Polish Gamedev Revenue in 2019
In order to calculate global revenues generated around the world by Polish companies from the gaming sector, the financial results of 49 companies have been analysed: 46 already listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and NewConnect, as well as companies which submitted their information documents as of 31.10.2020, but their shares are not traded yet. There were three such companies as of 31.10.2020. In addition, information about the financial results of 132 enterprises and single-person entities directly related to game development has been collected. The following assumptions have been made:
- the analysis does not include the revenues connected with the distribution of games of third parties, in the digital and physical versions.
- the analysis checked which among the smaller companies may already be included in the consolidated annual statements of larger entities, which is particularly important in the case of capital groups, such as PlayWay SA.
- an assumption has been made that the revenues recognised by the Polish branches of foreign companies from the industry are included as a whole in accordance with the annual statements submitted to the National Court Register.
In 2019, Polish Gamedev generated the global revenues on sales at the level of PLN 1.75 billion. It should be noted that the number of development studios in Poland is estimated, depending on the source, at the level of 440 or according to the recent Polish Gamedev research – 476. Although other available reports, such as “The Game Industry of Poland report 2020” contain higher amounts for Polish gamedev, with the assumption made by the authors of “The State of Polish Video Games Sector 2020”, we are still observing continuous growth. In relation to 2018, that growth amounted to over 13.5%. Using the same methodology to calculate the revenue from sales, in 2018, the Polish gamedev recorded revenues at the level of PLN 1.54 billion.
Chart. The value of the Polish gamedev in 2019, including revenues generated by the Polish companies from the gaming sector listed on the stock exchange in 2019.
Source: Compiled by the Polish Gamers Observatory (the revenue data) and Kraków Technology Park (the number of development studios)
Does it mean that in 2019 gamers around the world spent around PLN 1 billion on the games created in Poland? Not exactly. It is frequent that the revenues presented are only in the form of accounting records. It is a common practice to include “movement of stocks” on the side of revenues, although in that item the companies record the estimated revenues of games, which often have not even been completed. The authors of the report estimated that movement of stocks constitutes in total, for the global revenues of Polish gamedev, about 10% of revenues included in the annual financial statements submitted to the National Court Register. While analysing the situation for the first 10 months of 2020, the authors expect that maintaining a further increase of revenues in 2020 will not be an easy task for Polish gamedev. On the one hand, the pandemic improved the sale results of the majority of smaller entities. On the other hand, a large group of promising games from Polish developers was postponed to 2021 (among others Dying Light 2 by Techland, Outriders by People Can Fly and Gamedec by Anshar Studio). Therefore, the results of the entire sector are going to depend on the most important Polish release in recent years. However, Cyberpunk 2077 was postponed to 10 December 2020 and (at the moment of developing the report) it is difficult to predict the percentage share of that game’s sales recognised by CD Projekt in the same accounting year (i.e. 2020).
List of gaming enterprises listed at WSE with revenues exceeding PLN 15 million in 2019. A comparison of net revenues on sales and net revenues on sales of products in 2019 and 2018.
| Name | Net revenues on sales 2019 | Net revenues on sale of products 2019 | Net revenues on sales 2018 | Net revenues on sale of products 2018 |
| 11Bit Studios | PLN 71,221,248.00 | PLN 71,221,248.00 | PLN 82,113,505.00 | PLN 82,113,505.00 |
| Artifex Mundi | PLN 16,654,325.63 | PLN 16,654,325.63 | PLN 20,119,915.96 | PLN 20,119,915.96 |
| Bloober Team CG* | PLN 28,884,046.77 | PLN 19,178,501.00 | PLN 24,641,933.81 | PLN 12,746,775.10 |
| BoomBit CG (Aidem Media) | PLN 49,734,000.00 | PLN 49,734,000.00 | PLN 37,525,000.00 | PLN 37,525,000.00 |
| CD Projekt CG | PLN 521,272,000.00 | PLN 304,475,000.00 | PLN 362,901,000.00 | PLN 235,919,000.00 |
| CI Games | PLN 47,478,000.00 | PLN 47,478,000.00 | PLN 21,244,000.00 | PLN 21,244,000.00 |
| PlayWay CG | PLN 131,181,000.00 | PLN 116,206,000.00 | PLN 78,924,000.00 | PLN 71,960,000.00 |
| Ten Square Games | PLN 241,133,094.00 | PLN 241,133,094.00 | PLN 115,257,658.00 | PLN 115,257,658.00 |
| Vivid Games | PLN 19,698,090.00 | PLN 12,336,470.00 | PLN 17,486,560.00 | PLN 10,325,500.00 |
Source: Compiled by the Polish Gamers Observatory based on the annual financial statements of the companies.
