The global video game industry is entering a new stage of growth: more mature, more competitive, and increasingly connected to other creative, technological, and cultural sectors.
According to Newzoo, the global market reached USD 197 billion in 2025, following strongerthan-expected performance in PC and mobile, and maintains a worldwide player base of around 3.6 billion, with forecasts pointing to nearly 3.9 billion by 2028. Boston Consulting Group also notes that the convergence of user-enerated content, artificial intelligence, cloud gaming, and new opportunities around app stores is shaping a new phase for all players in the industry.
Video games are no longer an isolated industry; they have become a cross-cutting cultural and technological infrastructure. Within this landscape, the Madrid Region has particularly strong conditions to consolidate its position as one of Europe’s leading hubs for video games and interactive entertainment. The region combines business critical mass, creative and technological talent, specialized training centers, sector-specific infrastructure, professional events, and a public strategy that integrates video games into the audiovisual value chain. The Madrid Region’s 2026-2029 Strategic Plan for the Audiovisual Industry expressly includes the video game industry within that value chain, from design and creation to programming, publishing, distribution, marketing, consumption, and support.
The economic base of the sector in Madrid is already significant. The region’s video game industry generates more than EUR 1.2 billion in revenue and around 6,000 direct jobs. In addition, the regional government announced in March 2026 that it would double the funding allocated to video game development grants, from EUR 250,000 to EUR 500,000. This is supported by a relevant business and training base: AEVI’s 2024 Yearbook, based on DeVuego data, identifies 93 development studios and 19 training centers in Madrid, within a Spanish ecosystem made up of 423 studios and 103 training centers.
Spain is also gaining ground on the European video game map. According to AEVI, the sector generated EUR 2.408 billion in revenue in Spain in 2024, with year-on-year growth of nearly 3%, and reached 22.1 million players. The 2024 Yearbook also reflects a significant shift in the market profile: for the first time, women represented a slight majority of people who play video games in Spain, accounting for 50.45% of the total, compared to 49.55% for men. In parallel, the 2024 White Paper on Spanish Video Game Development estimates that Spanish video game development generated EUR 1.425 billion in revenue in 2023, up 3.1% from 2022.
One of the most visible assets of Madrid’s ecosystem is Madrid in Game, an initiative promoted by Madrid City Council at the Casa de Campo Exhibition Center. The Video Game Campus spans 4,500 square meters and includes four specialized pavilions. These include the Development Center, which supports startups in pre-incubation, incubation, and acceleration phases and features virtual reality, augmented reality, video, and sound labs; and the Esports Center, designed as a high-performance center to professionalize the competitive gaming industry. This infrastructure gives Madrid a distinctive physical and virtual space to foster new ideas linked to gaming, gamification, and interactive experiences.
This ecosystem is complemented by the Madrid Creative Industries and Video Games Cluster, a private nonprofit association created by Madrid City Council. The Action Framework to promote the video game and esports sector in Madrid states that the cluster brings together more than 70 members from different areas of the broader video game ecosystem, including companies, associations, and public and private institutions. Its role is particularly important in an industry where many small and mid-sized studios need access to publishers, financing, technical talent, mentoring, international visibility, and collaborative spaces that allow them to scale from creative projects into globally competitive companies.
The connection between video games and audiovisual production is especially relevant for Madrid. The 2026-2029 Strategic Plan for the Audiovisual Industry estimates that the audiovisual sector’s direct gross value added exceeded EUR 2.3 billion in the Madrid Region in 2024, while its total economic contribution, including indirect and induced effects, stood at more than EUR 7.2 billion, around 2.6% of regional GDP. The audiovisual sector also supported more than 100,000 jobs in the region in 2024, of which nearly 30,000 were direct jobs. For the video game industry, this proximity to audiovisual production opens opportunities in animation, visual effects, localization, dubbing, music, esports, immersive experiences, AI applied to content, and corporate gamification.
The celebration of MAD Games Show 2026 further strengthens the professional and international dimension of Madrid’s ecosystem. The event is positioned as a meeting point for developers, publishers, investors, universities, and technology companies, consolidating Madrid as a relevant venue within Spain’s professional video game calendar.
The leading international reference remains the United States. According to the Entertainment Software Association, the U.S. video game industry created or supported 250,838 jobs in 2025, generated USD 95.8 billion in total economic impact, and contributed USD 65.5 billion to the country’s GDP. The same report identifies states such as California, Washington, Texas, New York, Florida, and North Carolina as key territories in terms of direct employment and economic impact, and notes that the top 15 states account for 89% of employment in the U.S. video game industry. This geography confirms a fundamental trend: the most competitive hubs do not rely solely on creative studios, but on the integration of talent, financing, technological infrastructure, business community, and international connectivity.
This comparison with the United States is particularly useful for Madrid. Major North American hubs concentrate capital, publishers, platforms, and global scaling methodologies, while Madrid can offer creative and technical talent, competitive costs, cultural localization capabilities, access to the European market, and a natural connection with Latin America. The region’s relevant base of studios, training centers, specialized infrastructure, sector cluster, professional events, and public support policies strengthens its appeal for studios, publishers, and technology companies seeking a European platform for development, adaptation, auxiliary production, creative services, localization, Spanish-speaking communities, and international expansion.
At a time when the global video game industry is seeking new growth models, greater production efficiency, geographic diversification, and specialized talent, the Madrid Region is consolidating its position as a European platform of reference. Its ability to connect creativity, technology, audiovisual production, training, investment, and institutions can place the region in a prominent position within the new global geography of interactive entertainment.