Editorial
Welcome to the first all-English GamesMarkt, published as a special edition for gamescom. As I promised you, GamesMarkt will continue to be published as a print magazine for special occasions and topics.
And what exactly that will look like, you're holding in your hands right now. The occasion is clear: gamescom. And it is also one of the three main themes we have prepared for you in this issue. Join us on a journey through 15 years of gamescom history, the roots of which actually go back much further. We have a look at the key figures from the show, which clearly show how gamescom has grown year-on-year and become more important to the international games industry. You can also look forward to an informative interview with Stefan Heikhaus from game and Tim Endres from Koelnmesse.
The second big topic in this issue is the European games market. We have analysed the comprehensive market study of the two umbrella organisations EGDF and VGA. The study summarises the associations from 20 (!) European countries and provides an incomparable insight into the very diverse European games market. We also look at the latest developments in the five key European markets and summarise a survey of European games professionals. We also have a look at the organisations at EU level that often go unnoticed in day-to-day business. And the third part of the magazine is all about games. Not only do we have a look at the extraordinary gaming year 2024, but we also list the upcoming releases announced so far and present selected highlights.
I hope you enjoy the mix of topics, background articles and interviews we have put together. Don‘t forget that you can find all this and much more plus content for our subscribers on our website. And if you‘re reading GamesMarkt for the first time thanks to gamescom: Of course we provide the latest news from the German, Swiss and Austrian games industry, online as free-to-read, as well as the free Daily Update newsletter. I wish you a successful gamescom and enjoy reading!
Stephan Steininger
Content
03 EDITORIAL
06 BIG PICTURE
08 PEOPLE
Heads and headlines that have caused a stir in the games industry in the recent weeks.
09 ADVERTORIAL: YOURE FAMILY
The Youre Family ecosystem aims to connect gaming, content creation and digital property.
11 ADVERTORIAL: XSOLLA
Why devcom and gamescom are so important to Xsolla in Europe and worldwide.
GAMESCOM
14 HISTORY IN NUMBERS
2024 is the 15th year of gamescom. How did we get here? Our retrospective in numbers shows the success story of the convention.
20 INTERVIEW
Tim Endres of Koelnmesse and Stefan Heikhaus of game share their vision for the future of gamescom, a green fair and more.
EUROPE
26 KEY MARKETS
The Big Five countries that are the strongest markets for games in Europe and all their data for 2023.
34 GAMING ON THE EU LEVEL
The EU is more than the sum of its members. What happens on EU level regarding games? From associations to funding.
38 EUROPEAN REPORT
EGDF and VGE have released a detailled report about the European games industry. We have deepened and visualised the data.
46 WORKER SURVEY
The months-long survey by Values Value and InGame Job shows what ails European game workers. The numbers are concerning.
PRODUCTS
52 UPCOMING GAME HIGHLIGHTS
56 STAR WARS OUTLAWS
58 ASSASSIN‘S CREED SHADOWS
60 KINGDOM COME: DELIVERANCE 2
62 MONSTER HUNTER WILDS
64 JUST DANCE 2025 & JUST DANCE VR
66 RELEASES ON PC
68 RELEASES ON PLAYSTATION
70 RELEASES ON SWITCH
72 RELEASES ON XBOX
74 IMPRINT
74 EVENTS
Download Issue 464
Subscribers also have access to old print editions of GamesMarkt in PDF format via our magazine archive. Please note that editions published before our language switch in March 2024 are in German.
