The French gaming industry is booming, generating over €5.6 billion in 2021. This is a 1.6% increase compared to 2020, which already was a record year for the French market.
As reported by French games industry body SELL in its annual report, 2021 was a great year for gaming in France. Over the last two years, the market grew by 13.5%.
The console ecosystem, including all hardware, software, and accessories, makes up 49% of this market. Console gaming generated over €2.7 billion, the second-best performance of this sector since 2008 and the era of the PlayStation 2.
PC gaming represents 26% of the total value of the French video game market. It generated €1.5 billion, a 5% increase since 2020.
Mobile gaming represents 25% of the total value of the video game market. This sector decreased by 1% compared to 2020, its best year to date.
“The French have never played so much. They are 73% to play occasionally and 58% regularly,” says SELL President Julie Chalmette.
Despite this overall growth, software sales declined 11% compared to 2020 to €1.9 billion. Across PC and console, 24 million games were sold in 2021. Among those games, 82% of sales were digital.
The release of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S boosted the revenue of the gaming market, which already had a record year with the pandemic and its lockdowns. The hardware sales grew by over 22% compared to 2020.
The French video game market is still growing, and this trend doesn’t seem ready to end. The supply difficulties in 2021 did not allow consoles manufacturers to meet the strong demand. Therefore, console hardware benefits from a large reservoir of growth that should continue in 2022.
Here are the top ten best selling games in France in 2021:
