AMSTERDAM, December 6, 2012 – This year will see a 3% increase in consumer spending on games in Western Europe compared to 2011. Today, games market research firm Newzoo released a series of reports and infographics on seven European countries: UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands and Belgium, who represent approximately three quarters of the $20bn European games market. However, growth of the total European region is higher than 3%, boosted by markets such as Russia and Poland. Over the coming years, growth in Western Europe as well as the US is expected to accelerate based on the fact that significantly more gamers have started to spend money: +17% and +36% respectively. When the average spending of these gamers rises next year, the Western markets will return to healthy growth figures, but the detailed dynamics behind the growth differ significantly per country.

Consumers and their Screens

In brief, digital distributed content, online, smartphone and tablet games make up for the decline of boxed retail sales. Since the uptake of tablets and smartphones as gaming devices, consumers now have four typical screens to access their entertainment. Consumers are spreading their budget across these screens putting pressure on individual game revenues and making it a necessity for game companies to offer games across all screens. The PC still grosses most time and money, but already 22% of American and 21% of European gamers are using all four screens. The summary reports and infographics on the US and seven EU countries can be found on the Newzoo website:

http://www.newzoo.com/category/trend-reports/

Comparing Countries

The dynamics of each individual European market are very different and relate to cultural and social differences. Several key findings from the research:

·         The share of paying gamers has risen to 59% in Western Europe, 55% in the US.

·         Social network gaming market is down 7% in the US. Highest growth in Europe is in Germany.

·         Germany also boasts highest growth in money spent on online “casual” game portals.

·         Spain is the fastest growing MMO market in Western Europe.

·         The UK dominates Europe in mobile game spending, in absolute figures and in growth.

·         Console game spending is flat in most countries but Spain and Italy show double digit growth.

·         PC Boxed sales is down in every country, most noticeably in Italy, Spain, France and Germany.

·         PC Download games spending is down in most countries except Germany and Italy.

Research & Methodology

The research and analysis performed by Newzoo is based on a combination of consumer, transactional and financial data from primary research as well as strategic partners. The scope of the research is set up to include every single dollar spent on games, including all digital and mobile spending as well as online skill/social casino gaming, pre-owned, consumer-to-consumer trading, import and DLC. The consumer research effort involved a total of 33,000 respondents across key Western and Emerging markets. Newzoo clients cross-analyze and compare consumer insights across 200 topics in each individual country. The games market is now truly global. Newzoo is dedicated to provide its clients the total picture across all business models, screens and regions. Based on an extensive financial analysis Newzoo will publish a comprehensive overview  of the global games market soon.

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Newzoo ( www.newzoo.com), founded in 2007, is the international research and analysis firm focused purely on the global games market. It provides its clients with consumer, transactional and financial data to keep track of the total picture and put changes in the market into perspective. Newzoo’s clients include Wizards of the Coast, Plantronics, Incomm, SEGA, Konami, Blizzard, GlobalCollect, EA, GameHouse, Microsoft and SpilGames. www.newzoo.com.