British games body Ukie has called upon the government to offer stronger backing for the UK’s games industry or risk losing out on £500m.
Ukie’s new Press Start on Growth campaign states that without proper investment, the British games sector risks losing world-class talent, innovative ideas, and exciting IPs to better-backed competitors in other countries.
The gaming industry is booming in the UK as it has doubled in size since 2013, with £7.6bn spent by consumers in 2024.
There has also been a huge increase in new independent studios opening across the country and Q3 of 2024 alone saw a 24% increase in small and medium video game businesses.
However, as other countries ramp up support for their creative tech industries, Ukie believes the UK’s current policy framework is falling behind and, because of that, industry experts predict the UK government are missing out on a £500m growth opportunity.
Nick Poole OBE, CEO of Ukie, explained: “The UK games industry is a global success story, but we can’t take that success for granted.
“With smart reforms, we can unlock £500m in new revenue, create 6,000 skilled jobs, and supercharge the UK’s digital economy. But if we delay, we risk losing that prize to competitors overseas.”
There are game studios all across the UK, including EA Sports in Guildford and Grand Theft Auto 6 publisher Rockstar Games which has offices in Dundee and Edinburgh. Ukie says these studios are supporting over 73,000 jobs and contributing £6bn in GVA (gross value added) annually.
Despite this success, UK developers face growing pressure from countries offering better incentives and easier access to funding and talent. Ukie’s Press Start on Growth campaign is hoping to address this and maintain the UK’s strong position in the industry by asking the government to take the following steps:
- Reform the Video Games Expenditure Credit (VGEC) to better support small and independent studios with competitive rates.
- Expand the UK Games Fund to meet surging demand and power the next generation of game-makers.
- Enhance Skills and Talent Development: Including the introduction of a new Digital Creativity GCSE to build future pipelines.
- Improve access to finance and business support for scaling studios.
In doing so, Ukie believes that the UK sector can unlock £500m in new annual revenue, create 6,000 new highly skilled jobs within five years, and deliver a fivefold return on public investment.
UK esports events spend jumps 44%
As well as announcing the Press Start on Growth campaign, Ukie released its annual Consumer Market Valuation Report which shows that the UK’s esports industry is continuing to gain momentum.
Last year was a fantastic one for the country’s esports sector as 2024 saw a 44% increase in consumer spending on esports events thanks to numerous major events being held in the UK last year, including the League of Legends World Championship final which was predicted to give a £12m boost to London’s economy.
Though, as a whole, live events in the UK dropped by 15% with the cancellation of Insomnia 73 and postponement of Runefest just some of the factors cited.
PC gaming is also on the rise as a 6% increase from 2023 saw £715m spent on PC hardware last year.
That could be good news for the future generation of UK esports talent who will hopefully become even stronger competitors on the platform. Though many may choose to play on smartphones instead, as mobile gaming software sales grew by an impressive 8.1%.
Overall, the report found that UK consumers spent an astonishing £7.6bn on video games alone in 2024, double the amount of the £3.5bn spent in 2013.
However, this huge number is actually a 1.8% decrease from 2023 as the population struggled with an increasingly challenging economy.
Console sales dropped significantly as the end of the current console approaches—hence why Microsoft is currently working on three new Xbox controllers for its next hardware release.
UK consumers spent 24% less on consoles in 2024 than they did in 2023 with a 5.1% dip in hardware sales in Q4 alone attributed to falling demand for the Nintendo Switch, according to Ipsos Game Track. That was likely due to the now-proven rumours of the Nintendo Switch 2 releasing this summer.
And facing the biggest decline was physical game sales, which have been declining consistently for over a decade now and dropped by a drastic 34% last year.
In my seven years of esports writing, I’ve introuduced esports coverage to newspapers, interviewed some of the biggest names in the industry, and driven viewers mad with the puns in my YouTube scripts. I’m most proud of the latter.
