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The rise of the gaming industry in France
The gaming industry is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world today. According to various industry research firms like Newzoo and WSJ/Activate, this industry grows around 10% per year which makes this industry only at the beginning of the new future of gaming. The gaming industry is now a bigger industry than movies and sports combined.
In 2021, the gaming industry was reported as a roughly 175 billion dollar industry. This incredible number makes the industry stand as the largest media category by revenue. Because of this incredible growth, many big tech companies are getting even more involved in this industry.
In 2021, almost half of the French population were identified as gamers, which is around 36.5 million gamers in France alone. meaning France has become one of the countries with most gamers in Europe.
An estimated average time of playing games in France is around 9.2 hours per day.
Almost 80% of internet users in France said that they have played video games on any device. The usage of devices for video games in France shows that people mostly play games from smartphones, more than on consoles.
The statistics show that the biggest gamer demographic in France is people from 25 to 34 years. The share of female gamers is around 47%.
In 2020, there were more than 96% of teenagers from 10 to 14 years in France playing video games. This age group ranked first place among all age groups.
In 2025, gaming in France is projected to reach around 3.8 billion U.S dollars, which clearly shows the sudden and incredible rise of this industry.
This huge industry supports the total economic impact of France and it is opening up many new job opportunities for the people. The positions such as game designers, animators, artists, writers, software developers, programmers, video game testers, and many more are now more needed than ever.
Many of the best and most famous games of the industry are published by the French company Ubisoft like the game Assassin’s Creed, which succeeded as the best-selling game. This big company has 26 development studios that spread across 18 countries, with its headquarters in the city of Montreuil.
In 2011, the company was the third most valuable independent video game publisher in the world and the second-largest in terms of in-house development staff with over 6,900 staff worldwide. The company’s incredible success landed Ubisoft in 26th place on the list of the largest software companies in the world.
This company has set the expectations of the French gaming industry and motivated many more companies to start a business in this industry.
The gaming industry in France is mostly thriving around the Paris region. With 41.5% of gamers in that region, Paris is one of the main attractions for gaming companies. The city of Paris, led by mayor Anne Hidalgo, has the highest number of video game companies in France. Some of the world’s leading companies in gaming such as Ubisoft, Gameloft, DontNodEntertainments, and Quantic Dream all have their studios in Paris region. Companies such as Riot Games and Twitch also opened their office in the city in 2019.
The city of Paris is now the European E-sports capital that hosted the finals of the World League of Legends Championship at the AccorHotels Arena in 2019.
Also, Paris offers education for gamers through schools and universities that train talented people for the industry.
Some of the best schools for video games in the city are Isart Digital, ICAN, IUT Bobigny, IMM, and Gaming Campus but some schools specialize in Programming or 3D and Animation, including Les Gobelins which is the number one animation school in the world.
Tech industries will only continue to shape the world and the future of the gaming industry. Many new inventions like virtual reality and artificial intelligence will only make the experience of gaming even better with an indication that gaming will only continue to become more mainstream. (photo credit: Wikimedia)
