Tag: Central Europe

Gaming aficionado, music savant and former MMA fighter joins global interactive experiences platform to lead the way in connection, communication and immersion

Pioneering technology veterans 4Players has announced the appointment of industry leader Patty Toledo, as its first Marketing Director. Patty brings her considerable skills to 4Players as it prepares to launch new products to support game developers to create metaverse-ready, engaging player experiences, and will drive a marketing strategy to take the much-loved brand into the future.

Patty’s vision is to bring revolutionary gaming solutions to the most remote edges of the planet by expanding 4Players’ markets and geographical reach, while moving the brand into a new era. With a very established career in the game industry, Patty has been given the opportunity to build a new marketing strategy to showcase all of the remarkable products that 4Players offers. 4Players has been at work for over 20 years and is very familiar with the games industry, with a focus on building a team that can add value to the company while bringing great synergy. 4Players immediately recognised the value that Patty brings to deliver new growth, with company rebranding and constructing a new identity, alongside launching innovative new products, among her first objectives.

Patty has an impressive career history spanning multiple industries and holds exemplary experience. Once an MMA fighter and music producer, she has worked with some of the world’s biggest artists, including Bon Jovi, Metallica and Iron Maiden, before turning to the gaming industry, where she found her true calling. Now, she is taking on an essential new role at 4Players where she is sure to make her mark.

Patty Toledo, Marketing Director at 4 Players, said: “I am over the moon to join the 4Players team. 4Players is a unique game technology company that understands what players value in games and works with developers to create the best user experience possible. They are visionaries and we share the same ideologies of wanting to build the brand, bring it to life and share it with the world!”

4Players has been co-shaping the evolution of gaming, offering developers a way to easily integrate immersive social experiences based on voice and data into their games. 4Players create real-time, cross-platform, interactive experiences with voice and videos, powered by its global server network. This innovative technology is metaverse-ready, reliable and affordable with an SDK that is quick and easy to integrate. 4Players tools take privacy and data protection to a new level. With no need for players to register any personal details, data remains anonymous, putting users’ minds at ease.

Phillip Schuester, CEO at 4Players, says: “We are excited to have Patty as part of our team. Her knowledge, skills and experience are unparalleled in the gaming industry, and she is an incredibly valuable addition to 4Players.

“We have been creating some great tools for developers to make their game experiences more immersive and less disruptive. Having Patty with us, bringing onboard her diverse background and expertise, will allow us to reach a broader market and support creative minds around the world.”

• Number of download purchases rises to 59 per cent
• Almost all PC games that are purchased are purchased as downloads
• Nearly two thirds of all games for video game consoles are purchased on physical media

 Following a sharp increase in the first Covid-19 year 2020, the share of games purchased as downloads stabilised in 2021: the share of all PC and console games sold in Germany that were purchased as downloads increased by just one percentage point compared to the previous year, to 59 per cent. This means that roughly six in ten computer and video games were once again purchased as downloads last year. These are the figures released today by game – the German Games Industry Association, based on data collected by the market research company GfK. There were major differences in the share of downloads for different platforms and price categories, with downloaded games making up a particularly large percentage of the lower-priced titles. Approximately eight in ten games priced below 30 euros were purchased as downloads. Higher-priced titles were more likely to have been purchased on physical media, with players buying 68 per cent of all games costing over 30 euros on data carriers from online shops or bricks-and-mortar stores in 2021.

Players of PC games in particular relied on downloads, for example from portals like Origin and Steam. As a result, downloads accounted for around 93 per cent of PC game sales. Nearly two thirds (64 per cent) of all games for video game consoles such as Nintendo Switch, PlayStation and Xbox, on the other hand, were purchased on physical media.

‘Thanks to their excellent accessibility, download purchases have established themselves as the preferred choice of many players. Even so, there continue to be large differences between the various gaming platforms. Download purchases can be an attractive option for players of PC games, for example, on account of online discounts or the wide range of indie games on offer. Console fans, on the other hand, like to purchase games on physical media, whether it be to add to the collection of games on their shelves or to obtain limited-edition games boxes containing special items for fans,’ says Felix Falk, Managing Director of game.

Another year of strong growth for the German games market

Following a historic 2020 performance with 32 per cent growth, sales revenues in the German games market continued to rise significantly in 2021 with a total of approximately 9.8 billion euros in sales revenue generated by games, games hardware and fees for online gaming services – an increase of 17 per cent compared to the previous year. Sales revenue from computer and video games grew by 19 per cent to about 5.4 billion euros, due among other things to increases in in-game and in-app purchases. Sales revenue from games hardware has also grown, by 18 per cent overall to about 3.6 billion euros. Demand for games consoles and gaming PC accessories was particularly strong.

About the market data

The market data is based on statistics compiled by the GfK Consumer Panel and data.ai. The methods used by GfK to collect data on Germany’s video games market are unique in terms of both their quality and their global use. They include an ongoing survey of 25,000 consumers who are representative of the German population as a whole regarding their video game purchasing and usage habits, as well as a retail panel. The data collection methods provide a unique insight into the German market for computer and video games.

game – the German Games Industry Association

We are the association of the German games industry. Our members include developers, publishers and many other games industry actors such as esports event organisers, educational establishments and service providers. As a joint organiser of gamescom, we are responsible for the world’s biggest event for computer and video games. We are an expert partner for media and for political and social institutions, and answer questions relating to market development, games culture and media literacy. Our mission is to make Germany the best games location.