Survey of Market Trends for Mobile Games in Four Major European Countries (U.K., Germany, France, and Italy)

CyberAgent, Inc. (Minato-ku, Tokyo; Susumu Fujita, President; TSE First Section, Code 4751), in a joint project with Seed Planning Inc.  Digital InFact, (Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo; Yoshio Umeda, President), conducted a survey of market trends for mobile games*1 in four major European countries (U.K., Germany, France, and Italy).

Europe has recently produced several mobile game companies turning out global hit titles. The appearance and popularity of casual and strategy games that have become global hits has driven the spread of mobile gaming across genders and age groups.

In recent years, user demand for charges in games adopting in-app purchase*4 has grown rapidly, and has driven the market in Europe. The mobile game market in the four major European countries in 2015 is estimated at ¥344.3 billion, an increase of 119% year on year.

By business model, the market in Europe is centered on the freemium model, the same as the trend in the global market, which accounts for a greater proportion of the market each year. At the same time, games with high premium value, such as select intellectual property (IP)-based titles and sports games, have adopted the download model, gaining a certain level of support from users.

Sophisticated solutions to monetize mobile games with ad formats have also become available. The use of the advertising model in titles mainly from small and mid-sized operators is particularly notable, maintaining a certain level of demand.

Among the four major European countries, as of 2015 the country with the biggest market for mobile games was the U.K. (¥127.2 billion), followed by Germany (¥99.5 billion), France (¥79.3 billion), and Italy (¥38.2 billion).

In contrast with the East Asian region, where user game consumption trends and business practices vary by country, the market characteristics for user game consumption trends in Europe are relatively similar. A greater proportion of Europeans also use tablets compared to users in East Asia.

In the European market, full-fledged games such as consumer games and PC online games have deeply rooted demand, and are relatively segregated from the mobile games that account for more casual game titles.

The increase in use of mobile games on tablets provides a firm base for demand of casual games among light users, while market growth over the longer term can be expected by offering new titles with advanced gaming features to capture new demand from users of conventional consumer games and PC online games. By 2020, the mobile game market in the four major European countries is forecast to be ¥612.9 billion, around 1.8 times the 2015 level.

Notes
1.    In this survey, “mobile games” is defined as games downloaded on smartphones and tablets. This does not include games for feature phones.
2.    This survey was conducted based on interviews with persons in the game industry, together with public information, and data from CyberAgent and Seed Planning. 
3.    Exchange rate of ¥120/US$.
4.    In-app purchase: Business model in which basic use is free, with revenue gained from charges to certain users in the game.