Video game studios are growing across the UK and bringing in more tax revenues thanks to the success of the country’s digital and creative clusters, new research from trade body TIGA has shown.
TIGA’s Making Games in the UK 2023 report shows employment and studio numbers have soared in the last 15 months, with particular successes outside London.
The report showed the number of creative staff in studios in the UK surged by 11.4% from December 2021 to April 2023, and now stands at 24,155 full-time and full-time equivalent staff. The total workforce including freelancers grew to 25,026.
TIGA said the number of jobs indirectly supported by studios in the supply chain rose from 38,348 to 44,162.
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Studio numbers grew over the period from 1,528 to 1,801, up 17.8%, while annual investment by studios rose from £1.3bn to £1.66bn.
The report showed the game development sector’s annual contribution to UK GDP increased from £2.9bn to £3.68bn. And it estimates that combined direct and indirect tax revenues generated by the sector for the Treasury have increased from £1.2bn to £1.5bn.
Some 77% of games development staff in the UK are based outside London, with another 20% of the sector’s staff based in the South East.
The next largest centres of games development by headcount are the North West of England, the West Midlands and Scotland, respectively.
Including indirect staff, games development companies support over 53,000 jobs outside London. In percentage terms, the strongest headcount growth over the period was found in the North East (47.5%), Yorkshire and Humber (33.9%) and Northern Ireland (33.5%).
|
UK regions |
2023 share of UK development workforce |
|
22.4% |
|
|
South East |
19.9% |
|
North West |
12% |
|
West Midlands |
10% |
|
Scotland |
9.1% |
|
East of England |
6.7% |
|
Yorkshire & Humber |
5.8% |
|
North East |
5.4% |
|
East Midlands |
4.9% |
|
2.5% |
|
|
0.7% |
|
|
0.6% |
TIGA’s CEO Dr Richard Wilson said:“While London employs over 22% of the games development workforce across 587 companies, 77% of all games development staff in the UK are employed outside of the capital. Approximately one-fifth of development staff are located in the South East of England, while the third, fourth and fifth largest centres of games development by headcount are the North West of England, the West Midlands and Scotland, respectively.
“Including indirect staff, games development companies support over 53,000 jobs outside of London. In percentage terms, the strongest headcount growth over the period December 2021 to April 2023 was found in the North East (47.5%) Yorkshire and Humber (33.9%) and Northern Ireland (33.5%).
“The video games industry has immense potential to contribute to the Levelling Up agenda, not least due to the 44,000 people working in the games supply chain which is mostly based outside of London. Providing high-skilled employment opportunities, the sector has established strong creative industry clusters right across the UK.”
TIGA’s chairman Jason Kingsley is CEO and creative director at Rebellion, which has its headquarters in Oxford and studios in Runcorn, Leamington Spa and Wakefield.
Mr Kingsley said: “TIGA’s research illustrates the video games industry’s strong potential to drive regional economic growth. My personal experience at Rebellion Developments further reinforces this notion, as our studios actively contribute to the economic expansion of cities and regions such as Liverpool, Oxford, Warwick, and Yorkshire.
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“By enhancing Video Games Tax Relief, improving access to finance, and bolstering skills development, we can empower and fortify the UK’s video games clusters, thus making a positive impact on the overall economy of the country.”
The Making Games in the UK 2023 report was based on an extensive survey of UK games businesses, with analysis by Games Investor Consulting.
Dr Richard Wilson added: “The UK video games development sector is powering ahead. Employment is soaring and studios are continuing to hire at near record rates. With high growth games studios in many regions, the sector is supporting economic growth across the UK.
“Our sector’s outstanding long-term prospects are underpinned by strong consumer demand, rising Foreign Direct Investment which is attracted by our highly skilled workforce and Video Games Tax Relief, which reduces the cost of games development.
“If the UK is to win an even larger share of the growing market for video games, then the UK Government should enhance the generosity of our Video Games Tax Relief (soon to be transformed into a Video Games Expenditure Credit), introduce a Video Games Investment Fund to help more small studios to scale up and establish an Industrial Secondments Programme to drive skills development.”
Original artice – https://business-live.co.uk/all-about/yorkshire-humber
