Despite the looming threat of mobile gaming, millions of people still choose console games to add an edge to their gaming experience. The total number of console gaming users hit 254 million in 2021, and many of them come from European countries.
According to data presented by MejoresApuestas.com, with nearly 100 million people who play console games in 2021, Europe is close to reaching North America as the world’s largest console gaming market.
Europe Has Three Times More Console Gaming Users than Asia
Although far behind Asia and North America as the two leading markets, the European gaming industry has also witnessed a surge in revenue and the number of users, especially after the pandemic hit. The console gaming segment has had a significant role in that growth. The Statista data indicate the total number of gamers in Europe is set to reach 329.5 million this year, and nearly one-third of them, or 99.6 million people, are playing console games.
In fact, the DFC Intelligence survey showed Europe has a lot more users in the console gaming segment than Asia as the world’s largest gaming industry. In 2021, the number of people playing console games in the Asian countries hit 26.6 million, or three times less than in Europe.
One of the main reasons for such a huge difference is that Asian gamers are much more into mobile games. Gaming apps continue breaking records and making billions in revenue each year, and the most significant part of mobile gaming profits comes from Asian countries, home to nearly half of all mobile gamers globally.
Latin America ranked as the fourth-largest console gaming market globally, with 11.5 million users in 2021. Oceania follows, with 8.9 million users, respectively.
Europe the Leading Market for PS4 and Second-Largest for Xbox and Nintendo Switch
As the gaming console with the largest market share, the PlayStation 4 had sold over 116 million units worldwide. Around 40% of that number, or 48.5 million consoles, were sold to users in the European countries as the leading PS4 market.
The VGChartz data showed Europe is the second-largest market for Xbox 360. In August, the Microsoft’s gaming console hit 85.8 million units in lifetime sales. Around 57% of all sold units were shipped to users in North America as the leading market. Europe followed with nearly 26 million shipped units, respectively.
However, the Nintendo Switch console sales figures show a much smaller difference between the two regions. As of June, the hybrid handheld gaming console had sold 86.7 million units across the world. More than 32 million units were shipped to North America as the leading Nintendo Switch market. Almost 23 million units were shipped to Europe as the second-largest market.
