The Gaming Growth Layer

Germany has 41.2 million players. Globally, 3.6 billion people play, and the market crossed $200 billion in 2025. Yet ask a brand outside the games industry what gaming means for its business, and the answer usually describes a media channel.

We think that misses most of the opportunity. Gaming is reshaping how people form communities, express identity, learn, shop and interact with digital products. Along the way, the industry has built capabilities that other companies can adopt: continuous product development, real-time customer intelligence, retention, digital monetization and simulation.

We wrote this paper together with the specialists at EarlyGame, a gaming and esports media platform, who share what they see in the field in short insights throughout.

In this paper

• Five mechanisms that make gaming relevant to business, and what is already happening across media, retail, health, beauty, food and mobility.
• Six layers of strategic depth, from understanding the player and activating attention to building propositions and transforming the core business.
• How measurement has to change with the depth of the move.
• Five lessons any digital business can learn from how games companies work.