The UK’s gaming industry has just been estimated to be worth £3.86bn – more than video and music combined. That makes it the world’s fifth-largest video game market (or a shed load of “rosebud” cheats on The Sims). The Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA), which released those figures, suggests only China, the USA, Japan, and Germany are making more money from gaming.
So, what’s helping one of the UK’s youngest sectors thrive?
‘We’ve always been able to punch above our weight.’
It’s estimated that 32.4 million people in the UK play games. Graeme Struthers, co-founder of UK-based independent games publisher Devolver Digital, puts an element of the UK’s success down to the industry forming “very quickly and very early on”. “If you look at the world of music and film, we’ve always been capable of punching way above our weight globally,” he tells Radio 1 Newsbeat.
“I’d regard video games as being in the same class. It’s an art form, and there’s a general interest in that in this country, so we’ve always been very prosperous. “The gaming industry as it now exists formed around the same time back in the late 70s and early 80s – there were a small number of influential people in programming.”That became the basis of game development, and from then on, the UK has always had prominent game developers in every format.”
‘We’ve added a different dimension to gaming.’
Gaming culture was worth an estimated £117m in 2017 due to merchandise and events. In addition to the wealth of people behind the scenes, UK gaming culture has capitalized on an increased appetite for gamers. Michael French runs the London Games Festival, which has seen crowds double from 30,000 to 60,000 since it started in 2016. “It’s easier to access games now – whether through your tablet or your TV,” he tells Newsbeat.
“At our event, and others like it, we represent the UK’s talent base and give them ways to meet and come up with ideas and share them. “That’s where you get a diverse range of games coming from, which helps give games a bigger appeal than they’ve ever had. “We also let people interact with games they love, hear from the creators, and discover what’s coming up to keep people excited.”
Esports are predicted to earn the UK £8m in ticket sales by 2021
Other events like EGX and Resonate Total Gaming help attract thousands of gaming fans to the UK. Michael says the UK’s rise has also been helped by creators and players being acknowledged on a bigger scale. “The gaming Baftas add a layer of credibility to the art of making a game, whether you’re a small or big developer – and the rise of esports is a whole other world.”
Competitions like ESL One Birmingham, which had a prize pool of $1m (£791,900) last year, and the 2018 FIFA eWorld Cup in London have become commonplace in the UK. Saudi Arabia’s Mosaad “Msdossary” Aldossary earned $250,000 (£190,000) after winning the 2018 FIFA eWorld Cup.
Planning for the future
The rise of the UK game industry has yet to come out of the blue. With time and money going back into the industry, its current success and growth in the future would happen. For example, in 2016 alone, the UK games industry put £1.25bn back into developing new releases and companies working in the industry. With more than 20,000 full-time jobs in gaming, there have been calls for more education to help find a new generation of potential developers.
FIFA sold more than a million copies in the UK in 2018. In 2014, those calls were answered as schools in England increased their computing classes, including coding lessons. In April of that year, a Video Games Tax Relief (VGTR) was also made available for British game companies. If a company qualifies, it can claim back 20% of production costs during development. It’s estimated that 68% of games supported by the VGTR would only be made in the UK with it.
The UK’s gaming dominance will last a while. It was recently announced that the popularity of football games is being utilised by the Premier League, which is launching an esports league for FIFA players across the UK. The competition, which starts later this year, will be broadcast live on Sky Sports and the Premier League’s social media channels, helping to bring gaming to a whole new audience.
