Despite economic troubles, the south edge of our continent is littered with promising and lucrative gaming markets. James Batchelor takes a look at the opportunities Italy, Spain and Portugal present to publishers and retailers
ITALY “
THE ITALIAN video games market was worth $1.09bn in 2011, and more than half of this was generated by software sales. “Italy is the fourth largest economy in Europe, with a favourable position
Italy’s 60m potential consumers make it one of the most outstanding markets for ICT products.
Ilaria Amodeo, Aesvi
in the centre of the Mediterranean Sea,” says Ilaria Amodeo, PR manager for Italian trade body Aesvi. “Its 60m potential consumers make it one of the most outstanding pilot markets for ICT products.”
GameStop and MediaMarkt as market leaders. The former has over 400 stores across Italy and can take market share of more than 50 per cent on major PS3 and 360 titles. Most major publishers have a local office to better handle releases in the region, and there are local distributors to support smaller firms. “You need to generate a turnover of at least €15m to justify setting up and running a local office,” the boss of one Italian distributor told us. “If this is not realistic you will need to work with a distribution partner.” Ubisoft Milan and SBKdeveloper Milestone are among the studios of note. Most game companies are based in Milan and Lumbardy. Italy is Europe’s No.2 country in terms of mobile phone usage, with over 90m active SIM cards, so there is a large market for mobile games.
THE FACTS
Population: 60,681,514 Currency: Euro GDP (Per Capita): $37,046 Capital City: Rome Languages: Italian