BERLIN, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Approximately 30 million Germans aged 14 and older play video and computer games at least occasionally, according to a study published by the German digital association Bitkom on Thursday.

Since 2014, the number of gamers in Germany has remained at a constant high level but "the gaming industry is breaking with stereotypes and opening up more and more to people who do not play themselves", said Bitkom board member Martin Boerner at the presentation of the study results.

Also, numerous digital offers like e-sport events and live streams would make gaming a social event, said Boerner.

Gaming is increasingly regarded as a cultural asset with 29 percent of people surveyed believing that video games have a cultural benefit to society just like literature, music or films.

Germany's gaming sector is also gaining in economic relevance. According to the German statistics company Statista, the total turnover of the German gaming sector rose by 400 million euros (455 million U.S. dollars) to 3.3 billion euros in 2017 compared to the previous year.

Globally, Germany's gaming sector is still far behind frontrunner China, which expects sales of 18 billion euros in the gaming sector in 2018.

The expanding sector has also been noticed by German politicians. On Aug. 21, Dorothee Baer, Minister of State for Digitalization, and Armin Laschet, minister president of North Rhine-Westphalia, will inaugurate Gamescom, the world's largest trade fair for video games in the city of Cologne.

When German Chancellor Angela Merkel opened last year's gaming fair, she emphasized that "computer and video games are of the greatest importance as a cultural asset, as a driver of innovation and as an economic factor".

Today, the importance gaming is likely to increase further. Bitkom's study shows that one in three of the current non-gamers could imagine starting to play in the future.