Citing recent statistics regarding gaming revenues generated in 2007, Forbes has gone on record stating that Europe is now the largest potential market for the industry, but that it’s also the least mature. According to financial statements, European sales amounted to slightly over a billion less than US sales ($17.9 billion vs. $18.8 billion) in spite of Europe hosting a population twice as big as the United States.

Major reasons for the lack of success in Europe has to do with gaming tastes and cultural acceptance of games, both of which are much different than America. For example, there is still a bit of a cultural taboo to gaming in Europe, with people owning consoles still largely being considered as social outcasts who have very little in the way of human interaction. Furthermore, the European market is more interested than casual games than hardcore titles, so the average gamer is more likely to pick up a PS2 or Nintendo DS than an Xbox 360 or PS3.

While Europeans prefer more casual fare, most of the big-budget, heavily-hyped titles don’t fare well overseas. For example, while Halo 3 moved 4.8 million copies in the US, it only managed to sell 900,000 unites in all of Europe. Since developers and publishers tend to gear their most anticipated titles toward American audiences, most of what they produce will likely never appeal to the average European gamer.

So Forbes sees huge growth potential in Europe, but only if gaming companies fundamentally shift their thinking to be more in line with the tastes of European consumers. It’s a vast market indeed, but the question remains, would developers and publishers abandon an established US sales base in order to chase potential consumers in Europe? Only time will tell.