Ukie 2015 Member Survey Results
Democracy 3 logo courtesy of Positech Games
Our 2015 member survey results are in! Of Ukie's 269 strong membership (as of September 2015), 110 respondents from 90 of our member companies replied to our call. There is an almost perfect three-way split in the respondents per member category (developer, publisher or service companies), which means the results represent a pretty accurate cross section of the wider games industry in the UK.
The survey was designed to collect information about our members' companies (years in existence and number of employees for example), about satisfaction with the work that Ukie does on behalf of our membership, and about the key priorities for the future of the UK games industry. This helps us to better work on your behalf to promote, support and grow games businesses in the UK.
The results
Fast Growing, Young Sector
61% of respondent's companies have 25 or fewer employees, which shows how the sector is dominated by SMEs. The companies are also young: close to half (46%) have been in existence for five years or fewer. The median age varies by company type: developer companies have a median age of four years in existence, which is close to four times less than the publishers' 15 years median age.
In 2014, the ERA released figures showed that games sold more than video or music (excluding box office and hardware sales), and we're pleased to see that the future continues to look bright for our members, with eight in ten respondents expecting to see a period of business growth in the upcoming 18 months.
Innovation in Technology
The results indicate that a larger portion of members are working on digital and mobile platforms rather than physical ones. Although this data doesn't look at the size of projects or people employed on individual projects, it indicates that the shift from physical games to digital is increasing. Innovation in technology is a recurring theme, with the number of companies working on VR attaining a similar level as those working on console and PC physical, showing a change in the focus of game development in-keeping with technology trends.
High Rates of Satisfaction
We are hugely proud that 92% of our members are satisfied or very satisfied with our work, and 51% are very likely to recommend us to a business contact or acquaintance.
The top 3 priorities that members identified as key for Ukie to be acting on are the same as last year: lobbying government, acting as the collective voice of games, and informing the industry. This is the same across developers, publishers and service companies. We're happy to see that members most agreed with the statements that Ukie are trusted to be the industry voice on key issues, and that Ukie are good at updating members on industry wide issues. This show that we are accomplishing the job and working successfully on the issues that matter most to our membership.
What next?
We're happy with the results, but would like to assure our members that we are not going to be resting on our laurels! As a membership-driven organisation, we want to keep engagement high with all members, and continue to listen to the needs of every company we represent. We have taken note of the feedback offered in the survey and to continue to achieve these high satisfaction rates, we plan to offer further resources on our website, have a larger presence at a nationwide level, and extend membership attendence at Ukie-run sub groups, training and events to all staff at our members' businesses. We want to ensure that members' staff feel that Ukie is relevant to them and working on their behalf, beyond supporting the industry as a whole.
Finally, we want to say a huge congratulations to nDreams, who were randomly selected as winners of the member survey competition and will be joining us on a free table at the Ukie stand at Gamescom 2016. For info about how your company can come along too, please email Sam.