Ukie urges Government to back UK Games Industry or miss out on £500m opportunity

Press release – 7th May 2025

New data shows UK consumers spent £7.6bn on video games in 2024 and the UK’s growing video games sector is urging government to act swiftly to secure a £500 million growth opportunity or risk seeing world-class talent, innovation, and IP slip away to better-backed international competitors. New data from Ukie, the UK’s trade body for games and interactive entertainment, reveals a market doubling in size since 2013, with an explosion of new independent studios and a 24% rise in incorporated games SMEs in Q3 2024 alone. But as other countries ramp up support for their creative tech industries, the UK’s current policy framework is falling behind. 

A national opportunity to kickstart growth 

From Leamington Spa to Dundee, Manchester to Guildford, games studios are driving innovation and economic value in communities nationwide, supporting over 73,000 jobs and contributing £6 billion in GVA annually. Yet despite this success, UK developers face growing pressure from countries offering better incentives and easier access to funding and talent. 

Ukie’s new campaign, Press Start on Growth, lays out a roadmap to maintain the UK’s global edge, calling for: 

• Reform of the Video Games Expenditure Credit (VGEC): To better support small and independent studios with competitive rates. 

• Expansion of the UK Games Fund: To meet surging demand and power the next generation of game-makers. 

• Skills and Talent Development: Including the introduction of a new Digital Creativity GCSE to build future pipelines. 

• Improved access to finance: To better support scaling studios looking to grow.  

Smart policy decisions, delivering strong outcomes 

With the right policy decisions in place, Ukie believes the UK’s video games industry is poised to deliver significant economic and societal returns. Specifically, we estimate that targeted support could: 

• Unlock £500 million in GVA across 5 years: By fostering a more competitive, innovation-friendly environment, the UK can position itself as a global hub for game development and publishing.  

• Deliver a fivefold return on investment: Strategic, well-directed public investment in games through tax reliefs doesn’t just pay for itself, it multiplies in value. Every pound invested has the potential to return five, making it one of the smartest bets for the UK’s creative economy. 

• Create 6,000 new jobs within five years: The games industry already employs tens of thousands in disciplines such as coding, design, AI, storytelling, and audio. With the right interventions the sector can significantly boost job creation, supporting the government’s wider ambitions on levelling up, digital skills, and economic resilience. 

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 £500 million GVA, create 6,000 skilled jobs, and supercharge the UK’s digital economy. But if we delay, we risk losing that prize to competitors overseas. Now is the time to press start on growth. 

The UK has the talent, the stories, and the studios. What we need now is bold support to match our ambition. If the government is serious about backing digital growth, then backing games is the place to start.” 

James McWhirter, senior analyst, Omdia, said:  

“High-value blockbuster first- and third-party game releases took a breather in 2024, impacting spend on full-game content despite the volume of games holding steady thanks to a number of lower-value hits punching above their weight. As the installed base of new-gen consoles reaches a critical mass, spend on DLC continued its growth path. Unlike full-game content, subscriptions pricing has been more responsive to inflationary pressures, and these price rises are driving spend growth despite audiences reach saturation”. 

Melissa Symonds, Executive Director, UK Toys, Circana, said:  

“Despite some decline in 2024, toys based on Video Games and characters have grown in popularity over the last 5 years accounting for 3.6% of total toys in 2020 to 6.4% in 2024, or £122M. Consumers are looking to extend their passion for games by collecting favourite characters and recreating scenes through the wide range of video game inspired toys available. And it’s not just kids that are purchasing VG-related toys with adults also embracing this area of the toy market, showing that there is no age limit to VG-toys popularity.”  

Dorian Bloch, Senior Client Insight Director, NielsenIQ said: 

“For the 4 sectors of Game Hardware contributed by NielsenIQ we saw a slight contraction of -5% on overall revenue at £2.1bn. Console HW was the only sector to decline, with Sony PS5 and Microsoft Series consoles in their fifth year at market (launched 2020) and Nintendo Switch in its 8th year (launched 2017). For the Console Gaming Accessories market there was double-digit growth overall, and this sector includes an extremely wide variety of products but is fuelled by 2 major contributors, Controllers & Headsets. For the PC Gaming HW sector we saw single-digit growth across the entire PC Gaming ecosphere (Gaming PC’s, Gaming Monitors, Gaming Graphics Cards, Headsets, Mice, Keyboards) – in 2024 the 2 major contributors to growth were Gaming PC’s and Gaming Monitors. Finally, the VR category posted single-digit growth and includes Console/PC HMD (head-mounted displays) from manufacturers such as Meta, HTC, Sony, Pico. For 2024 we saw PC-focused devices taking the lead – special mention for Meta’s flagship ‘Quest 3’ which was significantly re-positioned in terms of price and Meta’s successful launch of their even more affordable entry-level ‘Quest 3S’ in Q4/24.” 

Notes to Editor 

Ukie Consumer Market Valuation 2024 

Game Software	2024	YOY Change	Source
Boxed	322	-34%	NielsenIQ/GfK Entertainment
Digital Console	2,446	3.5%	Omdia
Digital PC	647	-1.8%	Omdia
Mobile	1,725	8.1%	Omdia
	5,140	0.58%
Game Hardware	2024	YOY Change
Console	723	-24%	NielsenIQ/GfK Entertainment
PC	715	6.0%	NielsenIQ/GfK Entertainment
Console Game Accessories	463	14%	NielsenIQ/GfK Entertainment
VR	204	7.0%	NielsenIQ/GfK Entertainment
	2,105	-5.1%
Game Culture	2024	YOY Change
Toys and Merchandise	211	-8.5%	Circana
Books	6.8	*	Nielsen
Magazines	3.8	-2.5%	ABC, Ukie
Film, TV, Soundtracks, Streaming and GVC	155	-17%	BFI, Comscore, Official Charts Company, Omdia, Ukie
Events and Venues	9.2	-11%	Ukie
	385	-13%
Total	7,630	-1.8%

*The methodology for Books has changed and cannot be compared directly to the previous year’s figure. 

Ukie business case for reforms to the Video Games Expenditure Credit (VGEC) can be read here.