Video games: The most popular platform in the games scene

Xbox Series X|S, Playstation 5, Steamdeck, Nintendo Switch, powerful gaming PCs - they've all been tacked on by a platform that's even more successful. As can be seen from surveys by the GfK Consumer Panel and Data AI, for most gamers it is not size, speed or graphics power that matters, but availability – in terms of time and place.

Smartphones are therefore at the top of the most used gaming platforms in Germany. The triumph has long been apparent - the number of mobile gamers has been rising steadily, as confirmed by the latest data collection: the number of smartphone gamers has grown by a further 900.000. PC and consoles are said to be dead again?

Games: Smartphones most popular, then consoles

In the end, it's not quite that simple. Yes, with 23,5 million gamers, smartphones are the most popular of all gaming platforms, but this is apparently partly due to their enormous distribution. It can't be about the pure game quality, tablets - on which the mobile titles also run - are in last place, despite the recorded increase of around 800.000 gamers. The Game – Association of the German Games Industry provided information on the results based on data from the market research companies GfK and Data AI.

All platforms gained popularity – consoles such as smartphones and tablets. Only the PC shows a different picture. There the number drops again to around 14,3 game ends. Game consoles, which were able to defend their second place from the previous year, are also on the rise: "17,8 million and thus 800.000 more people than in 2020 played on consoles," according to the Federal Association of the German Games Industry. However, the figures are reflected in the sales – they increased by 22 percent in the German mobile games sector last year alone.

Gambling no longer just means awesome graphics. What is important is quick availability and apparently also local independence. Game Managing Director Felix Falk sums it up: “Around half of the gamers in Germany play on their smartphones every day or almost every day. The technical accessibility, the large selection of games and the wide range of free, so-called free-to-play titles make mobile gaming more and more popular in everyday life".

And: Because almost everyone now owns a smartphone, the world of games often opens up for many incidentally, says Falk. Market coverage with smart end devices is therefore a scaling factor with growth potential for publishers and developers.

Nevertheless: "Demand for consoles is also unbroken," says Falk. The unbroken demand also shows how popular they are. Often it cannot be used at all. The best examples of this are the power consoles Xbox Series X and the Playstation 5 – you could keep daily logs of their stocks. At times it also hit the Nintendo Switch. The popularity in combination with the lack of chips creates a shortage.

The popularity of gaming platforms and games in general will again have a positive effect on the games market in Germany. According to the summary of the federal association, a total of around 2021 billion euros was turned over in 9,8 with games, games hardware and fees for online services. This is an increase of 17 percent compared to the previous year. App purchases and in-game monetization are of great importance: thanks to these two factors, among other things, sales of computer and video games alone grew by 19 percent to around 5,4 billion euros. In terms of gaming hardware, it was above all game consoles and PC accessories that accounted for the lion's share of the 3,6 billion euro market.

Last updated on 26.05.2023/XNUMX/XNUMX / Affiliate Links / Images from the Amazon Product Advertising API. * = Affiliate links. Images from Amazon PA API