Turkiye Joins the Map
Setimedia contributed Turkiye's data to the EGDF Video Games Industry Insight Report for the first time. Istanbul ranks as Europe's top game development hub, and the numbers only tell part of the story.
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Istanbul is officially the top game development hub in Europe. That's not a claim we're making, it's what the data shows in the European Game Developers Federation's Video Games Industry Insight Report, published this year with Türkiye included for the first time.
Setimedia prepared the Turkish data for the report. Getting the numbers together was straightforward enough, but the more valuable part was the process around it. Mapping Türkiye's industry against the EU members revealed real structural differences, not just in scale but in how the ecosystem is funded, organized, and supported. Those gaps opened conversations that wouldn't have happened otherwise. The UK and Serbia show similar patterns, which suggests there's a broader discussion to be had among non-EU or recently integrated markets about what works and what doesn't.
The report covers 2023 figures. Even then, Türkiye holds strong positions not just in revenue but in the number of educational institutions, hubs, and clusters. The country has built genuine depth in the talent and infrastructure pipeline, and it shows. By the time 2025 data arrives, the picture will look considerably different. Private investment in the Turkish games industry has already hit around 200 million dollars this year, with 142 million of that publicly reported through Startups.watch.
The hard work behind this report came from many directions. Ricardas Jascemskas and Jari-Pekka Kaleva deserve specific credit for driving the process from the EGDF side. Türkiye being in this report is a step, not a destination. The 2025 data will be the real test of how far the industry has come.
