Croatian Gaming Sector Achieves Record Results in 2024

The Croatian video game industry achieved its best results ever in 2024, surpassing even the pandemic year of 2020, which had previously been considered the most successful. Total sector revenues reached €72.4 million, breaking a period of stagnation that followed the lockdown, during which revenues had remained at a similar level for several years.

These results are from the Analysis of the Croatian Video Game Producers Industry, conducted by the Cluster of Croatian Computer Game Producers (CGDA) in collaboration with A1 Croatia.

According to the analysis, the majority of studios, as many as 86 percent, are working on at least one project that is their own intellectual property, indicating that the industry is production-oriented.

More than half of the average studio’s revenue in Croatia comes from client work (work for others), while less than a quarter of total revenues in 2024 came from sales of their own video games. The good news is the still pronounced optimism in the industry – half of the surveyed video game studios expect further revenue growth.

A more detailed analysis shows that the growth of the gaming sector is not evenly distributed. When the three largest companies are excluded from the total figures, the rest of the industry generates about €16 million in revenue. This clearly indicates a high concentration in the sector and the fact that most smaller studios continue to operate under significantly more challenging conditions.

One of the key reasons for this situation lies in global trends. After the pandemic boom, when players spent more time at home, investments in video games worldwide significantly decreased, which also affected Croatia. The share of studios that have financial support from publishers fell from 32 to 18 percent in just two years, while as many as 90 percent of studios reported having no external private investments.

– Video games are an extremely risky business; you invest for years in development, and only upon market release do you see whether the project will succeed or not. In conditions of reduced investment, this becomes an even greater challenge – warned CGDA Secretary General Aleksandar Gavrilović.

In such an environment, game development is increasingly financed from internal sources or public support. About two-thirds of studios use some form of public financing, but their share in total industry revenues amounts to only about two percent, meaning that this source is not strong enough to compensate for the absence of private capital.

To adapt to the new conditions, studios are changing their business strategies. There is an increasing focus on developing their own intellectual property, as well as collaborations with globally recognized brands. At the same time, the success of a particular game becomes crucial as it often finances the development of the next project.

– If there are no publishers and investments, studios must rely on themselves. This means that one successful game must finance the next one – emphasized Gavrilović.

Changes are also visible in the types of games being developed. Instead of action titles, more and more studios are turning to less demanding genres such as puzzle games. This shift is also partially reflected in the structure of employees; the share of programmers has fallen to about 13 percent, which is nearly half of what it was in previous years.

The number of employees in the industry has slightly decreased, from 530 to 520, but this figure conceals a deeper change. More and more studios are transitioning to more flexible working models, increasing the share of freelancers and external collaborators. It is estimated that today about one-third of the workforce consists of external collaborators, while two-thirds are employed full-time.

– On paper, it seems that employment is stable, but in reality, the working model is changing; there are more and more external collaborators and project engagements – said Gavrilović.

Geographically, the industry remains centralized. Zagreb gathers about 40 percent of all studios, while Novska has emerged as another important center thanks to a specialized gaming incubator.

Interestingly, Croatian developers largely remain focused on original projects. More than half of the studios work exclusively on their own games, rather than on projects for clients, but only one-third actively protects their intellectual property.

Given the decline in publisher interest, marketing is becoming one of the key challenges. Studios are increasingly forced to promote their products themselves, and one of the more successful responses to this problem is the initiative “Games from Croatia” on the Steam platform.

– In the week when we jointly promote Croatian games, about ten percent of the industry’s annual revenue is generated, which shows how crucial visibility is – emphasized Gavrilović.

Despite the challenges, the Croatian gaming industry shows resilience and adaptability, but further development will largely depend on strengthening the investment climate and the possible introduction of incentives similar to those in the film industry.