December 3, 2018

Ukie says that the Government’s latest economic figures gave more evidence of the strength of the UK’s games industry, showing that the sector grew from £996 million to £1.069 billion from 2016 to 2017, and a huge 148.9% since 2010. The games industry figure is part of the bigger Creative Industries sector that broke the billion pound mark for the first time, moving from £94.8 billion in 2016 to £101.5 billion in 2017, accounting for 5.5% of total UK GVA.

Ukie says that the growth shown mirrors the conclusions from the Screen Business report that Ukie contributed to earlier this year. This more comprehensive study showed that UK development and publishing alone contributed over £1.35 billion in direct GVA in 2016, and the overall games industry contributing £2.87 billion in GVA. In comparison the Government’s numbers for 2016 show the GVA to be only £996 million.

Ukie explains that the Government’s research uses Standard Industrial Classification codes to calculate the size of the games sector, which does not capture approximately 50% of the games businesses in the UK. The Screen Business report research used the data from the UK Games Map to give a more accurate core data set and included other parts of the sector such as games retail and esports to better reflect the true value of the games industry to the UK’s economy. To read Ukie’s press release in full, click here.