Germany Gaming Consumer: 2025
"Younger Germans welcome brand collaborations with gaming, but delivering community-specific value is key to stand out and authentically convey commitment."
Jan Urbanek, Principal Analyst
German Gaming Consumer – Trends and Insights
- Video games are a mainstream pastime, reaching 65% of Germans, with 56% playing at least once a week. Smartphones are the most popular gaming devices, underscoring accessibility as a key driver of engagement.
- The German gaming market also demonstrates resilience: market revenue persisted even amid cost-of-living pressures, highlighting how gaming is a prioritised discretionary spend that consumers turn to for escapism and comfort.
- Engagement patterns, however, continue to vary widely by age and gender: younger consumers (16-34s) play most frequently by far across devices and are motivated by social connection. Older gamers primarily engage with casual games, while competitive gameplay and high-quality hardware are typically valued more by men.
- For brands, younger gamers present the strongest commercial opportunity, not only for in-game ads, but also through adjacent engagements, such as gaming-themed products. While they are receptive to brand collaborations, authenticity and a clear value-add are crucial.
This Report Looks at the Following Areas:
- How often Germans play video games, including the devices used
- Types of video games played
- Purchases of gaming-themed items in the past 12 months
- Gamer typologies, based on consumer attitudes towards gaming, and how brands can target them
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
- What you need to know
- Outlook for gaming
- Opportunities
- Prioritise community-specific value over broad reach
- Müller connects with gamers through Call of Duty
- Elevate the value-add by creating social experiences
- Pick the right audience and timing to boost marketing effectiveness
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THE MARKET
- Consumers and the economic outlook
- Gaming can offer cut-through in a cluttered ad landscape
- Graph 1: media formats used daily, by age, 2024
- Loneliness among younger audiences will shape gaming habits
- Innovations with gaming services and hardware will drive revenue
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THE CONSUMER
- Frequency of playing video games
- Video games engage Germans across age groups
- Gender stereotypes are far off – but not entirely untrue
- Graph 2: playing video games at least once a week, by gender and age, 2025
- Capitalise on the reach of watchable gaming content
- Types of video games played
- Fragmented gaming habits pose a key challenge for advertisers
- Graph 3: types of video games played in the last three months, by age, 2025
- Tailor to the gaming preferences of your target group
- Graph 4: types of video games played in the last three months, by gender and age, 2025
- Gaming-related purchased
- Gaming partnerships can work across categories
- Graph 5: gaming-themed items purchased in the last 12 months, by 16-34s, 2025
- Gaming partnerships can work across categories
- Draw in new audiences with gaming crossovers
- Gamer typologies
- German Gamer typologies
- Group 1: Self-conscious Enthusiasts
- Graph 6: Self-conscious Enthusiasts, by age, vs all gamers, 2025
- Engage Self-conscious Enthusiasts by normalising gaming passion
- Mercedes Benz celebrates gaming as a skill
- Group 2: Hardcore Purists
- Graph 7: Hardcore Purists, by age, vs all gamers, 2025
- Immersion is key when advertising to Hardcore Purists
- Group 3: resonate with Reserved Aesthetes through visual appeal
- Graph 8: Reserved Aesthetes, by age, vs all gamers, 2025
- Group 4: Casuals can be reached through mobile ads
- Graph 9: Casuals, by age, vs all gamers, 2025
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INNOVATION AND MARKETING
- Brands across categories tap into Minecraft for marketing…
- …exemplified by NYX and McDonald’s
- Polestar shows its appreciation for the GeoGuessr community
- Samsung brings ad-supported cloud gaming to its TVs
- Sparkasse taps into the Fortnite community with branded gaming experience
- Kaufland combines the reach of fitness and gaming influencers
- RTL promotes its sports content with interactive Minecraft placement
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APPENDIX
- Report scope
- The consumer
- Consumer research questions
- Consumer research methodology
- Cluster analysis
- Repertoire analysis methodology
- Abbreviations
- A note on language – Germany
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