Most of the turnover of the Spanish video game sector comes from international markets

The White Paper on Spanish Video Game Development 2022 is presented at ICEX

75% of the sector's turnover comes from abroad, with North America (31%) in first position, followed by the European Union (28%).

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The Spanish video game sector billed 1.281 million euros in 2021, an increase of 16% compared to the previous year's figure, and it plans to exceed 2.200 million in 2025 and 75% of this turnover comes from foreign markets, according to figures published in the ninth edition of the White book of Spanish video game development 2022, published by the Spanish Association of Production and Development Companies of Video Games and Entertainment Software (DEV), and presented today at the headquarters of ICEX Spain Export and Investment.

 

The growth of the sector is not limited to the economic level, since the industry increasingly employs more people. In 2021, the sector had 8.833 professionals, an increase of 10% compared to the previous year, and expects to exceed 13.000 direct jobs in 2025. 24% of workers are women, two points above the average for the sector. European Union.

 

Participating in the presentation event were Hector Gomez, Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism; Victor Francos, Secretary General of Culture and Sports; Matthias Gonzalez, Secretary General of Telecommunications and Organization of Audiovisual Communication Services, and José Andrés Torres Mora, president of Acción Cultural Española, who were joined by Valeria Castro, president of DEV.

 

In his speech, the minister highlighted that “the video game sector promotes innovation and generates quality employment. From the Government we have demonstrated our commitment to an innovative, creative, young industry, with great potential and capable of involving so many entities. And, especially, to unite so many talents.” And he has assured: "We want to continue promoting the growth of Spanish companies and take advantage of their enormous potential, accompanying development and internationalization projects, and working to attract foreign investments."

 

Europe continues to be the main market for Spanish video games, followed by North America

 

Billing

 

75% of the sector's turnover comes from abroad, with North America (31%) in first position, followed by European Union (28%). The Spanish market accounts for 25% of sales, a lower figure than in previous years. There is still room for growth in regions such as Pacific Asia (8%), one of the largest on the planet, or in Latin America (6%), which is in full growth.

 

By autonomous communities, Catalonia once again leads the list, being the region that invoices 52% of the entire industry, with a slight growth over the 2020 figure. Madrid (27%) and Valencian Community and Andalusia (6% respectively) follow at a distance. The rest of the country contributes 9% of the total billed.

In terms of billing by business model of Spanish studios, digital distribution accounts for up to 67% if we count payment per download, freemium models with advertising and in-game purchases, subscriptions and DLC (extra downloadable content). payment, which represents an increase of three points compared to the previous year. Work for third parties remains practically the same (19%). Physical sales have stagnated at 3%.

 

Proof of the good health of the Spanish video game were the launches of titles such as Endling: Extinction is Forever, Temtem, The Night Witch or Red Matter 2. The first was awarded at the BAFTAs as best game “Beyond Entertainment” and nominated for the Video Game Awards in the category of games with the greatest impact. In Endling, developed by HeroBeat Studios and published by HandyGames, players play a mother fox who must take care of her litter, the last one on the planet. Its message for sustainability, as well as the impact among the public and critics, has motivated Endling to be the cover of this year's White Paper.

The book of video game potential

The White Paper on Spanish video game development is a complete document that illustrates all the potential available to this sector nationally and internationally. This eighth edition of the report has been prepared with the information provided by Spanish development studies, collected through an exhaustive survey carried out during 2022.