PC gamers largely want to buy MTX rather than full games - this suggests F2P garbage or established MP games are the ticket to generating revenue, which is no place for traditional AAA gaming to expand into.

 

[Box]

PS already has European studios. Mm in the U.K, housemarque in Finland, guerilla in the Netherlands, nixxies Netherlands, xdev in the u.k, when they eventually pick up arrowhead they will have one in Sweden, ballistic moon is 2nd party in the u.k. + many many more. Sony alrdy spends 100s millions on European games development they don't need a special funding intitive. That sought of thing is for areas that have a smaller investment pool but a talent pool that is difficult to get funding for games that can be distributed globally

PC has a lot of studios that only make games from them. Tarkov is a popular PC exclusive.

Studios like Paradox working with playstation would be great too

 

[Bryank75]

Time for Sony to kick into overdrive, the more consoles they sell, the more software sales they will have this gen.

Get those discounts in and cut costs in other parts of the organization if needed to, to facilitate it.

Console sales are the most important thing to their business. BY FAR.

 

[Nhomnhom]

Time for Sony to kick into overdrive, the more consoles they sell, the more software sales they will have this gen.

Get those discounts in and cut costs in other parts of the organization if needed to, to facilitate it.

Console sales are the most important thing to their business. BY FAR.

Time for Sony to announce even more ports to PC and go even further in that direction.

 

[Bryank75]

Time for Sony to announce even more ports to PC and go even further in that direction.

Don't make me sad!

 

[FatKaz]

That's the last of the big three markets in Europe, alongside France and the UK where PC is either shrinking or represents a minuscule part of the pie. Nothing else is of consequence, so we can safely rule out some hidden pocket of PC power.

These are great stats because they show an almost terminal decline in PC hardware across multiple years (beginning in at least 2021), and that PC gamers largely want to buy MTX rather than full games - this suggests F2P garbage or established MP games are the ticket to generating revenue, which is no place for traditional AAA gaming to expand into.

They also revised their definition of gaming pc and laptops.

I wonder what their old definition was, cause it may have overblown pc numbers.

 

[xollowsob]

These are great stats because they show an almost terminal decline in PC hardware across multiple years (beginning in at least 2021), and that PC gamers largely want to buy MTX rather than full games - this suggests F2P garbage or established MP games are the ticket to generating revenue, which is no place for traditional AAA gaming to expand into.

These charts say three things:

PC hardware down
Console hardware up
Online revenue stagnant

If PC generates the lion share of MTX, as you theorise, then why hasn't online revenue dropped in line with falling PC hardware purchases?

If consoles are making up for the drop, then that suggests new console owners are buying into hardware and online services at a higher rate than before.
And if that means consoles are not the place for AAA gaming to expand in to, is that the reason Sony and Microsoft are still chasing the PC crowd?

There is an alternative explanation; console hardware numbers are being fudged.

 

[FatKaz]

There is an alternative explanation; console hardware numbers are being fudged.

Considering their revision of pc hardware, it was actually pc hardware being fudged. Which is an easy mistake to make that wouldn't happen with consoles.

 

[xollowsob]

Considering their revision of pc hardware, it was actually pc hardware being fudged. Which is an easy mistake to make that wouldn't happen with consoles.

Microsoft were caught fudging their sales numbers. I don't doubt Sony are too. No idea what the gif was for?

Numbers across the board, from hardware to software sales, from player engagement to MAU are fudged. Look at the Circana sales thread, no adjusting for inflation or spend per person. Because real numbers aren't rosy.

 

[FatKaz]

Microsoft were caught fudging their sales numbers. I don't doubt Sony are too. No idea what the gif was for?

Sony aren't fudging their hardware numbers that's you making that up, hence the gif.

 

[Cool hand luke]

Sony aren't fudging their hardware numbers that's you making that up, hence the gif.

Lmao I have that dude blocked. He genuinely has no clue what he's talking about and to hear he's resorted to "the numbers are fake" when faced with the dire state of PC is no surprise and validates my decision. I suggest everyone does the same and leaves him to whimper in the dark.