King’s first European market report reveals mobile's €5.9bn economic impact for the continent

• King has commissioned a report conducted by Nordicity, researching Europe's mobile games sector.
• Europe generated €7.5 billion ($8.7bn) in revenue from global audiences in 2025.

Candy Crush maker King has released a new report spotlighting Europe’s mobile games sector, including revenues, contribution to jobs and digital innovations.

According to the Mobile Matters: The Impact of Mobile Games for Europe report, mobile games companies in Europe generated €7.5 billion ($8.7bn) in revenue from global audiences in 2025, contributing around €5.9bn ($6.9bn) in economic value to the continent.

The report forecasted collective revenue of beyond €8bn ($9.3bn) by 2028.

Where to play

King president Todd Green told PocketGamer.biz that this is an "important time" for Europe’s mobile games sector, as AI tech and new sources of competition change the landscape. At the same time, he noted how European regulators are looking broadly across the digital landscape.

"So, this felt like a good moment to step back and look in detail at mobile games, how they work and what economic contribution they’re making today," Green explained.

"We asked ourselves: what is the reach and impact of the mobile games industry? There hasn’t been a dedicated study to look at the economic impact, and wider impacts specifically of mobile games. That seemed like an important question to try and tackle."

Research in the report was commissioned by King and conducted by Nordicity. Modelling was achieved through Nordicity’s MyEIA tool and supplemented by Sensor Tower data, while other data points were sourced from Newzoo, the ESA and elsewhere.

Results showed that mobile accounted for 55% of global games revenue last year. During that time, in Europe, 61% of people played on a smartphone or tablet. The majority were adults, making up 75% of all players, with the average age of a player in Europe being 31.

Publishers in Europe spent 41% of their annual expenditure on UA and player retention, indicating the intensity of the competition.

Players have trended predominantly towards free-to-play on mobile - more so than on other platforms - as over 320m players in Europe now engage with free-to-play mobile games.

A creative workforce

The report also revealed that 30,000 people are employed by European mobile games companies - of which there are over 1,000 across the continent. In 2025, over 63,000 "full-time equivalent" jobs were supported by European mobile studios.

Revenue was concentrated in Finland, Sweden, Spain, Ireland and the UK, said to be Europe’s "established hubs", but when viewing revenue relative to a country’s broader market activity, countries like Cyprus, Serbia and Ukraine stood out for their strengths.

"Europe has many strengths. It has a deep mix of creative and technical talent, and a long-standing reputation for making high-quality games for global audiences. It is also home to some of the world’s leading mobile games companies, including King. We have offices in Barcelona, London, Stockholm, Malmö and Berlin - and we see the quality of talent across the region first-hand," Green shared with us.

"One of Europe’s advantages is its sector diversity: creativity, design, engineering, data, live operations and new technologies. Mobile games sit right at the heart of that mix, which is one of the reasons Europe has remained so influential. The report also points to the wider culture around mobile games in Europe: entrepreneurship, distinctive design and a real commitment to craft.

"Different markets stand out for different reasons. Sweden has deep creative and technical expertise. Spain has a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem. The UK combines a mature games industry with strong digital analytics and live operations capability."

Green spoke from King’s experience and from the perspective of broader findings in the report. He added that Europe’s future talent pipeline is also important, with young people needing the opportunity to build creative and digital skills.

"Europe helped shape the mobile games industry from the beginning - from the pioneering Snake on Nokia phones, through to globally recognised titles like Angry Birds, Clash of Clans and Candy Crush Saga. Today, Europe remains one of the industry’s important centres of creativity and innovation."

King's full report includes a breakdown of revenue by country, such as Finland's €1.4bn ($1.6bn) and Spain's €722m ($841m) last year.

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