German games spending dips 6% in H1 2024 to €4.3bn
Trade association Game says decline is the first after years of growth, but online gaming services revenue is on the rise
German consumers spent €4.28 billion in the first six months of 2024, a dip of 6% compared to the same period last year.
The news comes from a report by German trade association Game, based on data from GfK and the Sensor Tower-owned Data.ai. It marks the market's first decline after several years of growth.
The sharpest drop in revenue was from hardware sales, which were down 18% year-on-year to €1.2 billion. This is due to slowing sales of PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series consoles, as well as Switch entering the eighth year of its lifecycle.
Games revenue, including full game and in-app purchases, only dropped by 4% to €2.6 billion, which is a decent result when you compare the number of major releases in H1 2023 to the line-up so far in 2024.
Gaming online services – which includes subscriptions to services such as PlayStation Plus and Xbox Game Pass – was the only category to increase year-on-year, up 25% to €516 million.
In Game's report, the association's managing director Felix Falk claimed the German market "won't remain in decline for long," pointing to the number of high-profile games slated for release towards the end of the year.
