ESTONIA is one third of the Baltic states, alongside Latvia and Lithuania. While it is not physically the largest of the three, it does have the most promising video games market. “The Baltics is a small market compared with European standards, but it is a fast-growing market,” says Jaanus Kukk, development manager at local distributor Gamestar Holding. “And when it comes to retail games sales volumes, Estonia is the biggest of the three Baltic countries. Estonia is also less affected by piracy and grey imports, although all three markets are more price-sensitive than Western Europe.” As with many European nations, PC is the most popular format for Estonian gamers but consoles still fare reasonably well. Kukk reports that there are approximately 100,000 console gamers across Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – with about half in Estonia. Xbox 360, PS3 and PSP lead this area.
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Interestingly, it is English products that make up the majority of sales, although some Russian titles are imported from Estonia’s eastern neighbour.
The Baltics is a small market compared with European standards, but it is a fast-growing market. Jaanus Kukk, Gamestar Holding
THE FACTS Population: 1,340,194 Currency: Euro GDP (per capita): $16,636 Capital City: Tallinn Languages: Estonian
“Unfortunately, some publishers are counting us as a part of the Russian market, which causes some issues selling English products here,” says Kukk. Estonia’s retail landscape is divided between specialist stores and larger retail chains, and there are also some growing online businesses.
The five biggest retail chains account for about 50 per cent of sales in The Baltics.
There are also organisations working hard to improve the nation’s development talent. The Tiger Lead Foundation set up an educational scheme encouraging schools to teach pupils more about computers by programming basic web-based games.