Nielsen research reveals US ranks third behind Asia and EU in consumer spending on software; 31 percent of Europeans 16-49 in primary regions actively game.
Wii Fit and a few other exceptions not withstanding, game makers operating on a global scale typically tend to favor the North American and Japanese markets over European audiences when it comes to getting their product on retail shelves. It may come as no small surprise, then, that the latest study by industry trackers Nielsen Games reveals that Europe is second only to Asia in terms of consumer spending on gaming software.
The report, which is available in summary through the Interactive Software Federation of Europe's Web site, indicates Europeans in the region's nine major markets spent €7.3 billion ($11.3 billion) on software in 2007, a 25 percent year-over-year increase. That's compared to Nielsen's estimates of €6.9 billion ($10.6 billion) in the US during the same period and €7.4 billion ($11.4 billion) in Asia in 2006, the most recent statistic available. (According to the NPD Group, US console and handheld sales hit $8.6 billion in the US, with another $911 million accrued through PC software sales.)
Further delineating that $11 billion haul, Nielsen said UK gamers led spending with €2.3 billion ($3.6 billion), with France following at €1.6 billion ($2.5 billion), Germany at €1.4 billion ($2.1 billion), Spain at €700 million ($1.1 billion), and Italy at €600 million ($0.9 billion). Nielsen also said that the arrival of the PlayStation 3 and Wii had boosted hardware sales to €5.7 billion ($8.8 billion) in Europe, up from €3 billion ($4.7 billion) in 2006 when Microsoft's Xbox 360 was the only current-gen console available.
Nielsen's research also produced a font of miscellaneous information concerning the European market. Polling respondents ages 16-49 in UK, Finland, and Spain, Nielsen found that 31 percent of the population considered themselves active gamers. With the average game player aged 35 in the US according to the Entertainment Software Association, Nielsen said UK gamers top out the European active-gamer range at age 33, with Spaniards clocking in at the youngest average age of 26.
Across Europe, 40 percent of people who play games do so for 6 to 14 hours per week. Of those who don't play games, 48 percent said it is merely because they do not have enough hours in the day. The study also found that 81 percent of parents who play games in Europe do so with their kids.
Tom Magrino has covered the games industry since 2006. He's been compared to Steve Martin by Ozzy Osbourne and Daniel Craig by Tim Schafer. His voice, heard largely on GameSpot's podcast, recalls that of Kermit the Frog. It ain't easy bein' Magreen.
What a ridiculous article it was written in a way to fool gamers who don't think too much Lol. First you compared Continents to a country, if you were to compare the Americas to Europe or Asia, The Americas would be the largest gaming market in the world. And USA is still the largest single gaming country in the world, way to dodge facts with sneaky writing techniques.
Darkevil I can promise you that FF13 rumor is just that, a rumor. If anything it will be released worldwide day 1, which is what I heard. That US claim seems like an excuse, ever heard of region locking? That and PAL vs NTSC? I doubt what you said, and this story doesn't show the units, with prices higher when converted to dollars they could buy half as much and the value will be higher. Stop trying to make the US seem like a tiny game market when we are the biggest.
Europe is the 2nd market for video games and you have to know that in the million of US games sold there are Europeans buyers who buy the US games because they release first ... There is also a rumor that say that square enix plans to release FFXIII in Europe before the US market so who said Europe is the last videogames market....
depends on the country nate, I think gaming is well above 50% pentration in Japan and South Korea, it's a sport almost in South Korea and at the rate it is growing with youth here it will get well above that soon here too. Most of the people who mock it were never gamers and didn't grow up around it. Give it a gen or two, it will be well above 50%. But I think it is now, how many movies are based on games?
Further proof that gaming is mainstream - ON A GLOBAL SCALE! I view gaming as a superior medium of entertainment. Hell, if it weren't for the History Channel my TV would just be a monitor for my game consoles. I own PS2, GameCube, DS and even a Sega Genisis. I still play PS1 and GBA games as well. But I also acknowledge that gaming probably won't reach past 50% penetration - penetration is the rate at which a form of entertainment, product, technology, etc... is embraced by the general public. For example: TV, movies and books are all at +97% penetration. The propietary issues, price, lack of BC and "image" of gamers will keep gaming from going beyond 50%. Gaming has been at 40% for roughly a decade now.
jasonbarbour that is how all games should be, released everywhere at once, nobody gets a game first or last, but at the same time. And why did they use the euro sign for the UK? They don't use the Euro but the pound. With the difference in prices and the value of the pound could that have effected these numbers?
" America will have MGS4 in a week and we ? in 2 or 3 months. the point is that even if Europe would be the biggest gaming market America would still be the first to receive the games -- thats just STANDARD" MGS4 is a simultaneous worldwide release .... so i dont see why your going off...
@nickkcin10 You actually get SSBB before Europe! Those Aussies down under. When will they ever do their research?
@Thasod That's probably one of the main reasons, but it's not all countries that localize their games. I'm from Denmark and along with the rest of Scandinavia and of course the UK all of our games are in English, so there's no reason why we couldn't just get a PAL version of the american game. I just did a wiki search and it said that 712.000.000 people live in Europe (and no wiki doesn't really show which countries it based that on) and there are about 300.000.000 people in the US. So no matter how you stack it up, the average American spends more money on games than a European. BUT! there are also quite a few poor countries in Europe and I don't really think that they care about if the orange box looks better on the PS3 or the 360... So it is actually pretty hard to conclude anything about the spending habits of Europeans vs. Americans
The provincialism of Americans never ceases to amaze me. Why is it so hard to believe that EU gamers spend more than Americans? The EU is the world's largest economy. The EU has a larger population than America. Why wouldn't Europeans spend more on games? Simply because we are treated as the bastard stepchild of the big three video game markets doesn't dampen European enthusiasm. With the spread of English across the continent and the end of the baleful regional lockout system, Europe's influence will only grow. And one can only hope that Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, and whoever else wants in on the great game, realise that soon. Oh, and living_wmd_888? As to the bet that "there's more money spent on games in California OR Texas than in any single European country"... I'll take that bet. I'll bet everything I own. I'll even give you fantastic odds. What do you say?
Yes Skyman, the USD will go back up and the US will get ahead again, but the US economy has a preeetty bad record, less than a century ago the US had an economic crash, and now (though it's not a crash) the US is doing terrible again, that's twice in a century the US has been down, I don't see why it wouldn't do it again after the USD has gone up again.
@HellaStoned What a dumb article. Europe = Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine, Finland, Denmark, Estonia, Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Malta, Montenegro, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Switzerland and more! Even Russia can (and probably is) technically grouped in with Europe! This article is true, but the facts are twisted and misleading. Check it out, I'll give you the same headline but put a different SPIN on it: "Gaming market in USA nearly bigger than all of Europe combined." What a dumb post. The article refers only to the 9 major Europeans markets (read country).
I think it's harder to release games in Europe because you all speak too many languages. Thus the delayed releases.
is this article being lame now? you Americans should atleast see one point why this article should be nothing of shocking or interested news cause the European market 2nd place but the import ?? dude you can better get Europe out of the game. We received the Wii,PS3 and XBox 360 time to time as LATE ! thats the same for a few games ; like SSBB,DBZ and/or Manhunt (which is band in u.k) America will have MGS4 in a week and we ? in 2 or 3 months. the point is that even if Europe would be the biggest gaming market America would still be the first to receive the games -- thats just STANDARD
[quote]nickkcin10 Some people... you euro's think your getting ripped off, we aussie's have ye to recive the new suer smash bros...... Grow up[/quote] So do we (the Netherlands). What's your point?
@MatthewNintendo Finally europe is noticed. I just hope that games makers sit up and take notice of this and stop treating us europeans like we don't matter. This is where I will give MS credit. Over the last few years, they've treated Europe equally when they release consoles and games.
Also europeans need to know Sony doesn't sell the 60 or 80 gig systems here anymore. We got the same 40 gig they do.
Some people... you euro's think your getting ripped off, we aussie's have ye to recive the new suer smash bros...... Grow up
i wonder how aus stacks up..... we may only have 20 million people but we still buy big in video gaming, i think they should of done this survey based on per capita, then we would see who spends the most.... and besides aussie players have to spend $120 per game, almost double americas standards, and were trading in for 90 us cents per dollar Ripped off!!
Like many have pointed out, they're comparing continents - which include groupings of several countries - against one large country? America still stacks up pretty strong, I'd say. I'd bet there's more money spent on games in California OR Texas than in any single European country.
Finally europe is noticed. I just hope that games makers sit up and take notice of this and stop treating us europeans like we don't matter.
What a joke USA still getting games 1st when can they start Releasing games in Europe 1st cause they would make more money faster. And for Rock Band its a joke as well £180 for a game & the Drums are c*ap they dont even work great when you hit them. Point is Europe & Asia 1st
Everybody forgetting that the United States isn't a continent eh? The US has 300+ million people, Europe has 700+ million people, and Asia has almost 3.9 billion people. How are you gonna expect a country with less then half the population of the continent of Europe, and one thirteenth the population of the continent of Asia, to have the biggest gaming budget? Especially considering how weak the dollar is here, and how much growth both Europe and Asia are undergoing financially as compared to the US. Not a fair argument, you guys from Europe who are bashing really need to cut the bull **** because it's such a stupid argument. And please, take into consideration there is only a $700,000 and $800,000 gap between the US and Europe and Asia respectively. That's such a small amount when you're looking at more then 10 billion dollars. Please, for it's population, the US is the densest gaming market by far. Though still, you guys do have the number one spot, and it's very unfortunate that you guys get shafted a lot when it comes to the price of gaming. Rock Band is a great example of how much of a problem it is. I think more people need to get more production factories going over there to remove the shipping costs and import taxes that something like Rock Band would cost.
Yeah, skyman_1981 That's why London is the most important financial city on the planet.
I think that people seemed to forget that who was the economic leader for how long? How many TOP companies fo the world are US Companies? People have to realize that with the EU things went better for them. The real test is how long will it last? How long has the most common and most coveted currency was the USD? Sure the US is in the slumps now but that doesn't mean it will ALWAYS be in the slumps. You seem to forget that the US controls a vast part of the WORLD's economy with the Federal Reserve Board and we have vast natural resources. The US isn't out by a long shot. One of the biggest reason's is that the Euro is worth about 1.50 USD. When the USD goes back up, we'll see who has the last laugh. You can't always be living off the fat. Life does not work out like that but let's just hope and pray that the people who we put in charge are doing everything they can and are looking long-term.
davrav the spanish spoken in america is different from the one spoken in spain. But despite popular thought not all games are translated into spanish here.
In today's world I don't think language issues can really be held accountable for why Europe has such late releases; translation is not that big of an obstacle and games in Europe generally only get translated into French, German, Italian and Spanish - all of which are fairly widespoken languages. If it were true then why do they manage to translate game for the U.S into Spanish so easily?
"Europe also didnt help itself using a different screen format for years, Asia and America both use NTSC, whereas Europe uses PAL." Well when we invented TV how where we spost to know the yanks would deside to use a completely different standard?. Most Pal region games contain English, French, Italian, German and Spanish, we have a selection screen at the start of the game to choose our language, altho some games only have a couple of other languages in them or just english and still get released in the EU. Oh and Russia isn't part of the EU, It amazes me how ignorant you Americans are what do they teach you in school? oviously nothing about the world outside your own borders. Translating the games into FIGS isn't exactly a costly excersize, FIGS (French, Italian, German, Spanish) takes about 20 people who do it at the same time that the QA testers are working and thus also act as another set of QA testers themselves. The amount it costs to have the other languages is not really a factor nor does it add to developement time. Most games are created for all languages at the same time with testers in the US/UK/Japan testing there respective builds during the developement process (unless of course a game was made for one region with no expectation of releasing it in other regions). Veriations in release dates are mainly down to when the peak selling seasions are for each region, what other games are out at that time and staggering releases to keep a steady income flow (and thus keep the shares boyant).
Thats pretty awesome for europe seening the US is two times bigger! Plus none of the big three (Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo) are based in Europe.
um put asia and Europe together but not the entire North america continent? US is a country not a continent if you put Canada and Mexico in the mix
Perhaps now we won't have to wait an ungodly amount of time for a game that's been translated and released 4 months before it gets to the UK. It seriously DOES NOT take a third of a year to simply reformat a game's localisation. Hopefully people will also stop using the US as a measure of what Europeans want. Just because something isn't mindblowingly successful over there, doesn't mean they should ignore Europe altogether.
The US gets games before Europe because it takes more effort to get games to Europe. There's language issues, different regulations and all kinds of other details that have to be handled before a game can be released in general in Europe. The EU has worked to overcome a lot of those problems but some just can't be fixed.
I live in the uk. And i know i would move to america tomorrow if i could. Gas is cheaper, food is cheaper (and loads of fast food!), Guns are aplenty (yeh i think thats a good thing). I also expect motoring to be cheaper as in the uk im currently looking at $5000 annual insurance on a 1.0 litre car (which could cost only $200), plus tax, m.o.t, fuel etc. joke
If this is the case then why are we getting things last? You would think that if it meant more money they would release games here first!
@ Yuck_Too. There's no doubt that economic indicators are delayed, but this last quarter was supposed to be the negative quarter before the turnaround, and it wasn't and the turnaround is here. Of last 16 major economic indicators that have come out the past couple of months, 62% of them have been at or above the forecasts. The ISM numbers are already showing the US has past the bottom. There has not been, nor will there be a recession. It was a soft landing, just like the economists predicted would happen last year before the media got their hands on the storey and started their panic mongering "end of days" recession talk.
As for the US...historically it takes 9-months for the feds to admit when they have been in a recession. To keep assuming everything is peachy because they drive the country further into debt with temporary stimulus packages until the term ends is simply ignoring the forest for the trees.
@ ZeshiO. I'm not in the US, and inflation and recession are two entirely different things. Gas prices are high here too, and Canada's economy is steaming along nicely. They have nothing to do with each other. Quite frankly I don't understand the elitist comment.
@ darkride66- I don't know about you sir, but I'm feeling the hit on our economy, and if you don't think we're in a recession because of specific factors, well, maybe you should be looking at food and gas prices and everything else around here and stop being so elitist.
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