The gamecity:Hamburg 2012 industry survey recorded a total of 155 companies with 3,016 permanent employees at the time of the collection of data. This shows that the number of jobs in the sector has increased by 506 since August 2011. “Gamecity”, Hamburg, has thus further extended its lead as Germany’s preeminent centre of the digital gaming industry. The survey took into account only those companies, which generate at least half of their sales volume in the games segment.

The Games Sector Value Creation Chain in Hamburg
With 155 enterprises representing the ‘games value creation chain’, the overall number of businesses increased by 11 companies compared to 2011. As in the past years, developers and publishers accounted for the largest group in the value chain, with a total of 85 companies. Their number grew by 10 compared to the previous year.

                      

Job Market Development in Hamburg’s Games Industry
The first survey, conducted in 2004, counted some 800 employees. Since then the local sector has seen rapid growth. By 2011, the number of Hamburg-based games industry personnel with long-term contracts had more than tripled. In the 2012 survey the polled companies stated their intent to create a total of 410 new jobs in addition to the existing 3,016 ones by the end of 2012. Freelancers and employees of Hamburg-based companies working in branches outside the City of Hamburg were recorded separately. If they are included, the number of people working in the games industry in the greater Hamburg region as per the survey cut-off date rises to well above 4,001.

More results of the 2012 games industry survey are shown here.

According to the German Trade Association of Interactive Entertainment Software (BIU), the games sector in Germany comprises 686 companies with some 10,000 employees. The BIU Games Industry Compass is an online directory that lists 216 developer studios, 128 publishers, 283 service providers, 100 specialized media outlets, 87 public institutions and 54 training/educational facilities.

2012 Market Figures (BIU e.v.)
In Germany 73,3 milion computer and video games have been sold in 2012, what means a rise of 4 percent compared to 2011. The generated sales volume in 2012 were 1.85  billion euros - a decrease of 7 percent compared to the previous year. This figure comprises earnings from data carriers, downloadable titles, additional virtual content, subscriptions and premium accounts for online and browser games. The sale of data carriers and downloadable titles accounts for the lion’s share of the sales volume (1.5 billion euros), while the online and browser game business and sales of in-game items contributed approximately 19 percent to total turnover.

Source: www.biu-online.de (February 2013)