Spending by Italians on video games remains substantially stable at 2.2 billion. Purchases for securities are close to 1.8 billion (-0.5% on 2021) while 409 million were spent on hardware, a decrease of 7.7% on the previous year. The decline was caused by the lack of product, especially for the Xbox Series X/S and the Playstation 5, due to the shortage of chips. In addition, the two PS5 models saw an increase of 50 euros in the autumn. As far as software is concerned, there was a slight drop in sales for consoles and PCs (-1.7%) and apps (-1.3%), together accounting for 84.3%. Packaged titles, on disc, are worth a seventh of the market and grow by 5.2%. This is what emerges from the report «Video games in Italy in 2022» published by Iidea, the Italian interactive digital entertainment association, which brings together about sixty members including manufacturers of video game consoles, multinational video game publishers, Italian video game developers and operators in the esports sector.
The audience and the industry
Almost one in four Italians is a video gamer with an average age close to thirty. Of this audience, 42% are women even if they often use a male avatar. The distribution by age group is the majority of teenagers between 11 and 14 years of age where 71% play, followed equally by the 15-24 and 6-10 year groups (both 58%). Among the preferred platforms, mobile devices are the most used (69.7%), followed by consoles (45.8%) and PCs (38%). Average game time returns to pre-pandemic levels, down to 7.52 hours per week from 8.67 the previous year. On smartphones, the favorite titles are those of the brain/puzzle, trivia and role playing genres, while on consoles and PCs, women prefer
family and adventure, while men focus on strategy, sport and racing.
As regards the national production of titles, 160 start-ups and SMEs are the protagonists. Companies with a number of employees between 10 and 20 are increasing, going from 15% in 2021 to the current 20%. The total turnover from production companies in 2022 will be between 130 and 150 million, marking a +30% compared to the previous year and showing strong growth potential. The target market remains the European one, which however comes out reduced (from 60% in 2021 to 43%) to the benefit of the North American one, whose incidence on the total goes from 25% in 2021 to 40% in 2022. The weight of the Italy, albeit slightly increasing (7%). As regards production workers, professionals increase by 50%, going from 1,600 in 2021 to 2,400 in 2022. 77% of turnover derives from the B2C market (+9% ), while for 75% of Italian developers, the PC remains the preferred development platform: followed by mobile (50%) and console (40%). We are beginning to glimpse the impact of public support for the sector, as a direct effect of the implementation of the tax credit and the launch of vertical acceleration programs, as well as the international acquisitions that have recently involved some Italian studios. The report also recalls which were the blockbusters of 2022. In first place is Activision’s Fifa 2023. This is followed by the shooter Call of Duty: Modern warfare II from Activision Blizzard and Fifa 2022.
