Western Europe Game Localization Market

The gaming industry in Western Europe has had a steadily growing demand for games in the region. The Western Europe game localization market segment is always known as among the major markets around the world. More so than ever before, the increase of people using smartphones and the popularity of mobile gaming is further augmenting the demand for game translation and localization services in Europe.

The area also has a large number of broadband subscribers and smartphone users, which is influencing Western Europe game localization market demand. According to a study conducted by the telecommunications firm Ericsson, mobile subscribers in the Western Europe game localization market reached 390 million in the third quarter of 2019, and with the arrival of 5G, this figure is projected to exceed 490 million by 2025.

Moreover, there are a number of initiatives that are spearheaded by the government in the region where they are using different gaming solutions for educational purposes. A perfect example of this is the LUDUS project. Their goal is to successfully push for the transfer of best practices and knowledge through the use of a European-wide gaming network.

As with any part of the world, every country under Western Europe is very unique because of the variety of languages that they have in their respective countries in the region. It is popularly common that video games that are consumed in the Western Europe game localization market would always receive a localization. It is so popular that translations made for the region have even received its acronym within several different industries – EFIGS or FIGS – which refers to the individual languages that are commonly used in the region; English, French, Italian, German and Spanish.

Within the Esport market share alone, Europe stands as one of the top consumers in this gaming space covering at least 40% of the Esport market share in comparison to the world. The top-ranking countries within Europe are being led by Sweden which is part of Western Europe are at 14.3%. Followed by Russia which is part of Eastern Europe and currently stands at 11.6%. Back again to Western Europe for the third to fifth spots, has a combined market share of 18%. When broken down, the countries leading the rest of the top spots within the Esport market in Western Europe is France, the UK and Spain which have a standing market share of 7.1%, 5.6% and 5.5% respectively in the Western European video game industry.

Western Europe game localization market is one of the most diverse regions in the world. Thus looking into each of the individual markets will help us understand how they rank in the Western European video game industry.

• French has continuously become one of the go-to languages for video game localization in Western Europe.
• French language voiceover is commonly added in multiple games.
• 16.9% of the region’s market share comes from France.
• Following the UK and Germany, France is the 3rd leading gaming country in Western Europe.
• 65% of the population or 44 million+ are gamers where the majority are on mobile and pc platforms.
• Reported software sales alone have reached $3.8 billion.
• At $30 ARPU, The country has the second-highest (ARPU) average revenue per user on mobile games.
• 30 million+ are mobile gamers while 37 million+ are pc gamers and 13 million+ are console gamers.
• As the third-largest Esport Video game market in Western Europe, France is quite popular for competitive gaming.
• The most popular game genres in the country are Sports and Trivia.

• German has continuously become one of the go-to languages for video game localization in Western Europe.
• German language voiceover is commonly added in multiple games.
• 20.2% of the region’s market share comes from Germany.
• Following the UK, Germany is the 2nd leading gaming country in Western Europe.
• 67% of the population or 65 million+ are play games regularly.
• Reported console game software sales alone have reached $3.6 billion.
• At $26 ARPU, The country has the fourth-highest (ARPU) average revenue per user on mobile games.
• 56 million+ are mobile gamers while 47 million+ are pc gamers and 20 million+ are console gamers.
• Germany has the single largest population in Western Europe.
• The most popular game genres in the country are Simulation and Strategy.

• Italian has continuously become one of the go-to languages for video game localization in Western Europe.
• 9.3% of the region’s market share comes from Italy.
• Following the UK, Germany and France, Italy has the 4th biggest game software sales market in Western Europe.
• 63% of the population or 38 million+ are gamers where the majority are on mobile and pc platforms.
• Reported software sales alone have reached $1.6 billion.
• At $25 ARPU, The country has the fifth-highest (ARPU) average revenue per user on mobile games.
• 26 million+ are mobile gamers while 32 million+ are pc gamers and 11 million+ are console gamers.
• The most popular game genres in the country are Action and Word-based games.