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Walloon studios' 2023 sales stayed flat at about 11 million euros.
Aggregate sales of the Walloon video game sector stood at around 11 million euros, flat year on year. The figures cover roughly thirty member studios and service companies.
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- 01The Walloon video game sector's sales figures remained stable at approximately 11 million euros in 2023, with public investment impact on balance sheets expected in late 2024 or 2025 due to development cycles.
- 02Gamescom 2024 saw the largest Walloon delegation ever, with nearly 100 participants representing around 30 companies (studios, start-ups, service providers) and a dozen project leaders.
- 03Only 14 new games were released by Walloon studios in 2023, but studios aim to launch approximately 50 new games over the next five years, projecting significant sales growth.
- 04The Haute Ecole Albert Jacquard expects record enrollment of over 600 students in its video game development programs this autumn, highlighting a growing need for 200 internships in the next academic year.
- 05Two-thirds of Walloon studios provide subcontracting services, with half of these services being international, providing a stable income stream alongside their own game development.
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Summary
This document is a press release from WALGA, the Walloon video game association, published in August 2024 following the Gamescom trade show. Its main purpose is to report on the Walloon video game sector's 2023 performance and to outline expectations for 2024, while also recounting the regional delegation's activities at Gamescom. The figures are drawn from roughly thirty member studios and service companies representing the principal studios in Wallonia, giving a clear picture of the regional ecosystem rather than a comprehensive census.
The headline findings show a sector that is stable in size but growing in employment and activity. The number of companies held at around thirty, though about ten new firms were reportedly created in early 2024 following public funding disbursements. Employment rose from 228 jobs in 2022 to 268 in 2023, despite a decline of roughly thirty jobs at Appeal after the end of two major projects. Aggregate sales stood at around 11 million euros, flat year on year, with the report noting that development cycles of two years or more mean public investment will only show up in balance sheets later. Only 14 new games were released in 2023, and studios collectively target around 50 releases over the next five years. Two-thirds of studios offer subcontracting, many of them internationally.
The document also assesses the Tax Shelter extended to video games, which has produced its first project financings: a dozen studios received producer approval, eight projects obtained work approval, and four were financed for approximately €500,000 in total. WALGA advocates raising the current spending ceilings of 2.5 million euros for video games and 15 million for audiovisual works, arguing that this would affect production volumes and local employment. The report further highlights international relationship-building with Quebec, Brazil, Japan and Morocco as a potential source of co-productions and additional activity. Event metrics, such as a delegation of nearly 100 people from about 30 companies and 216 unique viewers of the associated Twitch streams, are reported alongside these findings.
