Video Game Industry Statistics in Canada

While playing video games divides opinions, the fact is that it is a large, growing industry that is only predicted to grow further both in Canada and worldwide. What is the video game industry worth in Canada, how much has it grown, and how many people does it employ?

We answer all those questions and many more in this article about Canada’s video game industry statistics. You will also find information about the gamer demographics in Canada, types of video game companies, and a brief look at the global picture for comparison.

Video Game Industry Statistics for Canadians

• In 2024, the video game industry’s contribution to Canada’s GDP was $5.1 billion.
• Around 76% of video game companies in Canada are owned by Canadians.
• 61% of Canadians play video games.
• The sales of digital games have increased year on year, while the sales of physical video games have stagnated.
• Around 34,000 people were working full-time in the video game industry in Canada in 2025.
• 36% of the industry’s jobs are with just 1% of the companies.
• Around 94% of Canadian companies in the video game industry have less than one hundred employees.
• Ontario and Quebec have around 80% of Canada’s video game companies.
• Three-quarters of all people working in the industry are men.
• The average salary in the video game industry is $77,000.

The Definition of the Video Game Industry

The video game industry covers a wide range of professions and activities, such as developing, creating, publishing, and distributing video games. It also includes the production and sales of products such as PC, consoles, online, and mobile games, and the hardware and accessories, for example, controllers, consoles, and virtual reality headsets. The revenues in the video game industry are generated through consumer spending on games, in-game purchases, and subscription fees.

Video Game Industry in Canada

In 2024, the video game industry contributed $5.1 billion to the Canadian GDP. This represented growth compared with earlier years, with about $3.9 billion contributed directly by the industry and roughly $1.2 billion from indirect sources. Industry revenue in Canada has continued to expand, and with a projected compound annual growth rate in the broader market of around 12.5 % between 2025 and 2030, the Canadian video game market is expected to grow substantially in the coming years.

Most of the Video Companies Operating in Canada Are Canadian

In 2023–24, an estimated 76 % of video game companies in Canada were Canadian‑owned, a slight decline compared with earlier years. This is because the industry has evolved and foreign‑owned studios now employ a larger share of workers and generate significant revenue

Video Game Penetration in Canada

According to the Entertainment Software Association of Canada, 23 million Canadians play video games, representing 61% of the population. Younger Canadians are more likely to play video games with 89% of children and teens (6-17-year-olds) playing video games compared to 61% of the 18-64-year-olds. The survey did not include Canadians aged 65 and over.

The penetration rate is highest among boys aged 13 to 17, with 90% of them considering themselves gamers. The penetration rate, at 29%, is the lowest among women aged 55 to 64. Saskatchewan has the highest penetration rate at 68% and Quebec has the lowest at 57%.

Types of Video Games Played in Canada

While the types of the most popular games vary across gender and age groups, puzzle and word games are the most popular type of game among adult Canadians, and action and adventure games among kids and teens.

37% of Canadian adults say they play puzzle and word games while 33% of kids and teens play action and adventure games. Some of the top genres among Canadian gamers aged 18 to 64 are Action (platformers, fighting games) and Casual (which may include farming games, sim games, and offline single-player experiences).

How Canadians Play

Canadians are most likely to play online with 70% of those who play video games saying they access the games online. However, 58% of adults are also playing offline. For several years now, Canadians have been more likely to download digital copies rather than buy physical copies of the games they play.

This trend is demonstrated by the market revenue published by Statista. It shows that the revenue from digital games has increased year-on-year since 2017. Overall, the increases have been steady, other than a large jump from $2.244 billion to $3.032 billion between 2019 and 2020. This was most likely because of COVID-19. Meanwhile, the sales of physical games have stagnated at around $0.93 billion.

In 2024, 55% of Canadians say they primarily used a smartphone to play video games. 

Consumer Spending on Video Games in Canada

In 2024, Canadians spent $5.1 billion on digital products. Online gaming subscriptions, game downloads, and in‑game purchases accounted for 16.7 % of total spending on digital products. The biggest spending category was mobile apps, computer software, and other online subscriptions.

Canadians aged 25‑34 were the biggest spenders. This age group accounted for approximately 35 % of the total spending. The next biggest group with 30 % was the 18‑24‑year‑olds and the smallest groups were the over 65s with 2 % and 55‑64‑year‑olds with 3 %.

Video Game Industry Employment in Canada

In 2025, the number of people employed directly by the video game industry reached 34,010 full-time employees. This was a 4.7 % increase from 2024.

Most of the jobs were within the largest companies. Even though they only represent 6% of all companies in Canada, they provide work for 76% of all full-time employees in the industry. And if we break those statistics down further, it shows that very large companies, those with over 400 members of staff, represent only 1% of all companies, yet employ 36% of all full-time staff.

Most Canadian Video Game Companies Are Categorised as Micro-companies

Most companies in the Canadian video game industry are either micro companies, meaning they employ less than four people, or standard-size companies with more than five but less than a hundred employees. In 2025, these companies formed approximately 94 % of all video game companies in Canada. However, the remaining 6 % includes large companies that generate a notable share of the economic and employment activity in the Canadian video game industry.

In 2024, there were 980 companies in total. 520 were micro companies, representing an increase of approximately 35 % over the two-year period to 2025. The number of standard-size companies rose from 285 to 380, an increase of roughly 33 %. The number of large companies, with over one hundred employees, increased from 40 to 60, representing a 50 % increase.

Some of the largest video game studios in Canada include Ubisoft Montreal, BioWare, Digital Extremes, and Electronic Arts.

Video Game Businesses Across Canada

Most of the businesses in the video gaming industry are located in Quebec and Ontario. Together these provinces had 79 % of the country’s video gaming companies in 2025, with 310 in Ontario and 300 in Quebec. British Columbia is next with 165 companies, followed by Alberta with 90. The Prairies, excluding Alberta, had 42 companies in total, as did the Atlantic Provinces.

In British Columbia, the number of large companies grew by 115 %, while the Atlantic provinces and Manitoba and Saskatchewan saw significant increases in the numbers of micro companies. In the Atlantic provinces, the number of micro companies grew by 140 % and across Manitoba and Saskatchewan by 110 %.

In most areas across Canada, micro businesses are more common than standard-size companies. The only exception is British Columbia, where there are 64 micro businesses compared to 85 standard-size businesses. Quebec has the most large-size companies with 23, followed by British Columbia with 20, and Ontario with 11.

Most Video Game Industry Employees Work Full-Time

In 2025, approximately 82 % of the people working in the video game industry in Canada were full-time employees, while about 17 % were freelancers and just 0.5 % worked part-time. The number of full-time employees increased by 1 % since 2024, and the proportion of people working in the industry as freelancers or on fixed-term contracts decreased slightly compared to previous years.

The Majority of People Working in the Video Game Industry Are Men

Most of the people working in the Canadian video game industry are men, with women representing only 25 % of the workforce in 2025. However, this is 6 % higher than in 2024, when only 19 % of the employees were women.

Ontario has the highest percentage of women working in the industry at 27 %, while British Columbia has the lowest at 21 %. The Prairies have the highest percentage of women working directly on games, with 82 % of all women employed by video game companies in the Prairies working directly on games.

Women who work in the smallest companies are more likely to be directly involved with the games at 83 %. In large companies, women are more likely to perform other roles, with only 38 % working directly on games.

The Average Salaries in the Industry

According to the recruitment website Glassdoor, the average salary in the video game industry in Canada is $77,000 based on 874 salaries. However, there are big differences depending on position, location, and the size of the company. Based on data published from recent industry reports, people working for very large companies can earn around $102,000 on average, compared to roughly $106,000 for small‑to‑medium companies and $88,000 for micro companies.

The Global Picture

Globally, the video game industry was worth approximately 260 billion USD in 2025, following growth from previous years. This is a lot higher than the forecast made in 2016, which expected the video game industry to reach just over 90 billion USD in 2021. There is a substantial difference between the projection and the real figure.

The projections were reset following the pandemic, and the industry was expected to reach 255 billion USD in 2024.

Asia has the largest volume of gamers, with the region accounting for about 1.48 billion gamers. That represents 46 % of the total number of gamers worldwide, which is 3.2 billion. Gamers in Europe represent 22 %, which is 715 million in total. Latin America has 14.5 % of the total gamers and North America has 9.8 %.

Conclusion

The video game industry is one of the fastest-growing industries. In Canada, the number of video game companies increased by 36 % between 2024 and 2025. Most of the video game companies in Canada are micro companies employing less than four people. 37 % of the whole video game industry workforce is employed by just 1 % of the largest companies.

The video game penetration rate in Canada is 61% and men in most age groups are more likely to play video games than women. Globally, there are 3.2 billion gamers, and just under 10% of these gamers are in Canada and the United States.