Let the games begin

According to official data provided by computer-game producer Blizzard, an eye-popping 4.5 million people have bought its latest hit title, World of Warcraft. Global industry giants, such as Blizzard, record revenues that can match and sometimes beat  those of the most famous Hollywood studios.

The annual value of the computer-game market worldwide is soon expected to reach $30 (zł.116) billion. While Poland's slice of this pie is still relatively small, sales continue to increase sharply. In 2001, nine percent of people aged 15 and up played computer games. Four years later, 14 percent of Poles said they play computer games on a regular basis. The value of the market in Poland surpassed zł.100 million at the beginning of last year, and the most popular games have sold more than 25,000 copies. In comparison, only the most popular Polish pop stars sell more copies of their albums.

It's witchcraft

The biggest Polish companies produce more than 20 programs, some of which will be advertised and distributed throughout the continent. The biggest Polish games producer, CD Projekt, has been working for a year and a half on a game entitled The Witcher, based on the best-selling novel by Andrzej Sapkowski. In March another big Polish company, Techland, will release its game GTI Racing Europe-wide.

"Currently we produce more or less 35 titles annually, and more than half of these are games," Techland's marketing and PR director, Adam Tutaj, says. "The market in Poland is on the move, there are several domestic companies going international."

Console-ation

The rapid growth of the electronic-gaming market has meant that the Polish firms, which mainly produce PC games, have had to adjust quickly to changing market demands. Though video games (games played on consoles such as the X-box or Playstation, not a PC) entered the market in Poland just a few years ago, their popularity has skyrocketed.

"Console software started at around 15 percent of all entertainment software two years ago. In 2005 it will probably be 35 percent and for 2007 we expect it to be around 65-70 percent," says Jens Uwe Intat, head of European sales at video-game giant Electronic Arts, adding that the shift is a sign of market maturity.

By comparison, software for consoles accounts for about 80 percent of sales in the United States and only recently topped the 50-percent mark in Germany.

Intat credits demographics for pushing the move towards consoles, as well as for the rising popularity of electronic gaming in general.

"It's [increasing] the purchasing power, and it's also the society, which is very modern and very curious about new technologies," Intat said, noting that 34 percent of Poland's population is under 24 years old, compared with 26 percent in Germany.

Baby steps

Now that the Polish electronic-gaming market has taken its first steps towards maturity, industry experts say the future lies in consolidation. Tiny firms that made up the market have already begun disappearing as the bigger Polish companies eagerly gobble up their former competitors.

"Mergers mean higher revenues and financial possibilities, not only for companies, but also for customers," a member of Polish game-maker IM Group's board, Michał Mazurkiewicz, says.