Analyze That: Europeans Prefer Casual Games

Europeans seem to prefer racing and football games (European football, that is) instead of the first person shooter and adventure action games that Americans love. The tendency towards less violent titles is also reflected in an increased relevance of casual titles.

The International Development Group put out some data which supports the theory that casual games are also a big attraction for Europeans. It seems that the leading consoles in terms of market share in 2007 were the PlayStation 2 and the Nintendo DS, which are worth noting because of the casual game line-up available for them. The Wii from Nintendo is also a big hit in Europe, quickly racking up at 7% market share. By comparison, the Xbox 360 from Microsoft, which sports a more "hardcore" gamer audience, has only a tiny 5% market share in 2007 in Europe.

The best sold game in Europe in 2007 was Brain Training for the Nintendo DS, which pushed 2,8 million copies to customers, while Halo 3 only managed to sell 800,000 units and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare sold less than a third of its United States total.

Interestingly, the second best sold game in Europe was Electronic Arts' FIFA 2008, which is understandable seeing how football is really big here and the EURO finals were coming up.

Europe continues to develop as a gaming market, being now on parity with the United States as far as videogame revenue is concerned, at around the 18 billion mark. The potential for growth is also bigger than that of the United States, mainly because of the bigger size of the market.

An increase in the market will most likely benefit local European publishers, the biggest being Ubisoft, based in France, which is placed third globally behind Electronic Arts and Activision.