A new report commissioned by Warsaw’s Economic Development Department sees Poland's capital as the leading games development hub in Europe, at least in terms of employment figures. It calls for greater self-confidence on the part of Warsaw as a gaming location.
The new report on the gaming industry in Warsaw was published by the Vitruvio Foundation, supported by Indie Games Poland Foundation, and commissioned by the Economic Development Department Investor Cooperation Division of the City of Warsaw. His aim, of course, is to present Poland's capital as an attractive location for international studios. Nevertheless, the data published in the report on the games industry in Warsaw speaks for itself. In addition, it is undisputed that Warsaw is a hotspot for game development, with internationally successful Polish studios such as CD Projekt Red, People Can Fly, Flywing Wild Hog, and 11 bit studios, as well as subsidiaries of international studios such as Larian and Elsewhere Entertainment.
It was all the more surprising when Warsaw did not appear in the ranking of European gaming hubs published in August 2025 by the two European gaming umbrella organizations, Video Games Europe and the European Games Developer Federation. The reason was simply that data from three countries was missing from the list, namely Romania, France, and Poland. While Bucharest's ranking among the top gaming hubs may be questionable, it was clear at the time that two top locations for European game developers, Paris and Warsaw, were missing.
The report from Warsaw refers to the same data in its comparison, even though not all gaming hubs that were included in the previous ranking were taken into account. Since Paris is also missing from the new report, France's capital is probably the only hub that could challenge Warsaw for the top spot in the ranking.
According to the report, Warsaw has 6,343 developers. That is almost 400 more than London and almost 500 more than Stockholm. One reason for this is the high concentration of the Polish games industry in the capital. According to the report, 44% of all jobs in Polish game development are located in Warsaw. By comparison, London accounts for only around 23% of all development jobs in England, and Berlin for only around 20% of all game development jobs in Germany.
An interesting comparison from the report is the comparison of Warsaw with the games industry of entire countries. According to the report, if Warsaw were a country, it would rank roughly on a par with Romania, behind Sweden and ahead of the Netherlands.
In terms of structure, there are parallels with other locations. The majority of employees work for a small number of companies. Specifically, there are 12 companies in the games industry in Warsaw that employ 100 people or more. This means that 4% of companies account for 63% of the workforce in the location. Only 10% of studios have more than 30 employees. The majority of companies in Warsaw are also indies and small studios.
Another interesting point in the report is the comparison with the first studio on Warsaw from the 2019/2020 period. The report at that time defined a sentence as the central communication strategy, namely: "Nearly 83% of companies headquartered in the capital believe that Warsaw has the potential to become a game industry hub in Central and Eastern Europe."
Here, the new report suggests focusing on the whole of Europe instead of just Central and Eastern Europe, as was previously the case. It also recommends that Warsaw should act with greater confidence and build on the growth and successful development of recent years. As a result, the report deletes large parts of the previous sentence and adds a “–” and the word “leading.” The result is:
Warsaw - leading game industry hub in Europe.
With this new self-image and bolstered by the figures presented, Warsaw intends to promote itself as a location for the games industry on the international stage in the future. Or, as Rafał Trzasjowski, Mayor of Warsaw, writes in his foreword to the report: “The development of the video game industry aligns closely with the objectives of the #Warszawa2030 Strategy, which aims to build an economy grounded in knowledge, innovation, and a high quality of life. This sector demonstrates that creativity, collaboration, and openness form a lasting competitive advantage for the city. [...] I am pleased to share this report with you, confident that Warsaw’s greatest strength lies in its people - full of passion, expertise, and courage. I invite you to explore its findings.”
