Germany overtakes UK as top European games market

Chart-Track are reporting that in 2009, the UK has been pushed down to the second-biggest gaming market in Europe, after Germany’s revenue from games stayed constant.

Of course it also helps that Germany’s population is roughly 30% larger than the UK’s, and the difference in our economies is even larger still. It’s also suspected that the UK has suffered more in the global financial recession than other European countries.

This is in contrast to news last year that the UK had overtaken Japan to become the second-biggest games industry in the world.  But sales in Britain have fallen by 20% since last year. It was also the only country in Europe to suffer a significant decline in the past 12 months.

However, there has been growth elsewhere in Europe, with Portugal seeing the greatest increase at a 16 per cent rise in games sold. Sweden has experienced four per cent in growth, with a 2.4 per cent increase in The Netherlands.

Germany is of course hosting GamesCom in Cologne this week, which is being seen as Europe’s version of E3 or the Tokyo Game Show. Hopefully this news may be seen as a positive sign in Germany, and could even help prevent the proposed banning of violent video games in the country.