The unusual sales model behind Cyprus’s €3.2 billion gaming industry

Local Top Newsvideo games The unusual sales model behind Cyprus’s €3.2 billion gaming industry Sunriseforever Game Console 6603120 1920 Relevant News The unusual sales model behind Cyprus’s €3.2 billion gaming industry 19 August 2026 Konstantinos Konstantinou, Andreas Andreou: “Tocayo never stops evolving” 19 August 2026 The EU’s AI rulebook is here: what it means for Europeans 19 August 2026 Daniel Zambartas 19 August 2026 FacebookXWhatsAppEmailPrintViber Cyprus has developed a sizeable video game industry in recent years, but one figure in the country’s first national report on the sector stands out. Companies based in Cyprus generated an estimated €1.4 billion from PC and console games in 2025. Yet only around €200 million of that came through Steam, the world’s best-known digital marketplace for PC games. That means roughly 86% of the revenue was generated outside Steam, mainly through direct sales to players and other distribution channels. For people outside the gaming industry, the significance may not be immediately obvious. In simple terms, Steam works a little like an online shopping centre for computer games. Players open the Steam app, browse thousands of titles, buy games and download them directly to their computers. For developers, it offers an enormous ready-made audience and handles much of the technical side of selling a game. But Steam also takes a share of each sale. Its standard commission starts at 30%, although the percentage falls for games generating very large amounts of revenue. For many game studios, that is the price of gaining access to one of the biggest gaming platforms in the world. Selling directly to players Some Cyprus-based companies, however, have built businesses that rely much less heavily on Steam. Instead of sending every customer to an outside marketplace, they can sell games or digital content through their own websites, payment systems or game-launching software. This is known as direct-to-consumer distribution. The difference is similar to a company selling a product through its own website rather than relying entirely on a large online marketplace. Selling directly does not mean a company keeps every euro. It still has to pay for advertising, payment processing, servers, customer support and other costs. But it can avoid some of the fees charged by large digital stores and, just as importantly, keep a more direct relationship with its customers. That can give companies greater control over how they market their games, communicate with players and offer new products or updates. Why Cyprus developed this model The report suggests that this approach has become one of the defining features of the Cyprus games industry. Over the past decade, companies operating from the island have developed expertise not just in creating games, but also in areas such as international online advertising, digital payments and selling directly to customers in different countries. That matters because the Cyprus market itself is far too small to support an industry of this size. The overwhelming majority of revenue therefore comes from players abroad. A company may be headquartered or operating in Nicosia or Limassol, while almost all of its customers are in larger markets across Europe, North America, Asia and elsewhere. Cyprus has effectively become a base from which gaming companies run international businesses. A €3.2 billion sector PC and console games account for less than half of the industry’s estimated revenue. According to the Cyprus Video Game Industry Report 2025, companies based on the island generated more than €3.2 billion in game revenue during the year. Around €1.8 billion came from mobile games, with approximately €1.4 billion coming from PC and console titles. The report identified 415 verified gaming companies operating in Cyprus and more than 4,300 people employed in the sector. It also found that the industry has expanded rapidly. The number of gaming companies rose from 169 in 2019 to 393 in 2024, while employment increased from 1,438 to 4,320 over the same period. Turnover among companies involved in game development and publishing rose from €1.26 billion to €4.35 billion. Not just small Cypriot studios The figures should not be interpreted as meaning hundreds of small Cypriot developers are producing games for the domestic market. The sector includes international gaming companies that have chosen Cyprus as a base, alongside businesses founded or developed on the island. That distinction is important. What the report is measuring is a Cyprus-based industry, rather than only games created by Cypriot nationals. Companies are attracted by Cyprus’s EU membership, its corporate and legal environment and its location as a base for internationally focused businesses, according to the report. Why the 86% figure matters The Steam figure offers an insight into what makes the Cyprus industry unusual. The key point is not that Cyprus-based companies have somehow replaced Steam or proved that large gaming platforms are unnecessary. Rather, it shows that a substantial part of the industry operating from Cyprus has built other ways of reaching customers. Where many game developers depend heavily on large online stores to bring them players, some of the biggest companies in Cyprus appear to have developed their own sales and marketing networks. That gives the island’s gaming sector a different profile from the image many people may have of the industry: a developer creates a game, uploads it to Steam and waits for customers to find it. In Cyprus, a significant part of the business appears to happen outside that system. The report notes that its revenue figures are estimates rather than audited financial results, and that direct sales are harder to measure because they are less publicly visible than sales made through platforms such as Steam. Still, the findings offer the clearest picture yet of a sector that has grown rapidly but remains relatively little known outside gaming and technology circles. Cyprus is no longer simply hosting a handful of gaming companies. It has developed into an international base for a multi-billion-euro industry — and one whose largest businesses appear to have found ways of reaching players that go well beyond the industry’s biggest digital storefront. 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