The gaming industry has become an important industry for Belgium. Last year its economic value was estimated at 582 million euros. The figures are slightly down on record year 2021 when lockdowns and the pandemic fuelled sales, but the upward trend continues.
The Belgian gaming industry is also an important international player. Last week twenty Belgian companies accompanied Flemish media minister Dalle to the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. It is one of the key events for game developers.
The economic value of the sector is determined by sales of games, consoles, subscriptions, prepaid cards and accessories. Sales in Belgium and abroad are taken into account.
“Turnover during the corona crisis in 2020 and 2021 reached historic highs. Several leisure activities like visiting a cinema or travelling had become impossible. Gaming was an alternative and expanded our market” says David Verbruggen of Belgian Games.
Football game FIFA remains the most popular game featuring at the top of the best seller list for 2023.
Three Nintendo Switch tittles make the Top 5 of best-selling physical games. In Belgium there were 148 downloads of mobile games in the Apple and Google Play Stores combined. The figure is up one million on the year.