Revenue increase: games and puzzles grow faster than the entire toy market in 2025
Sales of games and puzzles in Germany rose by 18 per cent from January to mid-September 2025. The entire toy market grew by four per cent.
This was announced by the German Toy Industry Association (DVSI) and the Association of Game Publishers. Games and puzzles are now the highest-grossing product category in the German toy market. Classic games in particular have developed strongly: “They increased by over 22 per cent compared to the previous year. A major growth driver remains the ongoing hype around collectible cards,” writes the DVSI. Ravensburger reported over one billion Lorcana cards sold at the start of the year, while Magic: The Gathering and Pokémon continue to generate high sales.
Sales growth with classics
Card, party, family and adult games also remained in demand. If collectible cards are excluded, board games increased by more than six per cent. Classic games played a particularly important role here. “They are the second most important growth driver in the market for 40 per cent of the surveyed companies and at the same time the ‘bread-and-butter games’ for business,” writes the DVSI.
Kosmos is celebrating 30 years of Catan in 2025. “No matter how many expansions or new versions come onto the market: at the end of the day, it’s always the classic red box that sets the tone. The base game continues to sell at a high level,” said Benjamin Teuber in an interview with kulturgutspiel.de. Hans im Glück revised Carcassonne last year and is releasing the ten most important expansions as new editions for SPIEL 2025. And then there’s the modern classic Hitster. “Since its market launch in 2021, Jumbo has sold around 3.5 million copies, including over 1 million in Germany alone. According to Circana market data from December 2024, Hitster achieved a triple placement in the top 50 toys, with Hitster Original taking second place,” writes the industry service Brandora.
Publishers look positively towards the Christmas business
The publishers are optimistic about the important end-of-year business. 68 per cent of the surveyed companies expect better sales results around Christmas than in 2024. 73 per cent anticipate better results overall in 2025 than in the previous year. The toy industry as a whole saw weaker Christmas sales in the past two years.
“The growth of the games and puzzles product group in the first nine months shows that board games continue to attract people. Affordable, compact, fast and family-friendly expert games are currently very popular with customers, but high-priced games also have no trouble finding buyers if the game idea is original and the execution is good,” says Dieter Strehl, deputy chairman of the Association of Game Publishers. Cooperative games are also still popular. As early as 1988, a cooperative game, Sauerbaum, was awarded a special prize by the Spiel des Jahres jury. In Bomb Busters, the Spiel des Jahres 2025, we also defuse bombs together.
Furthermore, demographic change is having an impact on publishers’ offerings. In Germany, the proportion of single-person households was around 45 per cent in 2024, with a rising trend. While solo games (or solo variants), which have flooded the market in recent years, are considered niche products by 57 per cent of publishers, two-player games are gaining importance.
Growth in Germany and abroad
59 per cent of the surveyed companies believe that geopolitical conflicts and the ongoing economic weakness in Germany are dampening consumer sentiment. Nevertheless, publishers expect moderate growth for their own companies.
The companies are growing not only in Germany but also abroad. “France and the USA in particular offer attractive prospects for expansion. Meanwhile, 30 per cent of the surveyed companies generate more than 40 per cent of their turnover from foreign business, and for a further 25 per cent, it is between 20 and 40 per cent,” reports the DVSI. However, the example of Amigo shows that international business does not automatically succeed: Amigo Games Inc., the US subsidiary of the Hessian publisher Amigo, is ceasing operations at the end of 2025 due to the after-effects of the pandemic, increased trade costs and customs conflicts between the EU and the USA.
In general, the industry views tariffs critically. In a joint statement at the beginning of 2025, the US Toy Association and 18 other associations from America, Asia and Europe called for toys to be exempt from tariffs in response to Trump’s policies. The DVSI also signed the statement. Further requests from the industry to politicians include reducing regulations and ensuring fair competitive conditions compared to low-cost online platforms.
Online gains, brick-and-mortar retail loses
Speaking of online platforms: despite the ongoing enthusiasm for analogue games, purchasing behaviour in Germany is changing noticeably. According to the DVSI, companies have observed a 62 per cent increase in online trade, while stationary retail has declined by 48 per cent. More than half of publishers (53 per cent) are therefore focusing on clearly defined price limits to secure their competitiveness.
Although the topic of sustainability has lost importance in public debate over the past two years, 85 per cent of publishers consider it important or very important. The range of measures includes optimising packaging and box design (75 per cent) and supply chains (45 per cent), as well as a stronger shift of production to Europe (65 per cent).
“Family and adult games represent German board game culture like almost no other category, which has become increasingly diverse over the past two decades,” says Hermann Hutter in conclusion. Hutter is chairman of the Association of Game Publishers. “Board game culture connects generations and promotes cohesion,” also said Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth. She commented in March 2025 on the occasion of board games being added to the nationwide directory of Intangible Cultural Heritage. The inclusion does not bring the industry any money, but it could open new doors. Why this is the case is explained in our background article.
Board Games Index
The Board Games Index is a new method for collecting data from the industry. It was developed by the Association of Game Publishers. The association is a specialist group within the German Toy Industry Association (DVSI), in which game publishers from Germany, Switzerland and Austria are organised. In addition to the 17 members of the association, 20 other companies from the “Games & Puzzles” sector were contacted for the Board Games Index. The aim was to not only conduct a pure member survey but to better cover the market breadth and increase the significance and representativeness of the index. The survey was conducted anonymously and online. Of the 37 companies contacted, 22 responded. The participation rate was thus 59.5 per cent. “The data basis is solid and representative for the games industry,” reports the DVSI.