Poland’s gaming industry – an opportunity for new jobs?

I’ve been anticipating discussing the Poland’s gaming industry for a long time now, so here we go!

Booming video, mobile and esport in Poland’s gaming industry

Gaming is one of the fastest-growing sectors of the Polish entertainment industry. At the same time, Polish studios are increasingly making their mark on the global stage. So if you are around and do your search for gaming companies near me or game jobs near me this is the place to get your hands on video game job opportunities. To pin down one number in establishing how much the gaming market as a whole is worth in a given country is not an easy task, and as the head of business analysis says, it all depends on what aspect we take into consideration.

Polish gamers spent around €578m (2.5bn PLN) in 2018. The combined revenues generated in Poland by gaming studios are considerably less than that. However, the number drastically skyrockets when we consider it at the valuations of Polish gaming stocks. The total market capitalization of studios listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (or preparing to float) reached around €7bn (PLN 30.5bn) in February 2019. Booming video game and esports market, and the amount was worth €562 million in 2019 — up from €340 million in 2014 — and is projected to climb to nearly €720 million over the next four years, according to data from PwC. You can read more about it in Reuter’s article.

New opportunities, new jobs in Poland’s gaming industry

There are an estimated 400 or so studios in Poland that develop video games. So there are plenty to choose from game jobs. Only two companies, CD Projekt (sold 50 mln copies of Witcher to the date 28 May 2020!) and Techland (Dying Light has managed to sell over 16 million copies to the date of April 2019) are largely responsible for the vacillation in the listed studios’ revenues.

Relatively smaller in comparison to those two, but on an ascending path and worth to mention is another creator of a good game from Warsaw, called 11 Bit. These guys made in 2Q 2020 €7m (30.5m PLN) selling over 6m copies of their most recent This Was in Mine and Frostpunk. They have also recently announced their €18m (80m PLN) investment into their 7 new projects. Soooo, watch this space! Most of the other listed developers are smaller indie studios making games on lower budgets, many of which are free-to-play, and their revenues are more stable.

Importantly, the listed game developers operate on a global scale. As much as 96% – 97% of their combined revenue comes from foreign markets. Only about €6.9m (PLN 30m) is generated in Poland. Worth to mention is that, PC and console games (and their add-ons) account for most of the market. But spending on mobile, social, and browser games is growing more rapidly. That’s because of high rates of mobile and internet infiltration and the increasing popularity of free-to-play games with paid add-ons. Their market share could soon overtake that of PC and console. The serious player here is a well-known studio. Ten Square Games based in Wroclaw specializes in hobby games, produces and publishes free-to-play games. It earns money on micropayments (for obtaining paid functionalities in the game) and advertisements.

Ten Square Games products are available on the most important mobile platforms – iOS and Android – as well as Internet portals. Those guys, in the year 2019 had over €17m – PLN75m in cash, which gives them a super high comfort for further business development and responding to potential business opportunities in the F2P market. Their revenue in 2019 was €55m – PLN241 million, up 109% compared to 2018, when it amounted to €26m – PLN115 m. Do you like what you are hearing? Just move to Wrocław (or Warsaw, because that’s where their new hub was recently opened). You’ll find those guys there!

CD Projekt isn’t the only one to compete with industry leaders from countries such as China, Japan and the U.S.

And there is another big boy to mention here that contributes to the gaming revenue in the Polish gaming arena, a company called PlayWay. They are the second biggest producer and publisher of games in Poland and one of the biggest ones in Europe. They were established in 2011 to support games developed for platforms such as PC, iPhone, iPad, Xbox, PS3, PSP, Wii, and Android. Their products are being sold via STEAM, AppStore, and GooglePlay. 

The USA, China, and Germany are the biggest markets contributing to a total of 60% of sales.

Since 2011 they have produced and released 70 games, had 15m downloads on pc/console, and over 1m on mobile devices. Their ambitious plan is to produce at least 20 premiers every year, they reached 10 in 2015. 

PlayWay, a unique developer in Poland, launched a campus in Hornówek. It provides programmers with an exceptional coworking space. If you’re a gaming enthusiast eyeing jobs in Poland’s video game industry, consider PlayWay. They’re open to social media pros ready to engage the gaming community globally.

We can’t miss out on Esports. Poland annually hosts the Intel Extreme Masters. In 2019, this event attracted a record 232 million viewers globally.

Poland’s video game developers are adapting with the times — and to their increasingly global market. Now in Poland, 98 percent of games are produced for export, with their captivating stories designed to be understood on the other side of the globe. In the 1990s teenagers were the industry’s target, today, a healthy section of the more than 2.5 billion gamers around the world are well-established professionals to 40-somethings keen to pay more for high-quality products. 2020 is a major year for the Polish video game industry. Anticipating the exciting times ahead. So get prepared to apply for a job in the game industry, more on How to get a job in video game industry