New market data shows that the German games market is growing, with total consumer spend rising to €4.4 billion last year.
That's a 9% increase on the €4 billion spent in 2017, according to figures from research firm GfK and the German Games Industry Association (also known as Game).
Most of the money has been spent on mobile games and in-app purchases for them, totalling at €1.5 million, while a further €1.27 million was spent on console games, as well as in-game purchases, subscriptions and online services for console platforms.
In fact, Game reports that online service fees were the largest driver of growth when it comes to consumer spend, with sales almost doubling to €353 million since 2017. Spend on in-game purchases (including on mobile) rose by 28% to €1.9 billion.
PC has historically been the most popular platform in the country, with 17.4 million active players in 2016 beating the 17.3 million on mobile, 15.8 million on console and 11.5 million on tablet.
However, this changed in 2017 when PC players dipped to 17.3 million while smartphone rose to 18.2 million. And in 2018, the PC took a further hit -- dropping by 3.9 million to 13.4 million. Smartphone, meanwhile, has risen to 18.6 million, firmly establishing itself as the nation's most popular games platform.
More at the link: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/artic...-consumers-spent-4-4bn-on-video-games-in-2018