Slowed down last year due to supply difficulties in the console segment, the French video game market has already rebounded in 2023, partly driven by the wizard Harry Potter.
The video game market in France experienced a contrasting year in 2022, but overall on the decline. Its turnover fell by 1.6% to 5.5 billion euros, after two record years (+12% in 2020, +1.1% in 2021) to the credit of a pandemic for the saving blow. But there’s nothing to panic about either. Finally, the video game market signs its 3e best performance in history, and it was disrupted last year by supply difficulties that impacted the console ecosystem. 2023 could put the market back in the green.
Harder to find, consoles remain the biggest part of the French market’s income
Even if it is down 6.6% (for the reasons we explained, and this dissonance between supply and demand), the console segment is still the one that generates the largest share of the turnover of the video games in France (46%), with 2.56 billion euros in 2022.
Behind, we find the PC gaming ecosystem (games, components, accessories) which weighs for 28% of market share and which reached an absolute record last year, with 1.54 billion euros (an increase of 5 .8% over one year).
The mobile game segment is not far behind and is stabilizing compared to 2021 around 1.41 billion euros. It thus weighs for 26% of the French gaming market.
” Despite the economic difficulties of 2022 linked to the inflationary context and supply difficulties […]the enthusiasm of the French for video games is reflected in strong demand and very good performance in software sales, and in particular for PC games and the many new console releases in 2022. It is a long-lasting dynamic that opens extremely positive perspectives for the years to come “commented the president of the Union of Leisure Software Publishers (SELL).
Headlines expected for 2023 that will (once again) boost the market
Software secured its market share in 2022 (+6%), thanks more to PC Gaming, while the console ecosystem fell sharply, affected by the shortage of components which caused console hardware to plunge by 19% last year. last year, after an exceptional 2021.
The year 2023 promises to be rather bright for the French video game market, as evidenced by the record launch of Hogwarts Legacy: Poulard’s Legacythe game dedicated to the Harry Potter universe which has sold more than 12 million copies in its first two weeks of sale, without yet being released on all media (notably not on Switch and Xbox One at that time).
The sequel promises to be rather interesting, with the release of some expected behemoths like Diablo IV, The Legend of Zelda, Resident Evil 4 Remake, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Starfieldor Final Fantasy XVI.
Source : SELL
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