A record 72.4 million euros for Croatian gaming in 2024. These were the biggest companies

– If we exclude the three biggest successes, you have a pretty big drop. It would not be said that it is a huge success of the industry – said Gavrilov.

The global investment crisis is hitting the domestic scene

The main cause of such a gap lies in the global decline in investment in the video game industry after the pandemic. Large investors withdrew from the market, and the sector, which requires multi-year development without certain returns, became riskier than before. The consequences are also visible in Croatia: the share of studies that have funding from international publications has fallen from 32 to 18 percent, while almost 90 percent of studies in 2025 do not have secured external private investments.

This is why many developers are looking for alternative income models, from negotiations with the Ministry of Culture and Media on the introduction of incentives modeled on the film industry, to increasingly working on well-known intellectual properties to reduce business risk. Projects based on global franchises such as “The Lord of the Rings” and Netflix series such as Too Hot to Handle are being developed in Croatia.

Industry between author’s work and client projects

Despiteč challenges, the Croatian gaming scene continues to show a strong author component. As many as 86 percent of studios work on at least one project that is their own intellectual property, and more than half of them develop exclusively their own games.

However, the financial structure reveals a different reality. More than half of the average studio’s income comes from client work – developing games or parts of projects for other clients. Revenues from the sale of own games accounted for less than a quarter of total revenues in 2024, which points to a key area for improvement – marketing and global visibility.

A positive signal comes from the expectations of the studies themselves: half of them predict further income growth, despite the fact that unfavorable financing conditions.

Changes in industry structure and employment

The industry is also going through a deep structural transformation. In the last three years, the number of classic companies has decreased, while the number of trades has more than doubled. As a result, development teams are increasingly organized into smaller, more flexible units.

Changes are also visible in the labor market. Although official data shows about 520 employees, for the first time a decrease in the number of full-time employees was recorded – by about two percent compared to the previous year. This decline is compensated by the growth in the number of people working through trades and freelance engagements, which today account for about a third of the workforce in the industry.

At the same time, the occupational structure is also changing. There are fewer and fewer programmers – their share fell to 13.5 percent – ​​while the number of visual artists and writers is growing. A change in genres also contributes to this: 56 percent of studios develop puzzle games, and a quarter “roguelike” titles, which are less technically demanding.

It is also interesting to note that 31 percent of the employed in the industry are women, which is significantly above the global average. But this result is largely due to the structure of one large studio – Nanobit. When he is excluded from the analysis, the share of men in the rest of the industry rises to about 84 percent. However, as many as 50% of studios in Croatia offer the option of playing with a male or female character in their games, and another 23% of games have an exclusively female character, according to the research.

The “detective work” of discovering the industry

Tracking the industry is further complicated by the fact that video game development companies only recently received their own classification code. Many are still classified under the general category of computer programming, which is why analysts discover “hidden” studies every year.

“This year we discovered that there is a MM Games studio in Sesvete that has been successful for years, but it was simply not visible in the system,” says Gavrilović.

It is this studio that is among the top three in Croatia in 2024, along with Nanobit and Gamepires. MM Games is otherwise engaged in creating content for Fortnite.

Zagreb and Novska as key centers

The industry is still geographically concentrated. About 40 percent of the studios are located in Zagreb, while Novska was profiled as the second most important center with a 25 percent share. The reason for this is the business incubator Pismo powered by A1, which plays a key role in the education and development of new gaming startups.

Community as a response to crisis

Despiteč challenges, the Croatian gaming scene also shows examples of successful cooperation. The “Games from Croatia” project on the Steam platform, which brought together domestic studios in joint promotion, generated as much as 10 percent of the industry’s annual revenue in just one week.

This example shows that, with a stronger focus on marketing and association, domestic developers can compensate for the lack of large investments and strengthen their position on the global market.

And as Gavrilovi pointed out, they will continue with this this year as well, and they are also in negotiations with other large gaming platforms to offer Croatian titles there as well.

Adria league with a new face

Research has confirmed the potential of gaming in Croatia, which has also become one of the most dynamic segments of digital entertainment and an important element of contemporary culture, especially among younger generations.

A1 Croatia also emphasizes that through a series of initiatives they are actively contributing to the development of the gaming community and connecting the industry with young talents, so in 2026 they will strengthen their activities through a refreshed and rebranded approach. Their focus is on expanding the perception of gaming – not as a space reserved exclusively for professional esports players, but rather as an accessible and inclusive form of entertainment and digital expression.

– Gaming is often equated with esports, but that scene is much broader today. That’s why we at A1 Croatia have decided to supplement the previous emphasis on the competitive segment with community development and projects that bring gaming closer to a wider audience. We want to create an environment that at the same time encourages the competitive spirit, but also socializing, learning and sharing experiences. This year we will also focus special attention on students, for whom we want to provide a structured platform for developing skills and connecting with the gaming and technology industry – said Valentina Leventi, senior specialist for marketing communications at A1 Croatia, in charge of developing gaming activities.

The first step in this direction will be the A1 Student eChallenge (A1 SeC), which is entering its seventh season this year and has been seeing an increase in interest and number of participants from year to year. This year’s competition will be held from May 2 to 31, with a prize fund of more than 8,000 euros. Participants will compete in the titles Counter-Strike, League of Legends, Rocket League and Valorant.

A1 Student eChallenge is designed as a platform for the development of the student gaming scene, which enables the connection of the community, the exchange of knowledge and the opening of new opportunities, and in the coming period it is planned to gradually expand to the regional level.