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Industry brief · Gaming

Gaming, where our guest builds city games

One Building Real guest works in games. In Romania, Claudiu Petria co-founded Questo, an app for story-led city games played on foot and written by local creators. This brief covers the games industry around him in Romania and the wider EU, from players and studios to AI, deals and consumer-protection rules.

Romania
Checked 20 Oct 2026 · every figure linked to its source · next review Jan 2027

01At a glance

EUR 29.7bn

video game revenue across 16 European markets in 2025, 91% of it digital, according to Video Games Europe and EGDF1

Sixteen named markets, including Romania, not all of Europe. The source gives no growth rate for this total
199m

people aged 6-75 played video games across the 16 European markets in 2025, 51% of that population2

Survey-based estimate. The age band differs from earlier editions, so it is not comparable with older figures
123,000

people employed by Europe's games industry across 8,700 studios in 2024, according to EGDF data cited by Video Games Europe3

Data year 2024. Not comparable with earlier editions
22.6%

of people in Romania played or downloaded games over the internet in 2024, against 31.3% across the EU, according to Eurostat4

Online playing or downloading only, from Eurostat's household survey. A different measure from industry player counts
28%

of game industry professionals surveyed by GDC were laid off in the past two years (33% in the US)5

A self-selected survey of industry professionals, not an industry-wide layoff count

02Europe's games market

Where the revenue comes from

Share of video game revenue by device, 16 European markets, 2025

Smartphones and tablets
49%
Consoles
30%
PC
12%

Smartphones and tablets accounted for 49% of video game revenue across 16 European markets in 2025 (48% in the five biggest markets), ahead of consoles (30%) and PC (12%), according to Video Games Europe and EGDF6.

Revenue shares, not player shares. The three devices shown do not add up to the whole.

Who plays, and which way revenue is moving

  • Players. Across the 16 European markets, 46% of players are women and the average age is 342.
  • The five biggest markets. Revenue in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK fell 4% in 2025 compared with 2024, according to Ipsos data cited by Video Games Europe7.
  • Worldwide. The global video game market generated EUR 169.6 billion in revenue in 2024 and is expected to reach EUR 190.3 billion by 2027, according to the EU's European media industry outlook, as cited by the EU's Consumer Protection Cooperation Network8.
The decline covers those five markets only, not the 16-market total or Romania. The 2027 global figure is a projection. These figures use different measures and are not combined.

03Romania: players and developers

What the consumer market is worth

EUR 449m

Romania's video games market in 2025, with 8.6 million players, according to the Romania page of Video Games Europe and EGDF's 2025 Key Facts9

A measure of Romania's consumer market. It is not the turnover of studios based in Romania, shown in the next panel, and the two should not be compared or subtracted.

What the development industry earns

  • Turnover. Romania's game development industry generated turnover of about EUR 341 million in 2025, and 63 games developed in Romania launched that year, according to the Romanian Game Developers Association (RGDA), as reported by StartupCafe.ro10.
  • Studios and people. The ecosystem counted 234 studios and about 6,000 professionals in 2025, with productivity of about EUR 57,200 per specialist, according to RGDA11.
  • Who earns it. Multinational companies accounted for 70% of Romanian game development revenue in 2024, down from 89% in 2015, and up to 12% of revenue came from original games created in Romania, according to a report by RGDA and Banca Transilvania12.
  • One company's results. Ubisoft Romania's 2025 turnover fell 8% to 320.33 million lei and its net profit fell 22.8% to 20.95 million lei, while its average headcount dropped from 1,557 to 1,349, Profit.ro reported from the company's financial results13.
RGDA's figures measure the studios' own turnover, much of it earned by multinational companies, not what players in Romania spend. The revenue split is for 2024. Ubisoft Romania's figures are for its Romanian business as a whole; average headcount is not a count of layoffs.

Where the studios are

Share of Romania's game studios, by city or county (RGDA)

Bucharest
46%
Cluj
15%
Iasi
6%
Timis
4%

Bucharest hosts 46% of Romania's game studios, followed by Cluj (15%), Iasi (6%) and Timis (4%), according to RGDA, as reported by StartupCafe.ro14.

Shares of studios, not of revenue or jobs.

04How AI is showing up

What industry professionals say

  • Use. 36% of game industry professionals surveyed by GDC use generative AI tools at work, but only 30% of those at game studios, against 58% at publishing companies, support teams and marketing/PR firms15.
  • Sentiment. 52% of respondents to GDC's 2026 State of the Game Industry survey think generative AI is having a negative impact on the industry, up from 30% a year earlier and 18% the year before; about 7% see a positive impact16.
A self-selected survey run by the Game Developers Conference. It gives no figures for Romania.

What tool vendors' surveys say

  • Google Cloud. In a survey of 615 game developers in the US, South Korea, Norway, Finland and Sweden, conducted by The Harris Poll for Google Cloud in June-July 2025, 90% said they already integrate generative AI into their workflows and 97% said it is reshaping the industry17.
  • Unity. In the game-engine maker's 2026 Game Development Report, based on a 2025 survey of 300 developers, back-end AI tools were used mainly for coding assistance (62%) and writing/narrative tasks (44%), with greater efficiency (73%) the top benefit cited18.
Surveys commissioned or run by companies that sell AI and game-development tools, each with its own sample. They are not comparable with the GDC survey or with each other, and none covers Romania.

05Where the money is moving

Two large deals

  1. Location-based games. Savvy Games Group said its wholly owned Scopely completed its USD 3.5 billion acquisition of Niantic's games business, including Pokemon GO, Pikmin Bloom and Monster Hunter Now19.
  2. Electronic Arts. EA's take-private by PIF, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners, a USD 55 billion all-cash deal agreed in September 2025, has completed, with shareholders receiving USD 210 a share and PIF taking a 93% stake, PocketGamer.biz reported20.
Each deal comes from a separate source and they are not added up.

What the buyer said it was getting

  • Players and revenue. Announcing the deal in March 2025, Savvy Games Group and Scopely said Niantic's games and apps had over 30 million monthly active players and more than USD 1 billion in revenue in 2024, and that Pokemon GO had over 100 million unique players that year21.
  • Pokemon GO. Scopely said Pokemon GO reaches players in over 190 countries and regions, that its community averages more than 40 minutes of daily playtime, and that the franchise has amassed over USD 8 billion in lifetime revenue22.
The buyer's own statements, not independently verified. Monthly active players across all Niantic games and unique Pokemon GO players over a year are different measures.

06What EU regulators are changing

Consumer protection in games

  1. Principles on virtual currencies. The EU's Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) Network published key principles on in-game virtual currencies, based on existing EU consumer law, including clear and transparent pricing, no practices that hide costs or force consumers to buy virtual currency, respect for the right of withdrawal, and respect for consumer vulnerabilities, in particular children's23.
  2. Star Stable. The CPC Network launched a coordinated action asking Star Stable Entertainment for information on Star Stable Online, following a complaint by the Swedish Consumers' Association, over practices that may breach EU consumer law, such as direct appeals to children to buy24.
  3. Microsoft and Activision Blizzard. The CPC Network launched a coordinated action over Call of Duty Mobile and Diablo Immortal, covering practices that may breach EU consumer law, including in-game currencies, data collection, addictive design, parental-control defaults and direct appeals to children25.
  4. Stop Destroying Videogames. Responding to the European Citizens' Initiative, the Commission said it cannot at this stage propose a legal obligation to keep games playable after commercial support ends, and will engage with consumers and publishers by the end of 202626.
  5. Joint Statement. The CPC Network issued a Joint Statement on Stronger Consumer Protection in Video Games, linking practices that harm consumers, especially vulnerable groups such as children, to certain uses of virtual currencies and loot boxes and to deceptive techniques such as misleading countdown timers27.
  6. Nine companies. The CPC Network has launched EU-level coordinated actions against nine video game companies, among them King, Mojang, Riot Games, Supercell and Ubisoft, which are suspected of practices that may breach EU consumer law on in-game virtual currencies in games including Candy Crush Saga, Clash of Clans, Minecraft and Valorant28.
  7. Digital Fairness Act. The act has not yet been proposed; the Commission's 2026 work programme lists it as a legislative initiative for the fourth quarter of 202629.
The coordinated actions concern suspected practices: the sources report no findings or fines. The principles and the Joint Statement set out how existing law is enforced; they are not new law. The Commission's page gives no launch date for the nine-company action. What the Digital Fairness Act will say about games is not public.

07Trends to watch

Phones lead, and nearly all spending is digital

Smartphones and tablets accounted for 49% of video game revenue across 16 European markets in 2025, ahead of consoles (30%) and PC (12%)6. Digital made up 91% of the EUR 29.7 billion total, according to Video Games Europe and EGDF1.

Developers use generative AI but many doubt it

In GDC's survey, 36% of game industry professionals use generative AI tools at work15, while 52% think it is having a negative impact on the industry, up from 30% a year earlier16.

Layoffs and smaller bets

28% of game industry professionals surveyed by GDC were laid off in the past two years, and half said their current or most recent employer made layoffs in the past 12 months5. In a separate survey by engine maker Unity, 52% of developers say they now prioritise smaller-scale projects as their main way to reduce risk30.

Romania is making more of its own games

63 games developed in Romania launched in 2025, 2.5 times as many as two years earlier, according to RGDA10. In 2024, up to 12% of Romanian game development revenue came from original games created in Romania, while the multinationals' share fell to 70% from 89% in 201512.

Regulators are focused on in-game currencies

The CPC Network set out principles on in-game virtual currencies on 21 March 2025, based on existing EU consumer law23. On 30 September 2026 it linked practices that harm consumers, especially children, to certain uses of virtual currencies and loot boxes27, and it has coordinated actions open against nine game companies over suspected breaches28.

08The problem our guest is solving

Claudiu Petria on Building Real
Romania

EP14Claudiu Petria · Questo

USD 1.5m

raised by Romanian startup Questo in February 2021, in a round led by Early Game Ventures with support from Sparking Capital, after it grew from 40 cities in Europe at the start of 2020 to over 100 cities on four continents31

  • How the games are made. Questo's city games are created by locals or with business partners such as tour operators, attractions and airlines on a revenue-share basis, and its co-founder and CEO Alex Govoreanu described it in 2021 as 'Steam for real-world games'32.
Company figures and a CEO quote reported by Tech.eu in 2021, not current figures.

Claudiu Petria, Questo's co-founder and former COO, was born at home in a tiny Romanian village. In the episode he explains how Questo turns a city into a game: players find statues, plaques and details on the street, solve clues and unlock stories, with no AR or VR on purpose. He says local creators write the games on Questo's own platform, and talks about why, after years in survival mode, he chose to walk away.

Watch the episode →

See how these conversations connect on the Discovery Atlas →

09Sources

One research agent gathered 37 figures from government, regulator and established data sources. A separate red-team agent then reopened every source, checked each number, its scope and its date, and looked for newer or conflicting data. It kept 7 figures as written, corrected 30 and cut 0. Each figure above links to its source below, with the date it refers to.

  1. Video Games Europe / EGDF, All About Video Games: European Key Facts 2025 (Aug 2026) · 2025 (16 markets)
  2. Video Games Europe / EGDF, All About Video Games: European Key Facts 2025 (Aug 2026) · 2025 (16 markets, ages 6-75)
  3. Video Games Europe / EGDF, All About Video Games: European Key Facts 2025 (Aug 2026) · 2024 data (EGDF), published in the 2025 Key Facts
  4. Eurostat, isoc_ci_ac_i (Internet use: playing or downloading games), updated 17 Apr 2026 · 2024
  5. GDC, 2026 State of the Game Industry (early 2026) · GDC, 2026 State of the Game Industry (early 2026)
  6. Video Games Europe / EGDF, All About Video Games: European Key Facts 2025 (Aug 2026) · 2025 (16 markets; EU5 = France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK)
  7. Video Games Europe / EGDF, All About Games 2025 Key Facts report PDF (Aug 2026) · 2025 vs 2024 (EU5)
  8. CPC Network Joint Statement on Stronger Consumer Protection in Video Games (30 Sep 2026), citing The European media industry outlook (Publications Office of the EU) · 2024 actual; 2027 projection
  9. Video Games Europe / EGDF, All About Games 2025 Key Facts report PDF, Romania page (Aug 2026) · 2025 (Romania consumer market)
  10. StartupCafe.ro, 17 Sep 2026, reporting the RGDA annual report · 2025
  11. StartupCafe.ro, 17 Sep 2026, reporting the RGDA annual report · 2025
  12. Business Forum, 29 Sep 2025, reporting RGDA and Banca Transilvania · 2024 (vs 2015)
  13. Profit.ro, 28 May 2026 · 2025 vs 2024
  14. StartupCafe.ro, 17 Sep 2026, reporting the RGDA annual report · 2025
  15. GDC, 2026 State of the Game Industry (early 2026) · GDC, 2026 State of the Game Industry (early 2026)
  16. GDC, 2026 State of the Game Industry (early 2026) · GDC, 2026 State of the Game Industry (early 2026)
  17. Google Cloud press release, 18 Aug 2025 · Survey 20 Jun - 9 Jul 2025
  18. Unity, 2026 Unity Game Development Report (blog, 9 Mar 2026) · 2025 survey (report published 9 Mar 2026)
  19. Savvy Games Group press release, 29 May 2025 · Completed 29 May 2025
  20. PocketGamer.biz, Aug 2026 · Completed Aug 2026
  21. Savvy Games Group / Scopely press release, 12 Mar 2025 · 2024 (stated 12 Mar 2025)
  22. Savvy Games Group / Scopely press release, 12 Mar 2025 · Lifetime to Mar 2025
  23. European Commission press release IP/25/831, 21 Mar 2025 · 21 Mar 2025
  24. European Commission press release IP/25/831, 21 Mar 2025 · 21 Mar 2025
  25. European Commission, CPC coordinated actions page (accessed 20 Oct 2026) · Early 2026 (ongoing)
  26. European Commission (Shaping Europe's digital future), 16 Jun 2026 · 16 Jun 2026
  27. CPC Network Joint Statement, 30 Sep 2026 · 30 Sep 2026
  28. European Commission, CPC coordinated actions page (accessed 20 Oct 2026) · Status at 20 Oct 2026
  29. European Parliament, Legislative Train: Digital Fairness Act (accessed 20 Oct 2026) · Status at 20 Oct 2026
  30. Unity, 2026 Unity Game Development Report (blog, 9 Mar 2026) · 2025 survey (report published 9 Mar 2026)
  31. Tech.eu, 18 Feb 2021 · Feb 2021
  32. Tech.eu, 18 Feb 2021 · Feb 2021