Ukie - User contributions [en]

2021 UK Consumer Games Market Valuation

2023-04-12T12:57:35Z

UkieColm:

-PAGE UNDER CONSTRUCTION-

The post below begins with a summary of 2021's figures as revised in 2023 with the original published figures discussed below. All graphics refer to figures as published in Apr 2022.

==2021 Valuation - Revised Figures==

The revised figures for 2021 saw the UK consumer games market valued at a new record of £7.47bn, up 6.2% on final figures for 2020. Video game software was valued at £4.55bn, with digital console software sales representing the largest portion at £2.07bn. Game hardware was valued at £2.66bn, unchanged from the original reporting in 2022. Game culture was valued at £249m. The complete 2021 valuation, including revised figures, is presented below

{| class="wikitable"
|'''Categories'''
|'''Data Supplier'''
|'''2020 (£)'''
|'''2021 (£)'''
|'''% Growth'''
|-
|Boxed software
|GfK Entertainment
|646m
|511m
| -21%
|-
|Digital console
|Omdia
|1.74bn
|2.07bn
| +19%
|-
|Digital PC
|Omdia
|667m
|645m
| -3.2%
|-
|Mobile games
|Omdia
|1.46bn
|1.29bn
| -12%
|-
|Pre-owned
|Kantar
|42.6
|33.8
| -21%
|-
|'''Game software total'''
|
|'''4.56bn'''
|'''4.55bn'''
| '''-0.24%'''
|-
|Console hardware
|GfK Entertainment
|853m
|1.13bn
| +33%
|-
|PC game hardware
|GfK Entertainment
|832m
|881m
| +5.9%
|-
|Console game accessories
|GfK Entertainment
|453m
|464m
| +2.4%
|-
|VR Hardware
|GfK Entertainment
|129m
|183m
| +42%
|-
|'''Game hardware total'''
|
|'''2.27bn'''
|'''2.66bn'''
| '''+17%'''
|-
|Toys and merchandising
|NPD
|119m
|182m
| +53%
|-
|Books and magazines
|Nielsen, ABC, Ukie
|10.5m
|11.8m
| +12%
|-
|Film, TV and soundtracks
|BFI / OCC / Ukie
|22.9m
|3.98m
| -83%
|-
|Events and venues
|Ukie
|0.249m
|1.04m
| -24.5%
|-
|Streaming and game video content
|Ukie
|45.6m
|49.8m
| +9.2%
|-
|'''Game culture total'''
|
|'''198m'''
|'''249m'''
| '''+25%'''
|-
|'''UK Games Market total'''
|
|'''7.03bn'''
|'''7.47bn'''
| '''+6.2%'''
|}

The revised figures for 2021 saw a change in methodology for valuing digital console software sales, which has not been projected backwards to 2020 figures, so the year on year change for this figure is unlikely to represent actual change in consumer behaviour between 2020 and 2021.

==2021 Valuation==

The UK consumer games market reached a record figure of £7.16bn in 2021, growing by 1.90% from the previous record of £7bn recorded during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Game hardware sales grew by 17.4% year on year to reach £2.66bn, game software was valued at £4.28bn, a decline of 6.32% and spending on video game culture reached £226m, up 13.8% on 2020.

The valuation, which takes place every year ahead of the start of the London Games Festival, explores how much money consumers in the UK spend on game software, game hardware and on game culture (such as toys, movies and books).

Compiled with the support of our data partners ABC, The BFI, GfK Entertainment, Kantar, OCC, Omdia, Nielsen and NPD – alongside analysis from Ukie’s insight and innovation team – the valuation provides a detailed examination of the size, scale and make up of the country’s consumer games market.

=== Game Hardware ===

Game hardware sales grew by 17.4% year on year to reach £2.66bn in 2021 – further increasing upon the record total seen in 2020’s consumer valuation.

The main driver of the growth in hardware sales in the UK was a significant bump in the sale of console hardware. The category grew by 32.9% from 2020, reaching a record figure of £1.13bn that propelled the overall market to new heights.

“2021 was the first full calendar year for Sony’s PS5 and Microsoft’s Xbox Series consoles,” said Dorian Bloch, Senior Client Director at GfK Entertainment. “Both made a huge impact in Q4/20 at launch, with consumer demand outstripping supply, so there is no surprise that this is the best year since the all-time peak back in 2008.

But we should not forget that Nintendo’s Switch also enjoyed another big year in 2021. This is a fifth year at market for the Switch, which has been rejuvenated and refreshed a number of times since 2017 - most notably with Switch Lite in 2019 and Switch OLED in 2020.”

There was also a significant growth in Virtual Reality (VR) hardware sales. The category reached a new high of £183m, recording an increase of 41.9% compared to 2020. The increase occurred shortly before the Oculus Quest 2 was officially renamed the Meta Quest following its parent company’s rebrand in November 2021.

There was also minor growth in the PC game hardware and console game accessories, with each growing by 5.89% (£881m) and 2.43% (£464m) across the course of 2021.

2021 UK Consumer Games Market Valuation

2023-04-12T12:31:27Z

UkieColm:

2021 UK Consumer Games Market Valuation

2023-04-11T16:44:28Z

UkieColm: Created page with "-PAGE UNDER CONSTRUCTION- The post below includes figures both as published in April 2022 and a section discussing revised figures published as part of the 2022 valuation in..."

-PAGE UNDER CONSTRUCTION-

The post below includes figures both as published in April 2022 and a section discussing revised figures published as part of the 2022 valuation in April 2023. Infographics and other designed elements for 2021 will have as-published figures.

==2021 Valuation - Revised Figures==

As part of the valuation each year, our data partners may provide Ukie with revised figures for the previous year. The revised figures for 2021 saw the UK consumer games market valued at a record £7.47bn. Video game software was valued at £4.55bn, with digital console software sales representing the largest portion at £2.07bn. Game hardware was valued at £2.66bn, unchanged from the original reporting in 2022. Game culture was valued at £249

The revised figures for 2021 saw a change in methodology for valuing digital console software sales, resulting in a significant increase alongside other expected revisions seen in previous years. This change in methodology is not reflected in digital console software sales for any previous year.

==2021 Valuation==

The UK consumer games market reached a record figure of £7.16bn in 2021, growing by 1.90% from the previous record of £7bn recorded during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Game hardware sales grew by 17.4% year on year to reach £2.66bn, game software was valued at £4.28bn, a decline of 6.32% and spending on video game culture reached £226m, up 13.8% on 2020.

Careers in the Games Industry

2021-12-02T11:00:42Z

UkieColm: /* Careers Guidance Resources */

== Careers Guidance Resources ==
*[http://guru.bafta.org/crafts/games BAFTA Guru: Games] - Interviews, lectures and articles from leading figures in the games industry, giving advice based on their own experiences.
*[https://www.screenskills.com/careers/job-profiles/games/ ScreenSkills Games] - A breakdown of some of the most common job roles in the industry, with explanations of what each role involves and some of the skills required.
*[https://discovercreative.careers/#/ Discover Creative Careers] - Resource which enables aspiring games workers to narrow down roles based on what they enjoy
*[https://www.prospects.ac.uk/jobs-and-work-experience/job-sectors/information-technology/video-game-careers Prospects: Video game careers] - Games careers information from the graduate guidance organisation, Prospects
*[https://www.askaboutgames.com/thriving-futures-a-rough-guide-to-game-careers/ Ask About Games: A Rough Guide to Game Careers] - A guide from Ask About Games on roles in the industry and what each role involves
*[https://intogames.org/careers/ Into Games: Games Careers Explorer] - An extensive database of games industry roles, searchable by discipline or by your own interests, all explained in friendly language
*[https://www.startmakinggames.com/ Start Making Games] - A simple, one-stop, shop for some sound advice for starting out making games, curated by US game designer [https://twitter.com/Silirrion Craig Morrison]
*[https://www.screenskills.com/information-and-resources/#/ Screenskill's Information & Resources] - Screen sector research, masterclasses, career maps and other useful information published by ScreenSkills and trusted partners.
*[https://writersguild.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Writing-for-videogames_FINAL.pdf Writers' Guild of Great Britain - Writing for videogames: a guide for game writers and those who work with them] - a comprehensive guide to the day-to-day of writing in the games industry.

== One Minute Mentor ==
[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA8lfpEv0vOvo5f78SHdtb3UgAsWfYnpR One Minute Mentor] is a careers resource from [https://www.digitalschoolhouse.org.uk/about Digital Schoolhouse] in which games industry professionals give short talks on what their roles involve and give advice to inspire future talent. Each of these videos is around a minute long, with a figures from a wide range of disciplines in the industry involved with the initiative.

== UK Games Industry Jobs Listings ==

*[https://www.amiqus.com/ Amiqus]
*[https://aswift.com/video-games-jobs/ Aardvark Swift Video Games]
*[https://datascope.co.uk/ Datascope]
*[https://esportworks.com/esports-jobs EsportWorks]
*[http://www.gamesjobsdirect.com Games Jobs Direct]
*[https://gamesjobs.live/ Games Jobs Live]
*[https://jobs.gamesindustry.biz/ GI Biz: Jobs]
*[https://hitmarker.net/jobs Hitmarker]
*[https://www.careerwebsite.com/?site_id=22898 MCV Jobs]
*[https://opmjobs.com/ OPM Jobs]
*[https://remotegamejobs.com/ Remote Games Jobs]
*[https://www.skillsearch.com/jobsingames Skillsearch]

== Other Resources ==
*[https://gamesmap.uk/#/map Ukie Games Map] - An interactive map of games businesses throughout the UK
*[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CU1H-8ZQWUPIBrT3VaUjjSMpOrarfpfhI86q8Bkpr_8/edit JD's GamesJobs List] - A collection of globally-focused job sites, listings, boards at major companies and various national-level resources, compiled by [https://twitter.com/jandavidhassel @JanDavidHassel]

Careers in the Games Industry

2021-12-02T10:59:46Z

UkieColm: /* Careers Guidance Resources */

== Careers Guidance Resources ==
*[http://guru.bafta.org/crafts/games BAFTA Guru: Games] - Interviews, lectures and articles from leading figures in the games industry, giving advice based on their own experiences.
*[https://www.screenskills.com/careers/job-profiles/games/ ScreenSkills Games] - A breakdown of some of the most common job roles in the industry, with explanations of what each role involves and some of the skills required.
*[https://discovercreative.careers/#/ Discover Creative Careers] - Resource which enables aspiring games workers to narrow down roles based on what they enjoy
*[https://www.prospects.ac.uk/jobs-and-work-experience/job-sectors/information-technology/video-game-careers Prospects: Video game careers] - Games careers information from the graduate guidance organisation, Prospects
*[https://www.askaboutgames.com/thriving-futures-a-rough-guide-to-game-careers/ Ask About Games: A Rough Guide to Game Careers] - A guide from Ask About Games on roles in the industry and what each role involves
*[https://intogames.org/careers/ Into Games: Games Careers Explorer] - An extensive database of games industry roles, searchable by discipline or by your own interests, all explained in friendly language
*[https://www.startmakinggames.com/ Start Making Games] - A simple, one-stop, shop for some sound advice for starting out making games, curated by US game designer [https://twitter.com/Silirrion Craig Morrison]
*[https://www.screenskills.com/information-and-resources/#/ Screenskill's Information & Resources] - Screen sector research, masterclasses, career maps and other useful information published by ScreenSkills and trusted partners.
*[https://writersguild.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Writing-for-videogames_FINAL.pdf Writing for videogames: a guide for game writers and those who work with them] - a comprehensive guide to the day-to-day of writing in the games industry.

== One Minute Mentor ==
[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA8lfpEv0vOvo5f78SHdtb3UgAsWfYnpR One Minute Mentor] is a careers resource from [https://www.digitalschoolhouse.org.uk/about Digital Schoolhouse] in which games industry professionals give short talks on what their roles involve and give advice to inspire future talent. Each of these videos is around a minute long, with a figures from a wide range of disciplines in the industry involved with the initiative.

== UK Games Industry Jobs Listings ==

*[https://www.amiqus.com/ Amiqus]
*[https://aswift.com/video-games-jobs/ Aardvark Swift Video Games]
*[https://datascope.co.uk/ Datascope]
*[https://esportworks.com/esports-jobs EsportWorks]
*[http://www.gamesjobsdirect.com Games Jobs Direct]
*[https://gamesjobs.live/ Games Jobs Live]
*[https://jobs.gamesindustry.biz/ GI Biz: Jobs]
*[https://hitmarker.net/jobs Hitmarker]
*[https://www.careerwebsite.com/?site_id=22898 MCV Jobs]
*[https://opmjobs.com/ OPM Jobs]
*[https://remotegamejobs.com/ Remote Games Jobs]
*[https://www.skillsearch.com/jobsingames Skillsearch]

== Other Resources ==
*[https://gamesmap.uk/#/map Ukie Games Map] - An interactive map of games businesses throughout the UK
*[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CU1H-8ZQWUPIBrT3VaUjjSMpOrarfpfhI86q8Bkpr_8/edit JD's GamesJobs List] - A collection of globally-focused job sites, listings, boards at major companies and various national-level resources, compiled by [https://twitter.com/jandavidhassel @JanDavidHassel]

UK Games Fund

2021-11-18T17:27:58Z

UkieColm: /* Round 7 (2021) */

== About ==

The [https://ukgamesfund.com/ UK Games Fund] is an early stage development fund administered by [https://ukgtf.org/ UK Games Talent and Finance CIC], backed by the UK government's Video Games Prototype Fund. Each year, a number of UK businesses are chosen to receive up £25,000 of project funding, often intended to encourage the development of original IP.

== Grant Recipients ==

=== Round 7 (2021) ===

*[http://www.wolfandwood.co.uk/ Wolf & Wood Interactive]
*[https://markd.ltd/ Markd]
*[https://radicalforge.com/ Radical Forge]
*[http://www.greyaliengames.com/ Grey Alien Games]
*[https://tallstorygames.com/ Tall Story Games]
*[https://www.triangularpixels.com/ Triangular Pixels]
*[https://memoryofgod.itch.io/ Lambic Studios]
*[http://eviltwinartworks.com/ Evil Twin Artworks]
*[https://www.squareplaygames.com/ SquarePlay Games]
*[http://lowtek.games/ Lowtek Games]
*[http://lowtek.games/ Spider Lily Studios]
*[https://www.meteoritemedia.co.uk/ Meteorite Media]
*[https://solarflarelondon.wixsite.com/website Solar Flare London]
*[https://episod.studio/main Episod Studio]

UK Games Fund

2021-11-18T17:25:41Z

UkieColm: /* Round 7 (2021) */

== About ==

The [https://ukgamesfund.com/ UK Games Fund] is an early stage development fund administered by [https://ukgtf.org/ UK Games Talent and Finance CIC], backed by the UK government's Video Games Prototype Fund. Each year, a number of UK businesses are chosen to receive up £25,000 of project funding, often intended to encourage the development of original IP.

== Grant Recipients ==

=== Round 7 (2021) ===

*[http://www.wolfandwood.co.uk/ Wolf & Wood Interactive]
*[https://markd.ltd/ Markd]
*[https://radicalforge.com/ Radical Forge]
*[http://www.greyaliengames.com/ Grey Alien Games]
*[https://tallstorygames.com/ Tall Story Games]
*[https://www.triangularpixels.com/ Triangular Pixels]
*[https://memoryofgod.itch.io/ Lambic Studios]
*[http://eviltwinartworks.com/ Evil Twin Artworks]
*[https://www.squareplaygames.com/ SquarePlay Games]
*[http://lowtek.games/ Lowtek Games]
*[http://lowtek.games/ Spider Lily Studios]
*[https://www.meteoritemedia.co.uk/ Meteorite Media]
*[https://solarflarestudio.co.uk/ Solar Flare London]
*[https://episod.studio/main Episod Studio]

Europe

2021-10-27T11:15:51Z

UkieColm: /* Sweden */

== Europe as a Whole ==

=== Market ===

*In 2020, the European games market was valued at €23.3bn, an increase of 22% over 2019's figure. ([https://www.isfe.eu/data-key-facts/key-facts-about-europe-s-video-games-sector/ ISFE], Aug 2021)

*The key European markets of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK were collectively valued at €17.6bn in 2020, an increase of 26% over 2019. ([https://www.isfe.eu/data-key-facts/key-facts-about-europe-s-video-games-sector/ ISFE], Aug 2021)
**Across device type, these revenues were split 44% (+1%) console, 40% (-) mobile/tablet, 14% (-1%) PC and >2% on-demand and streaming.
**The source of this revenue was split into 40% (+3%) online (full game downloads, in-game extras such as DLCs, social games, browser games), 20% (-4%) physical and 40% (+1%) apps (paid apps, in-app purchases).
**In 2020, online revenue was €14bn, representing over triple its value in 2015. 64% (-2%) of this total came from in-game extras, additional downloadable content for games already bought, 25% (+4%) from full game downloads and 11% (-2%) from subscription services and social games.

*In 2020, game streaming services generated €391m in revenue, an increase of 16.5% over 2019. ([https://www.isfe.eu/data-key-facts/key-facts-about-europe-s-video-games-sector/ ISFE], Aug 2021)

*2019 saw $574m invested in European games companies ([https://2019.stateofeuropeantech.com/chapter/investments/article/investment-industry/ Atomico], Nov 2019)

*Since 2015, the total investment in European games companies stands at $2.86b ([https://2019.stateofeuropeantech.com/chapter/investments/article/investment-industry/ Atomico], Nov 2019)

=== Audience ===

*Across the five key European markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK) 50% of the population aged 6-64 play video games. 47% of European video game players are women. ([https://www.isfe.eu/data-key-facts/key-facts-about-europe-s-video-games-sector/ ISFE], Aug 2021)

*The average age of a video game player in Europe is 31.3 years old. ([https://www.isfe.eu/data-key-facts/key-facts-about-europe-s-video-games-sector/ ISFE], Aug 2021)

*60% (+1%) of all European players play on mobile or tablet, 54% (-) play on console and 49% (-2%) play on PC. ([https://www.isfe.eu/data-key-facts/key-facts-about-europe-s-video-games-sector/ ISFE], Aug 2021)

*The average weekly video game playtime across Europe's five key markets was 9.5 hrs, with 76% of players saying they play video gams at least one hour per week. ([https://www.isfe.eu/data-key-facts/key-facts-about-europe-s-video-games-sector/ ISFE], Aug 2021)

== France ==
*French-made games represent 6.1% of the volume and 5.4% of the value of all physical games sales in the French market in 2019. ([https://www.cnc.fr/documents/36995/1118512/Bilan+2019+du+CNC.pdf/406786cb-2610-8134-1c85-c17424116365 BILAN 2019, section 4.4], 2020)

*France has 32.8million players, who spent $3.1billion in 2018. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/france-games-market-2018/ Newzoo], Aug 2018)

*As of 2018, France is the world's 7th largest games market. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/france-games-market-2018/ Newzoo], Aug 2018)

*In 2017, the turnover of the French video game amounted to 4.3 billion euros (up 18% from 2016), making France the third European market for the sector after Germany and the United Kingdom. ([http://www.sell.fr/sites/default/files/essential_video_game_news_sell_2018-eng-hr.pdf SELL], Feb 2018)

*Growth in sales vs 2016: console ecosystem +23%, PC gaming ecosystem +6%, and mobile ecosystem +22%. ([http://www.sell.fr/sites/default/files/essential_video_game_news_sell_2018-eng-hr.pdf SELL], Feb 2018 )

*77% of French people consider video gaming a leisure for the whole family ([http://www.sell.fr/sites/default/files/essential_video_game_news_sell_2018-eng-hr.pdf SELL], Feb 2018 )

*The most popular gaming platform is the console (61%), followed by smartphone (60%), PC (55%), tablet (38%), handheld devices (23%),online broadband (10%) ([http://www.sell.fr/sites/default/files/essential_video_game_news_sell_2018-eng-hr.pdf SELL], Feb 2018 )

*53% of French people play games regularly ([http://www.sell.fr/sites/default/files/essential_video_game_news_sell_2018-eng-hr.pdf SELL], Feb 2018 )

*64% of those aged 6-64 in France said that they played games in 2018. ([http://www.sell.fr/sites/default/files/essential_video_game_news_sell_2018-eng-hr.pdf ISFE], 2018)

*In 2015, the turnover of the video game amounted to 2.87 billion euros, making France the third European market for the sector after Germany and the United Kingdom. ([http://www.sell.fr/lindustrie SELL], Jan 2017, LINK)

== Germany ==

*In 2018, German-made games represented 4.3% of all game sales in the German market. [https://www.game.de/en/proportion-of-sales-attributable-to-german-developed-games-falls-further/ GAME, Aug 2019)

*In 2019, there were 614 games companies developing and distributing games in Germany. ([https://www.game.de/en/despite-strong-market-growth-employee-number-in-german-games-industry-drops/ GAME], Aug 2019)
**This breaks down as 312 development studios, 20 publishers and 272 companies that both develop and publish games.
**These companies employ 11,014 people in Germany, a decrease of -5.9% from the previous year.
**Including employment in the wider German games industry’s extended labour market (service providers, retailers and the media, among other categories) there was a small decrease of -1.2%, to 27,854 employees.

*The German games market in 2018 increased 9% to €4.37bn in 2018. In-game purchases (including DLC) were the largest single segment, contributing €1.95bn, up from €1.5bn the previous year. ([https://www.game.de/en/a-9-per-cent-gain-german-games-market-shows-significant-growth-in-2018/ GAME], Mar 2019)
**Overall, games software revenues grew +14% to €3.5bn. Game hardware revenues decreased -8% to €859m.
**Full-game purchases (physical and digital) declined -10% to €1.1bn, whereas revenues from online services nearly doubled to €353m. Subscription revenues fell -25% to €125m.

*In 2018, there were 524 games companies operating in Germany, comprising 368 development studios, 38 publishers and 118 companies operating as both developer and publisher. ([https://www.game.de/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/2019_Guide-to-the-German-Games-Industry_web.pdf GAME], Feb 2019)

*In 2018 the German games industry employed 11,705 people in development or publishing roles, and up to 28,746 people if broader industry role such as journalism and retail are included. ([https://www.game.de/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/2019_Guide-to-the-German-Games-Industry_web.pdf GAME], Feb 2019)

*Hamburg and Berlin are considered the key games development hubs, and at least 9 games companies in Germany each employ more that 200 staff. ([https://www.game.de/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/2019_Guide-to-the-German-Games-Industry_web.pdf GAME], Feb 2019)

*The German games market grew to €3.3billion in 2017 (game, Aug 2018)

*Germany has 44.3million players, the 5th largest games market. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/germany-games-market-2018/ Newzoo], Aug 2018)

*German players spent $4.7billion in 2018. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/germany-games-market-2018/ Newzoo], Aug 2018)

*German games market will total $4.7 billion by the end of 2018, placing it at #5 and the largest market by game revenues in Europe. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoos-2018-report-insights-into-the-137-9-billion-global-games-market/ Newzoo], Jun 2018)

*Games sales in Germany achieved 1.5 billion euros in the first half of 2018. ([https://www.game.de/en/blog/2018/08/27/german-games-market-grows-by-17-per-cent-in-the-first-six-months-of-2018/ game], Aug 2018)

*However, market share of German developed games fell to 5.4% in 2017 from 6.4% in 2016. ([https://www.game.de/en/blog/2018/08/27/german-games-market-grows-by-17-per-cent-in-the-first-six-months-of-2018/ game], Aug 2018)

*The market share achieved by German game app developers fell from 4.2% to 3.7%, in 2016 and 2017 respectively. ([https://www.game.de/en/blog/2018/08/27/german-games-market-grows-by-17-per-cent-in-the-first-six-months-of-2018/ game], 2018)

*Only in PC and console games did the market share of German game developers rise: from 0.5% to nearly 1% in 2017. (game, 2018)

*53% of Germans aged 6-64 play any type of game (2018) ([https://www.isfe.eu/sites/isfe.eu/files/gametrack_european_summary_data_2018_q1.pdf ISFE], 2018)

*The most popular platform for gaming in 2018 was PC – 36% of Germans said they played games on computers, followed by consoles (23%), smartphones (22%), tablets (9%), and handhelds (8%). ([https://www.isfe.eu/sites/isfe.eu/files/gametrack_european_summary_data_2018_q1.pdf ISFE], 2018)

*As of July 2018, there are 35 games companies in Germany employing over 50 people. The largest employer is Nintendo of Europe at 850 people and the largest developer is InnoGames at 420 employees. ([https://www.gameswirtschaft.de/wirtschaft/deutschlands-groesste-spielehersteller-2018/ gameswirtschaft.de], Jul 2108)

*12,726 people were employed in the development and publishing of games at 450 companies in Germany. ([https://www.biu-online.de/en/labour-market/ BIU], Jan 2017)

*As of 31 March 2015, 12,726 people were employed in the development and publishing of games at 450 companies in Germany. ([https://www.biu-online.de/en/labour-market/ BIU], Jan 2017)

*Of the 450 games companies in Germany, 276 primarily focus on development, while 67 concentrate on publishing. The remaining 107 companies are both developers and publishers. ([https://www.biu-online.de/en/labour-market/ BIU], Jan 2017)

*Considering the multiplier effect of associated roles such as journalists, government agencies and retail sales people, the number of jobs created by the computer and video games industry in Germany totals 30,231. ([https://www.biu-online.de/en/labour-market/ BIU], Jan 2017)

== Italy ==

*Italy's 26.2million players spent $2billion in 2018, making it the 10th largest games market in the work. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/italy-games-market-2018/ Newzoo], Aug 2018)

*The Italian trade body AESVI has revealed that the Italian games market was worth $1.8 billion in 2017. ([http://www.aesvi.it/cms/view.php?cms_pk=2898&dir_pk=902 AESVI], [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-04-20-italian-games-market-hit-usd1-8-billion-in-2017 GI.biz], Apr 2018)

*€1.05 billion was made from video game software, with a further €428 million from hardware and accessories. ([http://www.aesvi.it/cms/view.php?cms_pk=2898&dir_pk=902 AESVI], [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-04-20-italian-games-market-hit-usd1-8-billion-in-2017 GI.biz], Apr 2018)

*The accessories sector was worth €94 million (driven primarily by controller sales), while console hardware generated €333 million (portable sales made up €16 million of that number). In total, 1.115 million home consoles were sold in Italy last year, and 135,747 portable machines. Retro games devices (such as Nintendo's SNES Mini) accounted for 86,946 machines. ([http://www.aesvi.it/cms/view.php?cms_pk=2898&dir_pk=902 AESVI], [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-04-20-italian-games-market-hit-usd1-8-billion-in-2017 GI.biz], Apr 2018)

*Physical sales make up 1/3 of the market and generating €370 million. Mobile is the largest segment, accounting for 37% of all game revenue and generating €385 million. Digital console and PC is the smallest area, with a 28% market share, or €294 million. ([http://www.aesvi.it/cms/view.php?cms_pk=2898&dir_pk=902 AESVI], [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-04-20-italian-games-market-hit-usd1-8-billion-in-2017 GI.biz], Apr 2018)

*In Italy 17 million people have had a gaming experience in the last 12 months, of which 59% are men and 41% women. Gaming is a practice that is widespread across all age groups, with a particular concentration on the 25-34 years old group. ([http://www.aesvi.it/cms/view.php?cms_pk=2898&dir_pk=902 AESVI], [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-04-20-italian-games-market-hit-usd1-8-billion-in-2017 GI.biz], Apr 2018)

== Poland ==

*In 2020, there were 440 game development studios in Poland, employing 9,710 FTEs in game production. ([https://gic.gd/d/The_Game_Industry_of_Poland_report_2020.pdf GIC], Sept 2020)
** These studios release 480 titles in the previous 12 months, generating €479m in industry revenues.
** 96% of Polish industry revenues are generated from exports, with approximately 50% generated form US sales.

*44 Polish games companies are listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, including 12 on the main trading floor. The total capitalisation of these companies is €11.7bn, with CD Project Red alone accounting for €8.7bn. These 44 listed companies account for 55% of Polish games industry revenues. ([https://gic.gd/d/The_Game_Industry_of_Poland_report_2020.pdf GIC], Sept 2020)

*Given the outsize impact of CD Projeckt Red on the Polish industry (accounting for between 20-25% of the overall Polish sector revenues in a given year), a valuation of the sector excluding CDPR showed that the rest of the Polish industry has grown at a consistent rate of 27-28% each year since 2016. ([https://gic.gd/d/The_Game_Industry_of_Poland_report_2020.pdf GIC], Sept 2020)

*The Polish games consumer market was valued at $596m in 2020, with 16m people playing video games in Poland. The Polish esports market was valued at $11.5m. ([https://gic.gd/d/The_Game_Industry_of_Poland_report_2020.pdf GIC], Sept 2020)

== Serbia ==

*The Serbian trade association SGA has over 60 members, ranging from indie teams, esports businesses, VFX studios, to globally recognized game developers. ([http://sga.rs/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/SGA-Report-Digital.pdf SGA], No 2019)
*There were 1,281 people working in the Serbian games industry in 2018, including 351 women in game development roles, and expects to grow by around 130 new employees in 2019. ([http://sga.rs/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/SGA-Report-Digital.pdf SGA], No 2019)

== Spain ==

*Spain has 24.6million players who spent $2billion in 2018, making it the world 9th largest games market. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/spain-games-market-2018/ Newzoo], Aug 2018)

== Sweden ==

===Current===

*Sweden had 667 (+14%) games companies in 2020, including 81 new registrations. 48% of these are solo developers, 34% have <10 employees, 12% 10-49, 4% 50-199 and 2% >200. ([https://dataspelsbranschen.se/s/Spelutvecklarindex2021-ENG-WEBB.pdf Game Developer Index], Dataspelsbranschen, Oct 2021)

*These companies supported 6,596 (+11%) workers in Sweden. The largest employers were Ubisoft Sverige, EA Dice and King. ([https://dataspelsbranschen.se/s/Spelutvecklarindex2021-ENG-WEBB.pdf Game Developer Index], Dataspelsbranschen, Oct 2021)

*The workforce was 78.6% were men and 21.4% were women. ([https://dataspelsbranschen.se/s/Spelutvecklarindex2021-ENG-WEBB.pdf Game Developer Index], Dataspelsbranschen, Oct 2021)

*Revenue for the Swedish games industry was €3.312bn (+43%) in 2020. ([https://dataspelsbranschen.se/s/Spelutvecklarindex2021-ENG-WEBB.pdf Game Developer Index], Dataspelsbranschen, Oct 2021)

*Dataspelsbranschen estimate that 1 in 4 people worldwide have played a game made in Sweden. ([https://dataspelsbranschen.se/s/Spelutvecklarindex2021-ENG-WEBB.pdf Game Developer Index], Dataspelsbranschen, Oct 2021)

===Historical===

*Swedish games jobs increased by 24 percent, over 1047 new full-time positions to 5338 employees. It is almost the double amount of new positions compared with 2016. ([https://dataspelsbranschen.se/english Dataspelsbranschen], Sep 2018)

*There were 287 active games studios in Sweden in 2016, an increase of 22% on the previous year. ([http://www.swedishgamesindustry.com/news/2017/9/4/2017-swedish-game-developer-index-reveals-steady-growth-in-exports,-boom-in-new-companies-and-revenue.aspx Dataspelsbranschen], Sept 2017)

*These companies employed 4,267 full-time positions, increasing 15% (558 FTEs) from 2015. The Swedish games workforce is 82% male, 18% female. ([http://www.swedishgamesindustry.com/news/2017/9/4/2017-swedish-game-developer-index-reveals-steady-growth-in-exports,-boom-in-new-companies-and-revenue.aspx Dataspelsbranschen], Sept 2017)

*Revenue (turnover) of Swedish game developers increased to €1.4 billion in 2016, representing a 1000 percent increase since 2010. ([http://www.swedishgamesindustry.com/news/2017/9/4/2017-swedish-game-developer-index-reveals-steady-growth-in-exports,-boom-in-new-companies-and-revenue.aspx Dataspelsbranschen], Sept 2017)

*Nearly 10 percent of Swedish games companies are working on virtual reality experiences. ([http://www.swedishgamesindustry.com/news/2017/9/4/2017-swedish-game-developer-index-reveals-steady-growth-in-exports,-boom-in-new-companies-and-revenue.aspx Dataspelsbranschen], Sept 2017)

*1 in 10 players worldwide have played a game made in Sweden. ([http://www.swedishgamesindustry.com/news/2017/9/4/2017-swedish-game-developer-index-reveals-steady-growth-in-exports,-boom-in-new-companies-and-revenue.aspx Dataspelsbranschen], Sept 2017)

*Swedish game development looks in good shape: in 2014 its turnover increased by +35%, to reach €930m. The compound annual growth rate for the 2006-2014 period is an impressive +39%. The majority of companies were profitable, and the combined profits were also the largest so far, with a record €353m (+35% vs 2013). ([http://www.dataspelsbranschen.se Dataspelsbranschen, Game Developer Index], Sept 2015)

*Employment increased by +23%, an additional 583 full-time positions, of which 17% (roughly 100) were hired by newly established companies. This brings the total of employees to 3,117, of which over three quarters (78%) are located in 2 cities: Stockholm and Malmö. ([http://www.dataspelsbranschen.se Dataspelsbranschen, Game Developer Index], Sept 2015)

*In terms of diversity the number of women has grown by +39%, compared to a +17% for men, and since 2010 the number of women working in games development has increased by nearly 5 times in 5 years. They are mainly found in mid- to large-sized companies. The largest companies are multicultural and have employees representing over 30 different nationalities. ([http://www.dataspelsbranschen.se Dataspelsbranschen, Game Developer Index], Sept 2015)

*The 5 biggest companies in number of employees represented 52% of all employment and the 5 biggest in turnover accounted for 77% of the whole turnover. ([http://www.dataspelsbranschen.se Dataspelsbranschen, Game Developer Index], Sept 2015)

*The total value of Swedish game developers was estimated to be over €2.75bn in 2014 (this includes the value of acquisitions). ([http://www.dataspelsbranschen.se Dataspelsbranschen, Game Developer Index], Sept 2015)

== Turkey ==

*Turkey has more than 30 million active gamers, spending 70% of their gaming time on PC ([https://www.slideshare.net/ozanamrasaydemir/turkey-game-market-report-2017-gaming-in-turkey GamingInTurkey], Jun 2018)

*Total Turkish game generated revenue in 2017 was $810m, increasing from $755m in 2016. The 2017 figure is split $437.6m PC / console revenues, $372.4m mobile. ([https://www.slideshare.net/ozanamrasaydemir/turkey-game-market-report-2017-gaming-in-turkey GamingInTurkey], Jun 2018)

*There are approximately 20,000 cyber cafes in Turkey, visited by 7.5m players a month. ([https://www.slideshare.net/ozanamrasaydemir/turkey-game-market-report-2017-gaming-in-turkey GamingInTurkey], Jun 2018)

== Eastern Europe ==

*The Digital market is worth $2.2bn in 2014. Interestingly the 3 key countries cover a 84% share at $1.9bn. Russia is a clear leader, with a 50% share ($1.1bn). ([http://www.slideshare.net/StephanieLlamas/eastern-europe-digital-games-market-2014 Superdata], Dec 2014, LINK)

*The digital market saw a +7% growth in 2014 vs 2013, with free-to-play MMOs ($794m, +6%) and social games ($451m, +16%) having the largest market share. Social games also grew strongly - localization seems to be key. Pay-to-play MMO decreased by -6%, but shows a slower decline than in other regions. Digital PC ($267m, +9%) grew thanks to full game conversion and average revenue per paying user - there’s wariness toward regular in-game payment and full game spending is preferred. ([http://www.slideshare.net/StephanieLlamas/eastern-europe-digital-games-market-2014 Superdata], Dec 2014)

*In 2014, Digital Console, smallest market share in region, still grew the most in percentage terms (+23%). ([http://www.slideshare.net/StephanieLlamas/eastern-europe-digital-games-market-2014 Superdata], Dec 2014)

*In 2014, Mobile, a hype segment in Asia (+30% there) and the third largest in Eastern Europe (mostly Android), still has potential for growth in Eastern Europe, which faced small mobile penetration and doubts about payment security so far. ([http://www.slideshare.net/StephanieLlamas/eastern-europe-digital-games-market-2014 Superdata], Dec 2014)

Europe

2021-10-27T11:15:31Z

UkieColm: /* Sweden */

Global Video Games Market

2021-10-18T14:57:51Z

UkieColm: /* 2021 Stats */

== About This Page ==

All facts and stats on this page are currently sorted in order of publication. Therefore some stats released earlier, such as industry value measurements may have been superceded by later data.

== Other Global Industry Categories ==

*[[Mobile market]]
*[[Acquisition and Investment]]
*[[Esports]]
*[[Gaming video content]]
*[[Virtual reality]]

The data company Newzoo also collates and updates a number of useful infographics of [https://newzoo.com/key-numbers global industry headlines] and [https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/ individual country metrics].

== Install Base - Devices & Games ==

'''Major platforms install base:'''
*PlayStation 4 - 106m ([https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/30/20746712/sony-playstation-4-sales-100-million-milestone VentureBeat], Jan 2020), previously 100m ([https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/30/20746712/sony-playstation-4-sales-100-million-milestone The Verge], Jul 2019), 91.6m ([https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2019/01/11/putting-the-playstation-4s-91-6-million-sales-into-context/#29d15a786c50 Forbes], Jan 2019)
*XBox One - 39.1m ([https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/319939/Analyst_report_Xbox_One_install_base_at_39M_as_of_March_2018.php Gamastura], Jun 2018)
*Switch - 32.27m ([https://uk.ign.com/articles/2019/01/31/nintendo-switch-sales-pass-32-million IGN], Jan 2019)
*Steam - 90m Monthly Active Users, 47m Daily Active Users ([https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/steam-now-has-90-million-monthly-users/ PC Gamer], Jan 2019)
*Epic Games Store - 108m lifetime total active users (accounts with at least one purchase). ([https://gamedaily.biz/article/1502/epic-games-store-has-generated-680m-so-far-with-exclusives-being-critical-says-tim-sweeney GameDaily.biz], Jan 2020

'''Total number of games available (globally):'''
*STEAM: ~35,000 games
**According to [https://steamspy.com/ SteamSpy], as of January 2019, there are were over 30,000 games available on Steam, with 9,300 released in 2018. ([https://www.pcgamer.com/steam-now-has-30000-games/ PC Gamer], Jan 2019)
**As of June 2019, a further 4,124 games have been released on Steam so far in 2019. ([https://steamspy.com/ SteamSpy], Jun 2019)
*PS4: ~2,089
**According to Wikipedia, as of Jan 2020, there were 2,441 games released for the PlayStation 4. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_PlayStation_4_games Wikipedia], Jan 2020)
**1.15bn games have been sold for PS4 worldwide. ([https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/30/20746712/sony-playstation-4-sales-100-million-milestone VentureBeat], Jan 2020)
**103 monthly active users, 38.8 PS Plus Subscribers. ([https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/30/20746712/sony-playstation-4-sales-100-million-milestone VentureBeat], Jan 2020)
*XBOX ONE: ~2,024
**According to Wikipedia, as of June 2019, there were 2,024 games released for the Xbox One. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Xbox_One_games_(A-L) Wikipedia], Jun 2019)
*SWITCH: ~1,728
**According to Wikipedia, as of June 2019, there were 1,728 games listed as released or forthcoming for the Nintendo Switch. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nintendo_Switch_games Wikipedia], Jun 2019)
*App Store (iPhone / iPad): 900,718
**As of June 2019, there were 900,718 games listed as active on Apple's App Store, with 3,759 new games submitted in May 2019 alone. ([https://www.pocketgamer.biz/metrics/app-store/app-count/ PocketGamer.biz], Jun 2019)

== 2021 Stats ==

*The global games market will be worth a record $175.8nm in 2021, rising +1.1% year-on-year. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-games-market-report-2021-free-version/ Newzoo], Jul 2021)
*Looking across the major global markets
**The Asia-Pacific region comprises the largest share of the global market, a full 50% or all revenues, or $88.2bn (+3.0% yoy). This is largely due to the impacts of the $45.6bn Chinese market.
**North America represent 24% of global revenues, at $42.6bn (-7.2% yoy)
**Europe is third largest with 18% of all revenues, or $31.5bn (-5.6% yoy)
**The two smallest markets each comprise 4% of total revenues, with Latin America at $7.2bn (+5.1% yoy) and the Middle East & Africa at $6.3bn (+4.8% yoy)
*Looking at device types:
**Smartphone games comprise the largest share of all revenue at 45%, or $79.0bn (+4.7% yoy)
**Console games represent 28% of the market at $49.2bn (-8.9% yoy)
**PC games are 19% of the market, worth $33.3bn (1.4% yoy)
**Tablet games make up 7% of global revenues, at $11.6bn (+2.0% yoy)
** And browser games take up the remaining 1%, at $2.6bn (-18.0% yoy)
*Globally, there will be almost 3bn people playing games in 2021, 55% of which are in the Asia-Pacific region. Europe represents 14% of all players, or 408m people (+4% yoy) and North America takes the smallest share at just 7% of all players (212m), despite being the second largest in revenue terms.
*If trends continue, Newzoo predict global revenues reaching $218.7bn by 2024, with a global player base of 3.32bn.

*In 2021, Newzoo predict a global cloud gaming market of $1.57bn from 24m paying users. Overall, a total serviceable obtainable market of 165m people is estimated, 56% of which comprises those in the Asia-Pacific region. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/global-cloud-gaming-report-2021-free-version/ Newzoo], Aug 2021)

*The UK-made Grand Theft Auto V has surpassed 150 million lifetime sales, bringing the lifetime total for the Grand Theft Auto series to 360 million. Red Dead Redemption 2, also largely made in the UK, has now sold 60m units worldwide. ([https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021-08-02-take-two-is-announcing-an-exciting-new-franchise-later-this-month Eurogamer], Aug 2021)

====Individual markets ranked====

By revenue, the top 10 global markets in 2021 are ([https://newzoo.com/insights/rankings/top-10-countries-by-game-revenues/ Newzoo], 2021):
# '''China''' - $44.3bn
# '''USA''' - $42.1bn
# '''Japan''' - $20.6bn
# '''South Korea''' - $7.33bn
# '''Germany''' - $6.08bn
# '''UK''' - $5.53bn
# '''France''' - $4.35bn
# '''Canada''' - $3.84bn
# '''Italy''' - $3.48bn
# '''Spain''' - $2.46bn

If revenues are considered against each country's internet-connected population, the ranking changes based on revenue per unit population.

# '''Japan''' - $179 pp
# '''South Korea''' - $151 pp
# '''USA''' - $148 pp
# '''Canada''' - $112 pp
# '''UK''' - $89 pp
# '''Germany''' - $80 pp
# '''France''' - $74 pp
# '''Italy''' - $65 pp
# '''Spain''' - $59 pp
# '''China''' - $47 pp

== 2020 Stats ==

[[File:Newzoo-2020-Global-Gamers.png|thumb|400px|Newzoo 2020 Global Gamers Infographic ([https://newzoo.com/key-numbers/ Newzoo], May 2020)]]

*According to [https://newzoo.com/key-numbers/ Newzoo], in 2020 2.7 billion people globally play video games across any device type, growing +6.4% from the previous year. ([https://newzoo.com/key-numbers/ Newzoo], May 2020)
**The Asia-Pacific region is the largest by total number of players at 1.5bn, increasing +7.7% year-on-year.
**EMEA is the second largest region at 758m players (+6.6% yoy), followed by Latin America at 259m players (+4.3%) and finally North America at 203m, which was the only major region to see a slight decline in total players in 2020 (-0.9%).
**However, of these 2.7bn players only 38% are expected to pay for games, with the rest opting for free-to-play options. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoo-games-market-numbers-revenues-and-audience-2020-2023/ Newzoo], May 2020)

[[File:Newzoo-2020-Global-Games-Market-per-Segment-1.png|thumb|400px|Newzoo 2020 Global Games Market per Segment ([https://newzoo.com/key-numbers/ Newzoo],May 2020)]]

*According to [https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoo-games-market-numbers-revenues-and-audience-2020-2023/ Newzoo], in 2020, the global games market will reach $159.3bn, an increase of +9.3% year-on-year. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoo-games-market-numbers-revenues-and-audience-2020-2023/ Newzoo], May 2020)
**The largest increase in was in global mobile game revenues, up +13.3% yoy to $77.2bn, partly driven by the prevalence of smartphones in the global population.
**Global console game revenues will grow +6.8% year-on-year to $45.2bn, with over 729m players around the world.
**The PC market will also see growth, with 1.3bn players generating revenues of $36.98bn, up +4.8%. This growth is tempered slightly by the decline in the now comparatively small browser-based games market, which will decline -13.4% to revenues of just $3bn. Comparatively, the rest of the PC boxed/download market saw greater growth at +6.7% year-on-year, to $33.9bn.

*Overall, [https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoo-games-market-numbers-revenues-and-audience-2020-2023/ Newzoo] predict that the global games market will exceed the milestone of $200bn in 2023, with a cumulative annual growth (CAGR) of +8.3% to $200.8bn. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoo-games-market-numbers-revenues-and-audience-2020-2023/ Newzoo], May 2020)

*According to Newzoo, the global games market was worth $152.1bn in 2019, an increase of +9.6% on the previous year. The global market is expected to grow to $196bn by 2021. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-games-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Jan 2020)
**The Asia-Pacific regions is the largest overall, at $72.2bn which grew +7.6% year on year, now representing 47.4% of the global market. North America was second largest, up +11.7% to $39.6bn, with the EMEA third at $34.7bn, up +11.5%. Latin America was the smallest global region at $5.6bn, increasing 11.1%.
**However, for the first time since 2015, the U.S. will be the largest single market by revenues globally with $36.9 billion this year. Driven by growth in console game revenues, it will overtake China for the #1 position.
**Of EMEA revenues, Western Europe was by far the biggest segment, growing +12.3% to $25.7bn, representing 16.9% of the global market. By comparison, Eastern Europe reached $4.2bn and the Middle East and Africa $4.8bn.
**Smartphone games were the largest platform in global terms, accounting for $54.9bn of revenues, up +11.6%. Console revenues saw a larger growth, increasing +13.4% to $47.9bn. PC games (downloaded or physical) also grew +6.6% to $32.2bn. The two smaller segments, tablet games and browser games reached $13.6bn and $3.5bn respectively.

*According to Superdata, the global games and interactive entertainment industry earned $120.1bn in 2019, up 4% on the previous year. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/2019-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2020)
**Mobile games again represented the largest global revenue stream, at $64.4bn, followed by PC games at $29.6bn and console games at $15.4bn.
**The rest of the market made up of game video content (GVC), growing to $6.5bn and XR, up to $6.3bn.
*The global games market is predicted to grow 4% to $124.8bn in 2020. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/2019-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2020)

*The top revenue earning game in 2019 was Fortnite for the second year in a row, generating an estimated $1.8bn. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/2019-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2020)

*Global digital game revenues reached $109.4bn in 2019, up 3% year-on-year. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/2019-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2020)
**Mobile revenues dominated digital revenues at $64.4bn, but free-to-play PC games ($21.1bn) and premium console revenues ($13.8bn) were also significant factors.
**80% of global digital game revenues in 2019 were driven from free-to-play games ($87.1bn).
** Total digital premium game revenues declined 5% year-over-year to $18.9B.
**Free-to-play revenues are largely driven by the Asian game market, accounting for 62% of mobile spend ($39.7bn) and 55% of free-to-play PC revenues ($11.7). In premium games (purchase up-front), North America and Europe are dominant.

*8,415 games were released on Steam in 2019, an increase on the 8,167 released in 2018 but overall a slowdown in the number of games released each year, which has increased by roughly 2,000 every year since 2014. ([http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-01-07-major-slowdown-for-number-of-new-releases-on-steam-in-2019 gamesindustry.biz / SteamSpy], Jan 2020)

*Since launching in December 2018, Epic Games Store has attracted 108 million customers (users who have obtained at least one product), generating $680 million (£523m) in revenue. ([https://gamedaily.biz/article/1502/epic-games-store-has-generated-680m-so-far-with-exclusives-being-critical-says-tim-sweeney GameDaily.biz], Jan 2020)
**$251m (£192m) of that revenue was generated by third-parties sales, with the remaining $429m (£330m) was raised by Epic’s own first-party titles, including Fortnite.

*The most common languages for translations in game localisations are German (10.3%), French (9.8%), Japanese (9.7%), Russian (9.0% and Korean (8.9%), according to an analysis for 15 million translated words from 14,000 game orders. ([https://www.localizedirect.com/posts/top-game-localization-languages Localize Direct], May 2020)

== 2019 Stats ==

*Games and interactive media industry grew to $119.6bn in 2018, up 13% on the previous year. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2019)
**Mobile games made up the largest share of global revenues at $61.3bn, followed by PC at $35.7bn and console at $12.7bn.
**The rest of the total was made up of $6.6bn from XR (VR/AR) revenues and $5.2bn on game video content (Youtube/Twitch etc).

*Free-to-play titles earned $87.7bn in 2018, representing 80% of digital games revenue with 62% of free-to-play revenues coming from Asian mobile games,([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2019)
**Free-to-play titles earned $54.3billion in Asia, $14.8billion in North America, and $11billion in Europe in 2018. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2019)
**Fortnite was the top free-to-play game by revenue in 2018, earning $2.4bn - nearly two times the amount generated by Dungeon Fighter Online, ranked second. Other titles in the F2P top ten include Candy Crush Saga at $1.1bn, Pokemon GO at $1.3bn and League of Legends at $1.4bn. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2019)
**The rise of Fortnite greatly increased the visibility of free-to-play console games, causing their overall revenue to explode by +458% year on year. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2019)

*Premium game revenues rose 10% to $17.8bn in 2018, with North America ($7.2bn) and Europe ($7.0bn) generated 80% of premium games revenue.
**PlayUnknown’s Battleground’s was the top premium PC and console game by revenue in 2018, earning $1.028million. This was followed by FIFA 18, which generated $790million and Grand Theft Auto V which five years after its release still earned $628million. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2019)

*The size of the European video games market was €20 billion in 2018 ([https://www.isfe.eu/isfe-key-facts/ ISFE], May 2019)
**The games market experienced a combined 18% growth in 2017 across the main European territories of UK, France, Germany and Spain, with average spend per player increasing from €79 in 2012 to €102 in 2017.

*In 2018, Netflix-like game subscriptions rose to prominence. The top three game subscription offerings - Xbox Game Pass, Playstation Now and the EA Origin Access - earned $273m worldwide in Q3 2018. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2019)

*Games industry software/hardware combined revenue is predicted to drive well over $200 billion revenue by 2023. ([https://www.digi-capital.com/news/2019/03/despite-short-term-questions-games-software-hardware-to-top-200-billion-by-2023/ Digi-Capital], Mar 2019)

*Investment in games companies reached a record $5.7 billion in 2018. ([https://venturebeat.com/2019/01/28/digi-capital-game-investment-doubles-previous-record-at-5-7-billion-in-2018/ Digi-Capital / Venturebeat], Mar 2019)
**Epic Games’ $1.25 billion raise was the biggest round for a game company in 2018, and it was also the largest non-IPO games investment of all time.

[[File:Newzoo Top-10-Public-Game-Companies-by-Revenues.png|thumb|400px|[https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/top-25-public-game-companies-earned-more-than-100-billion-in-2018 Newzoo] Top-10 Public Game Companies by Revenues (2018)]]

*In 2018, the top 25 public companies by game revenues generated a combined $107.3 billion, up +16% from 2017. Together, these companies accounted for almost 80% of the $134.9 billion global games market. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/top-25-public-game-companies-earned-more-than-100-billion-in-2018 Newzoo], Apr 2019)
**Combined, the top 10 companies' revenue grew +19% year on year.
**Console revenues showed particularly strong growth in 2018, accounting for 38% of revenues earned by the top 25 companies, up from 34% in 2017. Notably, five out of the top 10 companies earned most of their revenues from console gaming.
***Tencent was the world’s #1 public company by game revenues for the sixth year running, earning $19.7 billion in revenues and accounting for almost 15% of the entire games market.
***Sony (#2) generated revenues of $14.2 billion, a year-on-year growth of +41% — the highest in the top 10.
***Microsoft generated revenues of $9.8 billion in 2018, growing +32% from 2017, overtaking Apple as the third-largest company by game revenues.
***Nintendo (#9) also had a strong year, with revenues reaching $4.3 billion, up +36% from 2017, driven by the popularity of the Nintendo Switch.
***Activision Blizzard (#5) earned revenues of $6.9 billion, growing +6% over last year, making it the fifth largest company.
***Electronic Arts (#8) generated revenues of $5.3 billion in 2018 with year-on-year growth of +4%.
***Ubisoft (#13) produced $2.2 billion in revenues, growing +3% year on year.

*In the fiscal year to 31st March 2019, 118.55m units of software were sold for the Nintendo Switch, an 86.7% increase on the previous year ([https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-04-25-nintendo-switch-had-23-million-selling-games-in-the-last-fiscal-year gamesindustry.biz], Apr 2019)
**23 games sold more than on million units, including Mario Kart 8 Deluxe which sold 7.47m units worldwide.
**Full-game downloads on the Nintendo store almost doubled year-on-year to reach ¥118.8 billion ($1.1 billion).
**In the same period, 16.95 million units of the Switch were sold, an increase of 12.7% year-on-year, to a total since launch of 34.74m.
**Nintendo earned ¥1.2 trillion ($10.7 billion) in revenue in the fiscal year, a 13.7% increase on the previous year. It earned ¥194 billion ($1.7 billion) in profit, up 39% year-on-year.

*F2P titles amassed 80% of digital games revenue in 2018 but premium games still performed well in Western markets. Red Dead Redemption 2 earned $516m in Q4, helping grow premium games revenue 10% year on year ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2019)

*Cloud-based game content and cloud-based games PC services markets were worth a combined $387 million in 2018. This is forecast to grow to $2.5 billion in 2023. ([https://technology.ihs.com/613450/next-generation-cloud-gaming-new-technologies-new-market-entrants-and-new-business-models IHS Markit], Apr 2019)

== 2018 Stats ==

*The global market for video games will reach $137.9bn in 2018, an increase of 13.3% on 2017. It is estimated to reach $180.1bn by 2021. ([https://resources.newzoo.com/hubfs/Reports/Newzoo_2018_Global_Games_Market_Report_Light.pdf Newzoo], Jun 2018)

*There are more than 2.3 billion active game players in the world this year, of which 46%, or 1.1 billion, spend money on games. ([https://resources.newzoo.com/hubfs/Reports/Newzoo_2018_Global_Games_Market_Report_Light.pdf Newzoo], Jun 2018)

*Console games will generate $34.6billion and capture 25% of the market by the end of 2018. ([https://resources.newzoo.com/hubfs/Reports/Newzoo_2018_Global_Games_Market_Report_Light.pdf Newzoo], Jun 2018)

*The Asia-Pacific region leads the global market and the is fastest growing, increasing 16.8% year-on-year to $71.4bn, or 52% of the total global market. North America represents 23% of the global market, up 10% to $32.7bn. EMEA is 21% of the market, up 8.8% to $28.7bn and Latin America makes up the remaining 4%, up 13.5% to $5bn. ([https://resources.newzoo.com/hubfs/Reports/Newzoo_2018_Global_Games_Market_Report_Light.pdf Newzoo], Jun 2018)

[[File:Newzoo 2018 Global Market by Region.png|border|400px|Newzoo 2018 Global Market by Region]]

*Mobile revenues will be the largest segment of the global games market, representing over half of total global revenues for the first time, generating $70.3bn overall from $56.4bn of smartphone and $13.9bn of tablet revenues. Smartphone games are also the fastest growing segment, increasing 29% year-on-year. ([https://resources.newzoo.com/hubfs/Reports/Newzoo_2018_Global_Games_Market_Report_Light.pdf Newzoo], Jun 2018)

[[File:Newzoo 2018 Global Market by Device.png|border|400px|Newzoo 2018 Global Market by Device]]

*All segments of the games market are growing steadily. Console revenues will increase 4.1% to $34.6bn in 2018 and $39bn by 2021. PC games will reach $32.9bn in 2018, representing 24% of the global market. ([https://resources.newzoo.com/hubfs/Reports/Newzoo_2018_Global_Games_Market_Report_Light.pdf Newzoo], Jun 2018)

*The interactive entertainment sector generated a record $108.4bn in 2017, with the three major games revenues split between mobile ($59.2bn), PC ($33bn) and console ($8.3bn). Wider interactive sector made up the rest of the revenues, XR (Extended / Mixed Reality - £4bn), game video content ($3.2bn) and esports ($0.8bn). ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*2017’s $8.3bn global console game market was dominated by North American and Euopean markets, at $4.2bn and $3.1bn respectively. The Asian console market reached $0.2bn. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*Consumers spent $14B more on mobile games in 2017 than in 2016. Games such as Arena of Valor and Fantasy Westward Journey from Asian publishers like Tencent and NetEase contributed to a 31% year-over-year growth for the worldwide mobile market. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*The global video games market is set to grow considerably in the period to 2022. The largest segment will be social / casual games, generating over $80bn by 2022. ([https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/industries/tmt/media/outlook/segment-findings.html PwC], Jun 2018)

[[File:PwC Growth in All Major Video Game Subsegments.png|border|400px|PwC Growth Available in All Major Video Game Subsegments]]

*Red Dead Redemption 2 generated $725 million in its first three days. It’s the second biggest opening for a product in entertainment history. ([https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-10-30-red-dead-redemption-2-makes-usd725-million-in-three-days Gamesindustry.biz], 2018)

*According to Activision Blizzard, the Call of Duty franchise has generated more revenue than the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the box office, and double that of the cumulative box office of Star Wars. ([https://www.mcvuk.com/business/activision-blizzard-q3-financials-blizzard-revenue-up-20-as-destiny-2-underperforms MCV], Nov 2018)

*Global PC game revenue reached $33bn in 2017, of which free-to-play games contributed $15bn. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*The top grossing free-to-play PC games in 2017 were League of Legends ($2.1bn), Dungeon Fighter Online ($1.6bn) and CrossFire ($1.4bn). ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*In 2017, 56% of the PC game market was comprised of RPGs (34%) and Shooters (22%). ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*Bluehole’s PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds was the largest grossing PC paid/premium game revenue, generating $714m or 12% of the sub-sector’s revenues. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*According to Steamspy, 7,672 games were released on Valve’s Steam platform in 2017, an increase of 53% on 2016’s 5,006 games. ([http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-01-10-steam-saw-more-than-7-600-games-debut-in-2017-steamspy Steamspy / gamesindustry.biz], Jan 2018)

== 2017 Stats ==

*Approximately 2.2bn people play games worldwide ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/the-global-games-market-will-reach-108-9-billion-in-2017-with-mobile-taking-42/ Newzoo], Apr 2017), although some estimates put this as high as 2.6bn. ([http://dq756f9pzlyr3.cloudfront.net/file/Internet+Trends+2017+Report.pdf Unity], Apr 2017)

*The global games market will be worth $116bn in 2017, growing by 10.7% on the previous year. With a projected CAGR of 8.2% over the coming years, it is expected to reach $143.5bn by 2020. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/new-gaming-boom-newzoo-ups-its-2017-global-games-market-estimate-to-116-0bn-growing-to-143-5bn-in-2020/ Newzoo], Nov 2017)

*The global mobile revenues will remain just short of half of the market (43%), worth $50.4bn in 2017. Current estimates see this growing to $72.3bn by 2020. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/new-gaming-boom-newzoo-ups-its-2017-global-games-market-estimate-to-116-0bn-growing-to-143-5bn-in-2020/ Newzoo], Nov 2017)

*The console market represents 29% of the current market, worth $33.3bn and the PC market a similar share at $32.3bn. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/new-gaming-boom-newzoo-ups-its-2017-global-games-market-estimate-to-116-0bn-growing-to-143-5bn-in-2020/ Newzoo], Nov 2017)

*Sony's PlayStation 4 console has shipped 82.2m units globally since launch in November 2013 and is projected to reach 90m units by March 2019. ([http://gamasutra.com/view/news/323326/Worldwide_PlayStation_4_shipments_have_topped_80_million.php gamasutra], Aug 2018)

*Sony’s PlayStation 4 console has sold 67.5m units to date and is projected to sell 79m by the end of March 2018. ([http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-10-31-playstation-drives-sonys-q2-2017-revenues-up-to-usd18-25bn GamesIndustry.biz], Oct 2017)

*The global games market is now worth over $100bn annually, reaching a total of $101.1bn in 2016. With a projected CAGR of 6.2%, it is expected to reach $108.9bn by the end of 2017 and $128.5bn by the end of 2020. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/the-global-games-market-will-reach-108-9-billion-in-2017-with-mobile-taking-42/ Newzoo], Apr 2017)

*2017 is expected to be the year mobile revenues become the largest segment of the global market, growing by 19.3% YOY to reach $46.1bn or 32% of the global total. Digital game revenues will account for $94.4bn or 87% of the global market. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/the-global-games-market-will-reach-108-9-billion-in-2017-with-mobile-taking-42/ Newzoo], Apr 2017)

*The Asia-Pacific market will generate 47% ($51.2bn) of global revenues in 2017, with China accounting for $27.5bn of the total. In comparison, the US will account for $25.1bn and the EMEA will be make up $26.2bn. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/the-global-games-market-will-reach-108-9-billion-in-2017-with-mobile-taking-42/ Newzoo], Apr 2017)

*In January 6th 2017, Valve’s digital PC games platform Steam reached 18.5m concurrent users. ([https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/312771/Steam_sets_new_concurrent_user_record_at_185M.php Gamasutra], Jan 2017)

*Valve’s Steam platform now counts 67 million monthly active players and 33 million daily active players, as of August 2017. At peak, this relates to 14 million concurrent users per day, up from 8.4 million in 2015. ([https://www.geekwire.com/2017/valve-reveals-steams-monthly-active-user-count-game-sales-region/ Geekwire], Aug 2017)

*Of Steam sales in January-August 2017, 34% of sales were to North America, 29% Western Europe and 17% Asia, with the remaining split between other regions. ([https://www.geekwire.com/2017/valve-reveals-steams-monthly-active-user-count-game-sales-region/ Geekwire], Aug 2017)

*Microsoft’s Xbox Live platform counts 53 million monthly active users, as of Q4 2016/17. They also a quarterly “gaming” revenue of $1.657bn for the same period. ([https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https://c.s-microsoft.com/en-us/CMSFiles/SlidesFY17Q4.pptx?version=c9735c19-0baa-103d-2a4e-bacd46514428 Microsoft], Aug 2017)

*Valve’s Steam platform reported 125m total active lifetime users in 2015, estimated up to 150m by August 2017. ([http://www.pcgamesinsider.biz/news/65996/steam-has-67-million-monthly-active-users/ PC Games Insider], Aug 2017)

*For the first time, Ubisoft has reported that recurring player investment (e.g. the sale of in-game items, DLC, season passes and subscriptions) has outperformed digital full-game sales in Q1/2 2017. ([https://www.ubisoft.com/en-US/company/investor_center/earnings_sales.aspx Ubisoft], Oct 2017)

== 2016 Stats ==

*The top 25 public companies by game revenues generated $41.4 billion in the first half of 2017, increasing 20% compared to the same period in 2016. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/game-revenues-of-top-25-public-companies-jump-20-to-41-4-billion-in-h1-2017/ Newzoo], Sept 2016)

*Mobile gaming accounted for 42% of all revenues generated by the top 10 companies ($31.4bn), up from 40% in the first half of last year. Tencent was once again the largest gaming company in the world with revenues of $7.4 billion. Sony grew by 25% year over year to take the #2 spot with revenues of $4.3 billion. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/game-revenues-of-top-25-public-companies-jump-20-to-41-4-billion-in-h1-2017/ Newzoo], Sept 2016)

*The global video games market generated $91bn in 2016, with mobile sector making up the largest share ($40.6bn). PC accounted for $35.8bn and Console $6.6bn. Esports ($0.9bn), gaming videos ($4.4bn) and VR ($2.7bn) made up the remainder. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ SuperData], Dec 2016)

*The top 25 Public Companies by Game Revenues generated $34.5 billion in the first half of 2016, an increase of 22% compared to the same period in 2015. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/game-revenues-of-top-25-public-companies-jump-22-to-34-5bn-in-h1-2016/ Newzoo], Oct 2016)

*According to Newzoo’s estimation, China has overtaken the US as the as world’s largest gaming market at $24.4bn, vs the US’s $23.6bn. With a larger population and gaming yet to reach a mature penetration, we can expect China’s lead to grow over time. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/regional-breakdown-99-6-bn-global-games-market-free-report/ Newzoo], June 2016)

*China is now the largest national market for iOS App Store revenues overall, earning more than $1.7 billion in the Q3 2016, exceeding the US by around 15%. Games make up approximately 75% of that revenue, in which China has been leading since Q2 2016. (App Annie, October 2016, LINK)

*China is the no.1 national market for iOS App Store Games revenues, exceeding the US and Japan revenues in Q2 2016. ([https://www.appannie.com/insights/market-data/q3-2016-index-china-hits-ios-app-store-milestone/ App Annie], Oct 2016)

*As of December 2016, the Sony PlayStation 4 has sold through over 50 million units worldwide. (including sales of the PlayStation 4 Pro) ([http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2016-12-07-playstation-4-worldwide-sales-surpass-50m GI.biz], Dec 2016)

*The Asia-Pacific region dominates the global revenues with 47% share ($46.6bn), North America and the EMEA make up approximately a quarter each (25%, $25.4bn and 24%, $23.5bn). Latin America is the smallest region, but also the fastest growing, up 20.1% yoy to $4.1bn (4%). ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/regional-breakdown-99-6-bn-global-games-market-free-report/ Newzoo], June 2016)

*Of all console gamers, 87% also plays games on a PC. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/regional-breakdown-99-6-bn-global-games-market-free-report/ Newzoo], June 2016)

*As of Q3 2016, GTA V has sold-in (shipped to retailers) 70 million copies since launch. ([http://www.gamespot.com/articles/gta-5-ships-70-million-copies-as-gta-online-contin/1100-6445053/ GameSpot], Nov 2016)

*4,727 games on the Steam platform were first released in 2016, making up just over 40% of the total games available on the platform (11,697 games). ([https://steamspy.com/ SteamSpy], Dec 2016)

== 2015 Stats ==

*The global digital games market has reached $5.5bn, a +7% year-on-year increase. All segments except P2P MMO have grown. Digital PC revenues rose to $622m (+6%), driven by Asia spending, while digital console revenues rose to $375m (+14%). ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/us-digital-games-market/ Superdata], Oct 2015, LINK)

*In terms of monthly active users, this was up +13% totalling 2.3bn in October, the average spending is slowing, which shows in the revenue growing by +7% to $2.1bn. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/us-digital-games-market/ Superdata], Oct 2015, LINK)

*The most common global digital payment methods are eWallet (32%), credit/debit cards (25%) and mobile (14%), although this varies by region – eWallets are more popular in the Asia/Pacific region and credit/debit cards more popular in North America, for instance. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/payment-preferences-of-gamers-worldwide/ Superdata], Apr 2016)

*There are currently more than 700 games that entered Early Access since 2013, and 150 (21%) of them got released since. On average, games that use the Early Access spend 14 months in it. ([https://medium.com/steam-spy/on-early-access-games-39aed2b8f82d#.kouq0t7in Steam Spy], Oct 2015)

*The average game will sell 8,000 copies during Early Access stage if it manages to stay around until release, and another 3,600 in the first month after launch. ([https://medium.com/steam-spy/on-early-access-games-39aed2b8f82d#.kouq0t7in Steam Spy], Oct 2015)

*15m Steam players (11% of all Steam players) own at least one paid Early Access game, and people from Germany and France are more likely to own Early Access games, while less so in Poland. ([https://medium.com/steam-spy/on-early-access-games-39aed2b8f82d#.kouq0t7in Steam Spy], Oct 2015)

*1% of Steam gamers own 33% of all copies of games on Steam. 20% of Steam gamers own 88%. To be in the 1% group you need to own 107 games or more. To be in the 20% you need to own 4 games or more. ([https://medium.com/steam-spy/your-target-audience-doesn-t-exist-999b78aa77ae Steam Spy], August 2015)

*Valve is estimated to have had over $730m revenues in 2014. Their own titles like DOTA 2, Team Fortress 2 and CS:GO accounted for $400m, the remaining $330m coming from royalties from third-party titles. Valve has not released its own figures. ([http://www.develop-online.net/news/valve-made-more-than-730m-in-2014-report-claims/0209311 Superdata], July 2015)

*Most popular games on Steam: in 2014 the Nbr 1 title was Unturned, with 12.2m owners and “only” 9.1m players. Average daily sales on Steam: Unturned, is also Nbr1 with 52.5 daily sales, followed by Dead Island: Epidemic (40.2 daily sales) and Robocraft (23 daily sales). In terms of hours played, Football Manager 2015 has reached highest number of mean hours per owner, with an impressive 152.6. It’s followed by Dark Souls II (73.1) and Panzer Corps (71.7). (Ars Technica wasn’t able to retrieve data for DOTA 2 or Team Fortress 2, which are in the Top3 most played games on Steam). ([http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/03/steam-gauge-measuring-the-most-popular-steam-games-of-2014/1/ Ars Technica], Mar 2015)

*In the last 18 months, Steam has seen as many new games added as its first 10 years combined. ([http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/03/steam-gauge-measuring-the-most-popular-steam-games-of-2014/1/ Ars Technica], Mar 2015)

*Steam has exceeded 9m concurrent users in March 2015, and there are currently 125m accounts on the platform, more than Mexico’s whole population, close to Japan’s. ([http://www.technobuffalo.com/2015/03/16/steam-surpasses-125-million-active-9-million-concurrent-users/ TechnoBuffalo], Mar 2015)

*Digital console sales: the Top10 US titles by worldwide revenues in Jan 2015 have been published. GTA V is king at $31.8m, followed by CoD: Advanced Warfare ($23.5m) and Destiny at $14.2m. Dying Light ranked a surprise 4th place at à12m. In terms of console revenue shares between Playstation and Xbox (Gen7 and Gen8 combined), PS leads at 63%. Gen8 consoles grossed 70% more revenues than Gen7. ([http://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/top-10-digital-console-games/?mc_cid=2cf6c0a475&mc_eid=93d0f69887 Superdata], Feb 2015)

*The total for worldwide digital console for 2014 was $2.98bn. The best-selling month since February 2013 was December 2014, at $363m. ([http://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/digital-console-games-market/ Superdata], Feb 2015)

*The worldwide digital console games market was worth $233m in February 2015, slightly down compared to February 2014 (-3.7%). ([http://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/digital-console-games-market/ Superdata], Feb 2015)

*Valve shared that it paid content creators who crafted in-game items for Team Fortress 2, Dota 2 and CG:GO $57m in 2014. This amount was shared by 1,500 contributors from 75 countries. Valve has now expanded the Workshop service to non-Valve games like Dungeon Defenders: Eternity and Chivalry: Medieval Warfare. ([http://uk.ign.com/articles/2015/01/29/steam-workshop-content-creators-have-raked-in-57m IGN], Jan 2015)

*Console players could spend more than PC players in free-to-play games: the MMO DC Universe PS4 version has been making more than 3 times what the PC version has as of Jan 2015. ([http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/ps4-players-spend-more-on-dc-universe-online-than-pc-counterparts/0143611 MCV], Jan 2015)

*In 2014 the global digital market was worth $49bn, with high growth in percentage terms in the Latin America region (+13%) and Digital Consoles (+24%). ([http://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/infographic-2014-digital-games-year-review/ Superdata], Dec 2014)

== 2014 Stats ==

*When looking at the Top 20 Entertainment Products of 2013 in the UK, Grand Theft Auto V was the leader with 3.67m units sold, ahead of Skyfall (2.96m units on DVD and Blu-ray). The third product in units sold was FIFA 14 (2.66m units sold) ahead of The Hobbit DVD and Blu-ray (2.07m units) ([http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/gta-v-is-the-biggest-selling-entertainment-product-of-2013-call-of-duty-falls-to-no-5/0126323 MCV], Jan 2014)

== 2013 Stats ==

*GTA V made $1bn worldwide in 3 days in 2013, faster than any other entertainment product including movies. ([http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/gta-v-makes-1bn-in-three-days/0121447 MCV], Sept 2013)

Job market and economic contribution

2021-10-14T16:29:40Z

UkieColm: /* Official DCMS Statistics */

== Official DCMS Statistics ==

=== Gross Value Added ===

'''GVA by current prices in £bn for the period 2010-2019 across multiple DCMS sectors and subsectors''' ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

{| class="wikitable"
!Sector
!2010
!2011
!2012
!2013
!2014
!2015
!2016
!2017
!2018
!2019
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | '''Computer Games (£bn)'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.40'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.68'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.53'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.44'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.40'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.40'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.96'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''2.32*'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''2.67'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''2.91'''
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Creative Industries (£bn)
|style="text-align:right;" | 69.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 72.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 76.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 81.0
|style="text-align:right;" | 84.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 93.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 98.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 102.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 107.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 115.9
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Digital Sector (£bn)
|style="text-align:right;" | 103.0
|style="text-align:right;" | 108.4
|style="text-align:right;" | 111.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 113.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 115.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 118.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 129.7
|style="text-align:right;" | 134.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 139.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 150.6
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | UK Economy Total (£bn)
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,446
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,482
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,530
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,589
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,661
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,712
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,777
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,844
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,910
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,970
|}

''<nowiki>*</nowiki>The leap in computer games GVA between 2016 and 2017 is likely due to improvement in games companies assigning themselves correct SIC codes following [https://www.nesta.org.uk/press-release/ukie-and-nesta-team-up-to-put-uk-games-industry-on-the-map/ Ukie's campaign to achieve this], rather than owing purely to an increase in GVA.''

*According to DCMS's Sector Economic Estimates, GVA by chained volume measures for the whole of the creative industries was a record £113.6bn in 2019, up 5.6% on the total from the previous year. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*Video games contributed a record £2.91bn to the UK economy in 2019, measured using current prices and so not accounting for inflation. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*Video game development and publishing also contribute to the digital sector, which saw a record total GVA of 147.5bn by chained volume measures in 2019, up 6.1% on 2018. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

=== Employment ===

'''Employment in UK DCMS sectors 2011-2019 according to DCMS Sectors Economis Estimates 2015-2019''' ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2019-employment 2019], [https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2018-employment 2018], [https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2017-employment 2017], [https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2017-employment-and-trade 2016], [https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2016 2015], DCMS)

{| class="wikitable"
!Sector
!2011
!2012
!2013
!2014
!2015
!2016
!2017
!2018
!2019
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | '''Computer Games'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''13,000'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''15,000'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''19,000'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''24,000'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''20,000'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''23,000'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''30,000'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''22,000'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''27,000'''
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Creative Industries
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.56m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.69m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.71m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.81m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.87m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.96m
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.01m
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.04m
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.10m
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Digital Sector
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.29m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.38m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.38m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.39m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.42m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.46m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.50m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.51m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.56m
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | UK Total Workforce
|style="text-align:right;" | 30.1m
|style="text-align:right;" | 30.3m
|style="text-align:right;" | 30.8m
|style="text-align:right;" | 31.4m
|style="text-align:right;" | 32.0m
|style="text-align:right;" | 32.4m
|style="text-align:right;" | 32.9m
|style="text-align:right;" | 33.1m
|style="text-align:right;" | 33.6m
|}

*The video games industry employs 27,000 people, 16,000 (59%) of whom are aged 16-39, with the remaining 11,000 people (41%) aged 40 and over. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2019-employment DCMS], Apr 2020)

'''NB:''' The fluctuations in the games industry employment figures over this time period do not reflect the industry's perception of employment in this same period, owing to limitations in how SIC codes are used to identify the video games sector and consequently how employment is officially measured.

== Industry Stats ==

=== Screen Business (2018) ===

The 2018 BFI report [[BFI_Screen_Business|Screen Business: How tax incentives help power economic growth across the UK’,]] provided a range of updated and alternative economic measurements of the UK games industry's economic impact in 2016, including a detailed assessment of the impacts of VGTR. These include:

''Overall UK Games Industry (all stats relate to 2016)'''
*The UK games industry supported 47,620 FTE jobs and contributed £2.87bn in GVA to the UK economy.
*The industry directly employs 20,430 FTEs in development, publishing and retail roles, which contribute £1.52bn in direct GVA to the economy.

{| class="wikitable"
|'''Subsector'''
|'''Employment (FTEs)'''
|'''GVA (£m)'''
|-
|Publishing
|2,300
|526.6
|-
|Digital Retail
|310
|31.7
|-
|Physical Retail
|3,980
|132.0
|-
|'''Total'''
|'''20,430'''
|'''1.52'''
|}

*In 2016, the UK games industry spent £1.25bn on game development.
*In the period 2015-2017, there was at least £1.75bn of inward investment in the UK games industry. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

'''VGTR'''
*The VGTR supports 9,240 FTE jobs across the UK games industry, including 4,320 directly in development roles (31% of the total UK development workforce).
*VGTR games represented £389.9m of UK development spend, 31% of the total development spend. Overall, projects supported by the VGTR contibuted£525m in GVA to the UK economy and £158m in tax revenue.
*68% of VGTR-supported games would not be made in the UK, or at all, without the relief in place.
*For every £1 the Government invested into the games sector via VGTR, an additional £4 in GVA was generated for the UK economy.
*Of all the screen sector tax reliefs, the games sector was shown to have the highest rate of productivity, where each employee generated an average of £83,800 in GVA for the economy, significantly above the national industrial average of £62,100.

=== 2018 Stats ===

*There are 2,277 active video game companies in the UK, as of October 2018. ([https://gamesmap.uk UK Games Map], Oct 2018)

*In November 2018 there were 5.7m professional developers in Europe, up by 200,000 on 2017. This compares to the 4.4m in the US, which has that stayed flat year on year. The UK is home to 830,500 professional developers. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*London is home to 357,900 professional developers, making it the largest hub of professional developers in Europe and considerably ahead of second-place Paris at 268,600. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*THE UK remains the No.1 European destination for international movers in the tech ecosystem, accounting for 20.9% of all international movers. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*44% of founders and employees of private tech start-ups in the UK and Ireland are migrants, the highest percentage of any European region. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 100 highest grossing games of 2017 list featured 15 games made or partly made in the UK, including two games in the top “platinum tier”, one in the gold tier and four in silver. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 92 games by peak simultaneous players featured 14 games made or partly made in the UK (15.2%), including Rockstar’s ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ in the top "over 100k simultaneous players" tier and six games from the UK (or 40%) in the second "over 50k players" tier. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 10 highest grossing VR games featured 11 games made in the UK, including one game partly made in the UK in the top “platinum” tier, one UK-made game in the gold tier and four in silver. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

=== 2017 Stats ===

*83% of UK games businesses predict growth in FY2017/18, up from 79% in the previous year. 82% of games companies are also looking to expand their workforce in the same period. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2017/11/ukie-member-survey-prospects-exports-satisfaction Ukie], Nov 2017)

*The UK has been ranked as third best country in the world for the ability to attract, retain, train and educate skilled workers, according to the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (INSEAD, Jan 2017, [https://www.insead.edu/global-indices/gtci LINK] and [http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/uk-ranks-third-in-global-talent-competitiveness-ranking LINK])

*London, Birmingham and Cardiff act as talent magnets, helping the UK attract more highly-skilled workers. Cardiff is the 11th best city worldwide at attracting, growing and retaining talent, with London listed 16th and Birmingham 17th. (INSEAD, Jan 2017, [https://www.insead.edu/global-indices/gtci LINK] and [http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/uk-ranks-third-in-global-talent-competitiveness-ranking LINK])

*According to Creative Assembly, their game ‘Halo Wars 2’ contained 1,023,574 lines of code in 146,605 blocks. Their game ‘Alien: Isolation’ contained 691,685 lines of code in 159,050 blocks. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

*Creative Assembly employed 133 people in their art teams in 2017, 2.3 times larger than in 2012. The ratio of women employed has increased by 5.7 times in the same period. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

*Environment Artists are the largest group of specialists in the Creative Assembly art team, representing 23% of the workforce. Character Artists (15%), Animators (14%) and Concept Artists (12%) are large parts of the overall team. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-art Creative Assembly], 2017)

*In terms of time spent across the three main art areas , 51.6% of time is spent on environment art, 28% on character art and 20% on concept art. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

=== 2016 Stats ===

*European games industry professionals rate the UK as the place in Europe where both the best games are made today and the best games will be made in five year’s time. ([http://registration.gdceurope.com/GDCEurope-StateOfGame?_mc=blog_x_gdceu_wp_aud_gdceu_x_x-sotieu GDC], Aug 2016)

*The UK’s creative industries are now worth a record £84.1 billion to the UK economy. The figures show the sector growing at almost twice the rate of the wider UK economy - generating £9.6million per hour. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/news/creative-industries-worth-almost-10-million-an-hour-to-economy Gov.co.uk], Jan 2016)

=== 2015 Stats ===

*In 2013, the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) supported 12,100 FTEs of direct employment. This is split into 9,400 FTEs in development, 900 in publishing and 1,800 in retail. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*In 2013, the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) contributed £755m in direct GVA. This is split into £639.1m in development, £63.3m in publishing and £53m in retail. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*In 2013, taking into account the total economic contribution (including multiplier and spillover effects) the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) supported 23,900 FTEs of employment, generated £1.4bn in GVA and contributed £429m to the Exchequer. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*When looking at regional distribution of employment in 2013: for development most FTEs are in London (27%), the South East (21%), the East of England (10%) and West Midlands (10%). For publishing most FTEs are in the South East (32%), London (31%), the East of England (18%) and West Midlands (7%). ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

Job market and economic contribution

2021-10-14T16:25:55Z

UkieColm: /* Employment */

== Official DCMS Statistics ==

=== Gross Value Added ===

'''GVA by current prices in £bn for the period 2010-2019 across multiple DCMS sectors and subsectors''' ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

{| class="wikitable"
!Sector
!2010
!2011
!2012
!2013
!2014
!2015
!2016
!2017
!2018
!2019
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | '''Computer Games (£bn)'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.40'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.68'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.53'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.44'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.40'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.40'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.96'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''2.32*'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''2.67'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''2.91'''
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Creative Industries (£bn)
|style="text-align:right;" | 69.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 72.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 76.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 81.0
|style="text-align:right;" | 84.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 93.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 98.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 102.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 107.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 115.9
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Digital Sector (£bn)
|style="text-align:right;" | 103.0
|style="text-align:right;" | 108.4
|style="text-align:right;" | 111.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 113.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 115.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 118.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 129.7
|style="text-align:right;" | 134.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 139.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 150.6
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | UK Economy Total (£bn)
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,446
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,482
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,530
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,589
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,661
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,712
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,777
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,844
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,910
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,970
|}

''<nowiki>*</nowiki>The leap in computer games GVA between 2016 and 2017 is likely due to improvement in games companies assigning themselves correct SIC codes following [https://www.nesta.org.uk/press-release/ukie-and-nesta-team-up-to-put-uk-games-industry-on-the-map/ Ukie's campaign to achieve this], rather than owing purely to an increase in GVA.''

*According to DCMS's Sector Economic Estimates, GVA by chained volume measures for the whole of the creative industries was a record £113.6bn in 2019, up 5.6% on the total from the previous year. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*Video games contributed a record £2.91bn to the UK economy in 2019, measured using current prices and so not accounting for inflation. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*Video game development and publishing also contribute to the digital sector, which saw a record total GVA of 147.5bn by chained volume measures in 2019, up 6.1% on 2018. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

=== Employment ===

'''Employment in UK DCMS sectors 2011-2019 according to DCMS Sectors Economis Estimates 2015-2019''' ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2019-employment 2019], [https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2018-employment 2018], [https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2017-employment 2017], [https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2017-employment-and-trade 2016], [https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2016 2015], DCMS)

{| class="wikitable"
!Sector
!2011
!2012
!2013
!2014
!2015
!2016
!2017
!2018
!2019
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | '''Computer Games'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''13,000'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''15,000'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''19,000'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''24,000'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''20,000'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''23,000'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''30,000'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''22,000'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''27,000'''
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Creative Industries
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.56m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.69m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.71m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.81m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.87m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.96m
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.01m
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.04m
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.10m
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Digital Sector
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.29m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.38m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.38m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.39m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.42m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.46m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.50m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.51m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.56m
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | UK Total Workforce
|style="text-align:right;" | 30.1m
|style="text-align:right;" | 30.3m
|style="text-align:right;" | 30.8m
|style="text-align:right;" | 31.4m
|style="text-align:right;" | 32.0m
|style="text-align:right;" | 32.4m
|style="text-align:right;" | 32.9m
|style="text-align:right;" | 33.1m
|style="text-align:right;" | 33.6m
|}

*The video games industry employs 27,000 people, 16,000 (59%) of whom are aged 16-39, with the remaining 11,000 people (41%) aged 40 and over. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2019-employment DCMS], Apr 2020)

== Industry Stats ==

=== Screen Business (2018) ===

The 2018 BFI report [[BFI_Screen_Business|Screen Business: How tax incentives help power economic growth across the UK’,]] provided a range of updated and alternative economic measurements of the UK games industry's economic impact in 2016, including a detailed assessment of the impacts of VGTR. These include:

''Overall UK Games Industry (all stats relate to 2016)'''
*The UK games industry supported 47,620 FTE jobs and contributed £2.87bn in GVA to the UK economy.
*The industry directly employs 20,430 FTEs in development, publishing and retail roles, which contribute £1.52bn in direct GVA to the economy.

{| class="wikitable"
|'''Subsector'''
|'''Employment (FTEs)'''
|'''GVA (£m)'''
|-
|Publishing
|2,300
|526.6
|-
|Digital Retail
|310
|31.7
|-
|Physical Retail
|3,980
|132.0
|-
|'''Total'''
|'''20,430'''
|'''1.52'''
|}

*In 2016, the UK games industry spent £1.25bn on game development.
*In the period 2015-2017, there was at least £1.75bn of inward investment in the UK games industry. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

'''VGTR'''
*The VGTR supports 9,240 FTE jobs across the UK games industry, including 4,320 directly in development roles (31% of the total UK development workforce).
*VGTR games represented £389.9m of UK development spend, 31% of the total development spend. Overall, projects supported by the VGTR contibuted£525m in GVA to the UK economy and £158m in tax revenue.
*68% of VGTR-supported games would not be made in the UK, or at all, without the relief in place.
*For every £1 the Government invested into the games sector via VGTR, an additional £4 in GVA was generated for the UK economy.
*Of all the screen sector tax reliefs, the games sector was shown to have the highest rate of productivity, where each employee generated an average of £83,800 in GVA for the economy, significantly above the national industrial average of £62,100.

=== 2018 Stats ===

*There are 2,277 active video game companies in the UK, as of October 2018. ([https://gamesmap.uk UK Games Map], Oct 2018)

*In November 2018 there were 5.7m professional developers in Europe, up by 200,000 on 2017. This compares to the 4.4m in the US, which has that stayed flat year on year. The UK is home to 830,500 professional developers. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*London is home to 357,900 professional developers, making it the largest hub of professional developers in Europe and considerably ahead of second-place Paris at 268,600. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*THE UK remains the No.1 European destination for international movers in the tech ecosystem, accounting for 20.9% of all international movers. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*44% of founders and employees of private tech start-ups in the UK and Ireland are migrants, the highest percentage of any European region. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 100 highest grossing games of 2017 list featured 15 games made or partly made in the UK, including two games in the top “platinum tier”, one in the gold tier and four in silver. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 92 games by peak simultaneous players featured 14 games made or partly made in the UK (15.2%), including Rockstar’s ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ in the top "over 100k simultaneous players" tier and six games from the UK (or 40%) in the second "over 50k players" tier. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 10 highest grossing VR games featured 11 games made in the UK, including one game partly made in the UK in the top “platinum” tier, one UK-made game in the gold tier and four in silver. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

=== 2017 Stats ===

*83% of UK games businesses predict growth in FY2017/18, up from 79% in the previous year. 82% of games companies are also looking to expand their workforce in the same period. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2017/11/ukie-member-survey-prospects-exports-satisfaction Ukie], Nov 2017)

*The UK has been ranked as third best country in the world for the ability to attract, retain, train and educate skilled workers, according to the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (INSEAD, Jan 2017, [https://www.insead.edu/global-indices/gtci LINK] and [http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/uk-ranks-third-in-global-talent-competitiveness-ranking LINK])

*London, Birmingham and Cardiff act as talent magnets, helping the UK attract more highly-skilled workers. Cardiff is the 11th best city worldwide at attracting, growing and retaining talent, with London listed 16th and Birmingham 17th. (INSEAD, Jan 2017, [https://www.insead.edu/global-indices/gtci LINK] and [http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/uk-ranks-third-in-global-talent-competitiveness-ranking LINK])

*According to Creative Assembly, their game ‘Halo Wars 2’ contained 1,023,574 lines of code in 146,605 blocks. Their game ‘Alien: Isolation’ contained 691,685 lines of code in 159,050 blocks. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

*Creative Assembly employed 133 people in their art teams in 2017, 2.3 times larger than in 2012. The ratio of women employed has increased by 5.7 times in the same period. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

*Environment Artists are the largest group of specialists in the Creative Assembly art team, representing 23% of the workforce. Character Artists (15%), Animators (14%) and Concept Artists (12%) are large parts of the overall team. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-art Creative Assembly], 2017)

*In terms of time spent across the three main art areas , 51.6% of time is spent on environment art, 28% on character art and 20% on concept art. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

=== 2016 Stats ===

*European games industry professionals rate the UK as the place in Europe where both the best games are made today and the best games will be made in five year’s time. ([http://registration.gdceurope.com/GDCEurope-StateOfGame?_mc=blog_x_gdceu_wp_aud_gdceu_x_x-sotieu GDC], Aug 2016)

*The UK’s creative industries are now worth a record £84.1 billion to the UK economy. The figures show the sector growing at almost twice the rate of the wider UK economy - generating £9.6million per hour. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/news/creative-industries-worth-almost-10-million-an-hour-to-economy Gov.co.uk], Jan 2016)

=== 2015 Stats ===

*In 2013, the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) supported 12,100 FTEs of direct employment. This is split into 9,400 FTEs in development, 900 in publishing and 1,800 in retail. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*In 2013, the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) contributed £755m in direct GVA. This is split into £639.1m in development, £63.3m in publishing and £53m in retail. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*In 2013, taking into account the total economic contribution (including multiplier and spillover effects) the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) supported 23,900 FTEs of employment, generated £1.4bn in GVA and contributed £429m to the Exchequer. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*When looking at regional distribution of employment in 2013: for development most FTEs are in London (27%), the South East (21%), the East of England (10%) and West Midlands (10%). For publishing most FTEs are in the South East (32%), London (31%), the East of England (18%) and West Midlands (7%). ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

Job market and economic contribution

2021-10-14T16:13:19Z

UkieColm: /* Official DCMS Statistics */

== Official DCMS Statistics ==

=== Gross Value Added ===

'''GVA by current prices in £bn for the period 2010-2019 across multiple DCMS sectors and subsectors''' ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

{| class="wikitable"
!Sector
!2010
!2011
!2012
!2013
!2014
!2015
!2016
!2017
!2018
!2019
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | '''Computer Games (£bn)'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.40'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.68'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.53'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.44'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.40'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.40'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.96'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''2.32*'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''2.67'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''2.91'''
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Creative Industries (£bn)
|style="text-align:right;" | 69.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 72.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 76.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 81.0
|style="text-align:right;" | 84.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 93.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 98.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 102.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 107.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 115.9
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Digital Sector (£bn)
|style="text-align:right;" | 103.0
|style="text-align:right;" | 108.4
|style="text-align:right;" | 111.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 113.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 115.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 118.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 129.7
|style="text-align:right;" | 134.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 139.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 150.6
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | UK Economy Total (£bn)
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,446
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,482
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,530
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,589
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,661
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,712
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,777
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,844
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,910
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,970
|}

''<nowiki>*</nowiki>The leap in computer games GVA between 2016 and 2017 is likely due to improvement in games companies assigning themselves correct SIC codes following [https://www.nesta.org.uk/press-release/ukie-and-nesta-team-up-to-put-uk-games-industry-on-the-map/ Ukie's campaign to achieve this], rather than owing purely to an increase in GVA.''

*According to DCMS's Sector Economic Estimates, GVA by chained volume measures for the whole of the creative industries was a record £113.6bn in 2019, up 5.6% on the total from the previous year. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*Video games contributed a record £2.91bn to the UK economy in 2019, measured using current prices and so not accounting for inflation. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*Video game development and publishing also contribute to the digital sector, which saw a record total GVA of 147.5bn by chained volume measures in 2019, up 6.1% on 2018. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

=== Employment ===

'''Employment in UK computer games sector 2011-2019 according to DCMS Sectors Economis Estimates 2015-2019''' ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2019-employment 2019], [https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2018-employment 2018], [https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2017-employment 2017], [https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2017-employment-and-trade 2016], [https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2016 2015], DCMS)

{| class="wikitable"
!Sector
!2011
!2012
!2013
!2014
!2015
!2016
!2017
!2018
!2019
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | '''Computer Games'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''13,000'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''15,000'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''19,000'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''24,000'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''20,000'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''23,000'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''30,000'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''22,000'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''27,000'''
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Creative Industries
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.56m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.69m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.71m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.81m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.87m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.96m
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.01m
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.04m
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.10m
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Digital Sector
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.29m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.38m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.38m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.39m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.42m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.46m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.50m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.51m
|style="text-align:right;" | 1.56m
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | UK Total Workforce
|style="text-align:right;" | 30.1m
|style="text-align:right;" | 30.3m
|style="text-align:right;" | 30.8m
|style="text-align:right;" | 31.4m
|style="text-align:right;" | 32.0m
|style="text-align:right;" | 32.4m
|style="text-align:right;" | 32.9m
|style="text-align:right;" | 33.1m
|style="text-align:right;" | 33.6m
|}

*The video games industry employs 27,000 people, 16,000 (59%) of whom are aged 16-39, with the remaining 11,000 people (41%) aged 40 and over. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2019-employment DCMS], Apr 2020)

== Industry Stats ==

=== Screen Business (2018) ===

The 2018 BFI report [[BFI_Screen_Business|Screen Business: How tax incentives help power economic growth across the UK’,]] provided a range of updated and alternative economic measurements of the UK games industry's economic impact in 2016, including a detailed assessment of the impacts of VGTR. These include:

''Overall UK Games Industry (all stats relate to 2016)'''
*The UK games industry supported 47,620 FTE jobs and contributed £2.87bn in GVA to the UK economy.
*The industry directly employs 20,430 FTEs in development, publishing and retail roles, which contribute £1.52bn in direct GVA to the economy.

{| class="wikitable"
|'''Subsector'''
|'''Employment (FTEs)'''
|'''GVA (£m)'''
|-
|Publishing
|2,300
|526.6
|-
|Digital Retail
|310
|31.7
|-
|Physical Retail
|3,980
|132.0
|-
|'''Total'''
|'''20,430'''
|'''1.52'''
|}

*In 2016, the UK games industry spent £1.25bn on game development.
*In the period 2015-2017, there was at least £1.75bn of inward investment in the UK games industry. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

'''VGTR'''
*The VGTR supports 9,240 FTE jobs across the UK games industry, including 4,320 directly in development roles (31% of the total UK development workforce).
*VGTR games represented £389.9m of UK development spend, 31% of the total development spend. Overall, projects supported by the VGTR contibuted£525m in GVA to the UK economy and £158m in tax revenue.
*68% of VGTR-supported games would not be made in the UK, or at all, without the relief in place.
*For every £1 the Government invested into the games sector via VGTR, an additional £4 in GVA was generated for the UK economy.
*Of all the screen sector tax reliefs, the games sector was shown to have the highest rate of productivity, where each employee generated an average of £83,800 in GVA for the economy, significantly above the national industrial average of £62,100.

=== 2018 Stats ===

*There are 2,277 active video game companies in the UK, as of October 2018. ([https://gamesmap.uk UK Games Map], Oct 2018)

*In November 2018 there were 5.7m professional developers in Europe, up by 200,000 on 2017. This compares to the 4.4m in the US, which has that stayed flat year on year. The UK is home to 830,500 professional developers. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*London is home to 357,900 professional developers, making it the largest hub of professional developers in Europe and considerably ahead of second-place Paris at 268,600. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*THE UK remains the No.1 European destination for international movers in the tech ecosystem, accounting for 20.9% of all international movers. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*44% of founders and employees of private tech start-ups in the UK and Ireland are migrants, the highest percentage of any European region. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 100 highest grossing games of 2017 list featured 15 games made or partly made in the UK, including two games in the top “platinum tier”, one in the gold tier and four in silver. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 92 games by peak simultaneous players featured 14 games made or partly made in the UK (15.2%), including Rockstar’s ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ in the top "over 100k simultaneous players" tier and six games from the UK (or 40%) in the second "over 50k players" tier. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 10 highest grossing VR games featured 11 games made in the UK, including one game partly made in the UK in the top “platinum” tier, one UK-made game in the gold tier and four in silver. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

=== 2017 Stats ===

*83% of UK games businesses predict growth in FY2017/18, up from 79% in the previous year. 82% of games companies are also looking to expand their workforce in the same period. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2017/11/ukie-member-survey-prospects-exports-satisfaction Ukie], Nov 2017)

*The UK has been ranked as third best country in the world for the ability to attract, retain, train and educate skilled workers, according to the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (INSEAD, Jan 2017, [https://www.insead.edu/global-indices/gtci LINK] and [http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/uk-ranks-third-in-global-talent-competitiveness-ranking LINK])

*London, Birmingham and Cardiff act as talent magnets, helping the UK attract more highly-skilled workers. Cardiff is the 11th best city worldwide at attracting, growing and retaining talent, with London listed 16th and Birmingham 17th. (INSEAD, Jan 2017, [https://www.insead.edu/global-indices/gtci LINK] and [http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/uk-ranks-third-in-global-talent-competitiveness-ranking LINK])

*According to Creative Assembly, their game ‘Halo Wars 2’ contained 1,023,574 lines of code in 146,605 blocks. Their game ‘Alien: Isolation’ contained 691,685 lines of code in 159,050 blocks. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

*Creative Assembly employed 133 people in their art teams in 2017, 2.3 times larger than in 2012. The ratio of women employed has increased by 5.7 times in the same period. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

*Environment Artists are the largest group of specialists in the Creative Assembly art team, representing 23% of the workforce. Character Artists (15%), Animators (14%) and Concept Artists (12%) are large parts of the overall team. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-art Creative Assembly], 2017)

*In terms of time spent across the three main art areas , 51.6% of time is spent on environment art, 28% on character art and 20% on concept art. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

=== 2016 Stats ===

*European games industry professionals rate the UK as the place in Europe where both the best games are made today and the best games will be made in five year’s time. ([http://registration.gdceurope.com/GDCEurope-StateOfGame?_mc=blog_x_gdceu_wp_aud_gdceu_x_x-sotieu GDC], Aug 2016)

*The UK’s creative industries are now worth a record £84.1 billion to the UK economy. The figures show the sector growing at almost twice the rate of the wider UK economy - generating £9.6million per hour. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/news/creative-industries-worth-almost-10-million-an-hour-to-economy Gov.co.uk], Jan 2016)

=== 2015 Stats ===

*In 2013, the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) supported 12,100 FTEs of direct employment. This is split into 9,400 FTEs in development, 900 in publishing and 1,800 in retail. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*In 2013, the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) contributed £755m in direct GVA. This is split into £639.1m in development, £63.3m in publishing and £53m in retail. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*In 2013, taking into account the total economic contribution (including multiplier and spillover effects) the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) supported 23,900 FTEs of employment, generated £1.4bn in GVA and contributed £429m to the Exchequer. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*When looking at regional distribution of employment in 2013: for development most FTEs are in London (27%), the South East (21%), the East of England (10%) and West Midlands (10%). For publishing most FTEs are in the South East (32%), London (31%), the East of England (18%) and West Midlands (7%). ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

Global Video Games Market

2021-10-14T14:30:05Z

UkieColm: /* 2021 Stats */

== About This Page ==

All facts and stats on this page are currently sorted in order of publication. Therefore some stats released earlier, such as industry value measurements may have been superceded by later data.

== Other Global Industry Categories ==

*[[Mobile market]]
*[[Acquisition and Investment]]
*[[Esports]]
*[[Gaming video content]]
*[[Virtual reality]]

The data company Newzoo also collates and updates a number of useful infographics of [https://newzoo.com/key-numbers global industry headlines] and [https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/ individual country metrics].

== Install Base - Devices & Games ==

'''Major platforms install base:'''
*PlayStation 4 - 106m ([https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/30/20746712/sony-playstation-4-sales-100-million-milestone VentureBeat], Jan 2020), previously 100m ([https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/30/20746712/sony-playstation-4-sales-100-million-milestone The Verge], Jul 2019), 91.6m ([https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2019/01/11/putting-the-playstation-4s-91-6-million-sales-into-context/#29d15a786c50 Forbes], Jan 2019)
*XBox One - 39.1m ([https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/319939/Analyst_report_Xbox_One_install_base_at_39M_as_of_March_2018.php Gamastura], Jun 2018)
*Switch - 32.27m ([https://uk.ign.com/articles/2019/01/31/nintendo-switch-sales-pass-32-million IGN], Jan 2019)
*Steam - 90m Monthly Active Users, 47m Daily Active Users ([https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/steam-now-has-90-million-monthly-users/ PC Gamer], Jan 2019)
*Epic Games Store - 108m lifetime total active users (accounts with at least one purchase). ([https://gamedaily.biz/article/1502/epic-games-store-has-generated-680m-so-far-with-exclusives-being-critical-says-tim-sweeney GameDaily.biz], Jan 2020

'''Total number of games available (globally):'''
*STEAM: ~35,000 games
**According to [https://steamspy.com/ SteamSpy], as of January 2019, there are were over 30,000 games available on Steam, with 9,300 released in 2018. ([https://www.pcgamer.com/steam-now-has-30000-games/ PC Gamer], Jan 2019)
**As of June 2019, a further 4,124 games have been released on Steam so far in 2019. ([https://steamspy.com/ SteamSpy], Jun 2019)
*PS4: ~2,089
**According to Wikipedia, as of Jan 2020, there were 2,441 games released for the PlayStation 4. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_PlayStation_4_games Wikipedia], Jan 2020)
**1.15bn games have been sold for PS4 worldwide. ([https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/30/20746712/sony-playstation-4-sales-100-million-milestone VentureBeat], Jan 2020)
**103 monthly active users, 38.8 PS Plus Subscribers. ([https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/30/20746712/sony-playstation-4-sales-100-million-milestone VentureBeat], Jan 2020)
*XBOX ONE: ~2,024
**According to Wikipedia, as of June 2019, there were 2,024 games released for the Xbox One. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Xbox_One_games_(A-L) Wikipedia], Jun 2019)
*SWITCH: ~1,728
**According to Wikipedia, as of June 2019, there were 1,728 games listed as released or forthcoming for the Nintendo Switch. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nintendo_Switch_games Wikipedia], Jun 2019)
*App Store (iPhone / iPad): 900,718
**As of June 2019, there were 900,718 games listed as active on Apple's App Store, with 3,759 new games submitted in May 2019 alone. ([https://www.pocketgamer.biz/metrics/app-store/app-count/ PocketGamer.biz], Jun 2019)

== 2021 Stats ==

*The global games market will be worth a record $175.8nm in 2021, rising +1.1% year-on-year. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-games-market-report-2021-free-version/ Newzoo], Jul 2021)
*Looking across the major global markets
**The Asia-Pacific region comprises the largest share of the global market, a full 50% or all revenues, or $88.2bn (+3.0% yoy). This is largely due to the impacts of the $45.6bn Chinese market.
**North America represent 24% of global revenues, at $42.6bn (-7.2% yoy)
**Europe is third largest with 18% of all revenues, or $31.5bn (-5.6% yoy)
**The two smallest markets each comprise 4% of total revenues, with Latin America at $7.2bn (+5.1% yoy) and the Middle East & Africa at $6.3bn (+4.8% yoy)
*Looking at device types:
**Smartphone games comprise the largest share of all revenue at 45%, or $79.0bn (+4.7% yoy)
**Console games represent 28% of the market at $49.2bn (-8.9% yoy)
**PC games are 19% of the market, worth $33.3bn (1.4% yoy)
**Tablet games make up 7% of global revenues, at $11.6bn (+2.0% yoy)
** And browser games take up the remaining 1%, at $2.6bn (-18.0% yoy)
*Globally, there will be almost 3bn people playing games in 2021, 55% of which are in the Asia-Pacific region. Europe represents 14% of all players, or 408m people (+4% yoy) and North America takes the smallest share at just 7% of all players (212m), despite being the second largest in revenue terms.

*The UK-made Grand Theft Auto V has surpassed 150 million lifetime sales, bringing the lifetime total for the Grand Theft Auto series to 360 million. Red Dead Redemption 2, also largely made in the UK, has now sold 60m units worldwide. ([https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021-08-02-take-two-is-announcing-an-exciting-new-franchise-later-this-month Eurogamer], Aug 2021)

== 2020 Stats ==

[[File:Newzoo-2020-Global-Gamers.png|thumb|400px|Newzoo 2020 Global Gamers Infographic ([https://newzoo.com/key-numbers/ Newzoo], May 2020)]]

*According to [https://newzoo.com/key-numbers/ Newzoo], in 2020 2.7 billion people globally play video games across any device type, growing +6.4% from the previous year. ([https://newzoo.com/key-numbers/ Newzoo], May 2020)
**The Asia-Pacific region is the largest by total number of players at 1.5bn, increasing +7.7% year-on-year.
**EMEA is the second largest region at 758m players (+6.6% yoy), followed by Latin America at 259m players (+4.3%) and finally North America at 203m, which was the only major region to see a slight decline in total players in 2020 (-0.9%).
**However, of these 2.7bn players only 38% are expected to pay for games, with the rest opting for free-to-play options. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoo-games-market-numbers-revenues-and-audience-2020-2023/ Newzoo], May 2020)

[[File:Newzoo-2020-Global-Games-Market-per-Segment-1.png|thumb|400px|Newzoo 2020 Global Games Market per Segment ([https://newzoo.com/key-numbers/ Newzoo],May 2020)]]

*According to [https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoo-games-market-numbers-revenues-and-audience-2020-2023/ Newzoo], in 2020, the global games market will reach $159.3bn, an increase of +9.3% year-on-year. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoo-games-market-numbers-revenues-and-audience-2020-2023/ Newzoo], May 2020)
**The largest increase in was in global mobile game revenues, up +13.3% yoy to $77.2bn, partly driven by the prevalence of smartphones in the global population.
**Global console game revenues will grow +6.8% year-on-year to $45.2bn, with over 729m players around the world.
**The PC market will also see growth, with 1.3bn players generating revenues of $36.98bn, up +4.8%. This growth is tempered slightly by the decline in the now comparatively small browser-based games market, which will decline -13.4% to revenues of just $3bn. Comparatively, the rest of the PC boxed/download market saw greater growth at +6.7% year-on-year, to $33.9bn.

*Overall, [https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoo-games-market-numbers-revenues-and-audience-2020-2023/ Newzoo] predict that the global games market will exceed the milestone of $200bn in 2023, with a cumulative annual growth (CAGR) of +8.3% to $200.8bn. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoo-games-market-numbers-revenues-and-audience-2020-2023/ Newzoo], May 2020)

*According to Newzoo, the global games market was worth $152.1bn in 2019, an increase of +9.6% on the previous year. The global market is expected to grow to $196bn by 2021. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-games-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Jan 2020)
**The Asia-Pacific regions is the largest overall, at $72.2bn which grew +7.6% year on year, now representing 47.4% of the global market. North America was second largest, up +11.7% to $39.6bn, with the EMEA third at $34.7bn, up +11.5%. Latin America was the smallest global region at $5.6bn, increasing 11.1%.
**However, for the first time since 2015, the U.S. will be the largest single market by revenues globally with $36.9 billion this year. Driven by growth in console game revenues, it will overtake China for the #1 position.
**Of EMEA revenues, Western Europe was by far the biggest segment, growing +12.3% to $25.7bn, representing 16.9% of the global market. By comparison, Eastern Europe reached $4.2bn and the Middle East and Africa $4.8bn.
**Smartphone games were the largest platform in global terms, accounting for $54.9bn of revenues, up +11.6%. Console revenues saw a larger growth, increasing +13.4% to $47.9bn. PC games (downloaded or physical) also grew +6.6% to $32.2bn. The two smaller segments, tablet games and browser games reached $13.6bn and $3.5bn respectively.

*According to Superdata, the global games and interactive entertainment industry earned $120.1bn in 2019, up 4% on the previous year. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/2019-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2020)
**Mobile games again represented the largest global revenue stream, at $64.4bn, followed by PC games at $29.6bn and console games at $15.4bn.
**The rest of the market made up of game video content (GVC), growing to $6.5bn and XR, up to $6.3bn.
*The global games market is predicted to grow 4% to $124.8bn in 2020. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/2019-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2020)

*The top revenue earning game in 2019 was Fortnite for the second year in a row, generating an estimated $1.8bn. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/2019-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2020)

*Global digital game revenues reached $109.4bn in 2019, up 3% year-on-year. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/2019-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2020)
**Mobile revenues dominated digital revenues at $64.4bn, but free-to-play PC games ($21.1bn) and premium console revenues ($13.8bn) were also significant factors.
**80% of global digital game revenues in 2019 were driven from free-to-play games ($87.1bn).
** Total digital premium game revenues declined 5% year-over-year to $18.9B.
**Free-to-play revenues are largely driven by the Asian game market, accounting for 62% of mobile spend ($39.7bn) and 55% of free-to-play PC revenues ($11.7). In premium games (purchase up-front), North America and Europe are dominant.

*8,415 games were released on Steam in 2019, an increase on the 8,167 released in 2018 but overall a slowdown in the number of games released each year, which has increased by roughly 2,000 every year since 2014. ([http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-01-07-major-slowdown-for-number-of-new-releases-on-steam-in-2019 gamesindustry.biz / SteamSpy], Jan 2020)

*Since launching in December 2018, Epic Games Store has attracted 108 million customers (users who have obtained at least one product), generating $680 million (£523m) in revenue. ([https://gamedaily.biz/article/1502/epic-games-store-has-generated-680m-so-far-with-exclusives-being-critical-says-tim-sweeney GameDaily.biz], Jan 2020)
**$251m (£192m) of that revenue was generated by third-parties sales, with the remaining $429m (£330m) was raised by Epic’s own first-party titles, including Fortnite.

*The most common languages for translations in game localisations are German (10.3%), French (9.8%), Japanese (9.7%), Russian (9.0% and Korean (8.9%), according to an analysis for 15 million translated words from 14,000 game orders. ([https://www.localizedirect.com/posts/top-game-localization-languages Localize Direct], May 2020)

== 2019 Stats ==

*Games and interactive media industry grew to $119.6bn in 2018, up 13% on the previous year. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2019)
**Mobile games made up the largest share of global revenues at $61.3bn, followed by PC at $35.7bn and console at $12.7bn.
**The rest of the total was made up of $6.6bn from XR (VR/AR) revenues and $5.2bn on game video content (Youtube/Twitch etc).

*Free-to-play titles earned $87.7bn in 2018, representing 80% of digital games revenue with 62% of free-to-play revenues coming from Asian mobile games,([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2019)
**Free-to-play titles earned $54.3billion in Asia, $14.8billion in North America, and $11billion in Europe in 2018. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2019)
**Fortnite was the top free-to-play game by revenue in 2018, earning $2.4bn - nearly two times the amount generated by Dungeon Fighter Online, ranked second. Other titles in the F2P top ten include Candy Crush Saga at $1.1bn, Pokemon GO at $1.3bn and League of Legends at $1.4bn. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2019)
**The rise of Fortnite greatly increased the visibility of free-to-play console games, causing their overall revenue to explode by +458% year on year. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2019)

*Premium game revenues rose 10% to $17.8bn in 2018, with North America ($7.2bn) and Europe ($7.0bn) generated 80% of premium games revenue.
**PlayUnknown’s Battleground’s was the top premium PC and console game by revenue in 2018, earning $1.028million. This was followed by FIFA 18, which generated $790million and Grand Theft Auto V which five years after its release still earned $628million. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2019)

*The size of the European video games market was €20 billion in 2018 ([https://www.isfe.eu/isfe-key-facts/ ISFE], May 2019)
**The games market experienced a combined 18% growth in 2017 across the main European territories of UK, France, Germany and Spain, with average spend per player increasing from €79 in 2012 to €102 in 2017.

*In 2018, Netflix-like game subscriptions rose to prominence. The top three game subscription offerings - Xbox Game Pass, Playstation Now and the EA Origin Access - earned $273m worldwide in Q3 2018. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2019)

*Games industry software/hardware combined revenue is predicted to drive well over $200 billion revenue by 2023. ([https://www.digi-capital.com/news/2019/03/despite-short-term-questions-games-software-hardware-to-top-200-billion-by-2023/ Digi-Capital], Mar 2019)

*Investment in games companies reached a record $5.7 billion in 2018. ([https://venturebeat.com/2019/01/28/digi-capital-game-investment-doubles-previous-record-at-5-7-billion-in-2018/ Digi-Capital / Venturebeat], Mar 2019)
**Epic Games’ $1.25 billion raise was the biggest round for a game company in 2018, and it was also the largest non-IPO games investment of all time.

[[File:Newzoo Top-10-Public-Game-Companies-by-Revenues.png|thumb|400px|[https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/top-25-public-game-companies-earned-more-than-100-billion-in-2018 Newzoo] Top-10 Public Game Companies by Revenues (2018)]]

*In 2018, the top 25 public companies by game revenues generated a combined $107.3 billion, up +16% from 2017. Together, these companies accounted for almost 80% of the $134.9 billion global games market. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/top-25-public-game-companies-earned-more-than-100-billion-in-2018 Newzoo], Apr 2019)
**Combined, the top 10 companies' revenue grew +19% year on year.
**Console revenues showed particularly strong growth in 2018, accounting for 38% of revenues earned by the top 25 companies, up from 34% in 2017. Notably, five out of the top 10 companies earned most of their revenues from console gaming.
***Tencent was the world’s #1 public company by game revenues for the sixth year running, earning $19.7 billion in revenues and accounting for almost 15% of the entire games market.
***Sony (#2) generated revenues of $14.2 billion, a year-on-year growth of +41% — the highest in the top 10.
***Microsoft generated revenues of $9.8 billion in 2018, growing +32% from 2017, overtaking Apple as the third-largest company by game revenues.
***Nintendo (#9) also had a strong year, with revenues reaching $4.3 billion, up +36% from 2017, driven by the popularity of the Nintendo Switch.
***Activision Blizzard (#5) earned revenues of $6.9 billion, growing +6% over last year, making it the fifth largest company.
***Electronic Arts (#8) generated revenues of $5.3 billion in 2018 with year-on-year growth of +4%.
***Ubisoft (#13) produced $2.2 billion in revenues, growing +3% year on year.

*In the fiscal year to 31st March 2019, 118.55m units of software were sold for the Nintendo Switch, an 86.7% increase on the previous year ([https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-04-25-nintendo-switch-had-23-million-selling-games-in-the-last-fiscal-year gamesindustry.biz], Apr 2019)
**23 games sold more than on million units, including Mario Kart 8 Deluxe which sold 7.47m units worldwide.
**Full-game downloads on the Nintendo store almost doubled year-on-year to reach ¥118.8 billion ($1.1 billion).
**In the same period, 16.95 million units of the Switch were sold, an increase of 12.7% year-on-year, to a total since launch of 34.74m.
**Nintendo earned ¥1.2 trillion ($10.7 billion) in revenue in the fiscal year, a 13.7% increase on the previous year. It earned ¥194 billion ($1.7 billion) in profit, up 39% year-on-year.

*F2P titles amassed 80% of digital games revenue in 2018 but premium games still performed well in Western markets. Red Dead Redemption 2 earned $516m in Q4, helping grow premium games revenue 10% year on year ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2019)

*Cloud-based game content and cloud-based games PC services markets were worth a combined $387 million in 2018. This is forecast to grow to $2.5 billion in 2023. ([https://technology.ihs.com/613450/next-generation-cloud-gaming-new-technologies-new-market-entrants-and-new-business-models IHS Markit], Apr 2019)

== 2018 Stats ==

*The global market for video games will reach $137.9bn in 2018, an increase of 13.3% on 2017. It is estimated to reach $180.1bn by 2021. ([https://resources.newzoo.com/hubfs/Reports/Newzoo_2018_Global_Games_Market_Report_Light.pdf Newzoo], Jun 2018)

*There are more than 2.3 billion active game players in the world this year, of which 46%, or 1.1 billion, spend money on games. ([https://resources.newzoo.com/hubfs/Reports/Newzoo_2018_Global_Games_Market_Report_Light.pdf Newzoo], Jun 2018)

*Console games will generate $34.6billion and capture 25% of the market by the end of 2018. ([https://resources.newzoo.com/hubfs/Reports/Newzoo_2018_Global_Games_Market_Report_Light.pdf Newzoo], Jun 2018)

*The Asia-Pacific region leads the global market and the is fastest growing, increasing 16.8% year-on-year to $71.4bn, or 52% of the total global market. North America represents 23% of the global market, up 10% to $32.7bn. EMEA is 21% of the market, up 8.8% to $28.7bn and Latin America makes up the remaining 4%, up 13.5% to $5bn. ([https://resources.newzoo.com/hubfs/Reports/Newzoo_2018_Global_Games_Market_Report_Light.pdf Newzoo], Jun 2018)

[[File:Newzoo 2018 Global Market by Region.png|border|400px|Newzoo 2018 Global Market by Region]]

*Mobile revenues will be the largest segment of the global games market, representing over half of total global revenues for the first time, generating $70.3bn overall from $56.4bn of smartphone and $13.9bn of tablet revenues. Smartphone games are also the fastest growing segment, increasing 29% year-on-year. ([https://resources.newzoo.com/hubfs/Reports/Newzoo_2018_Global_Games_Market_Report_Light.pdf Newzoo], Jun 2018)

[[File:Newzoo 2018 Global Market by Device.png|border|400px|Newzoo 2018 Global Market by Device]]

*All segments of the games market are growing steadily. Console revenues will increase 4.1% to $34.6bn in 2018 and $39bn by 2021. PC games will reach $32.9bn in 2018, representing 24% of the global market. ([https://resources.newzoo.com/hubfs/Reports/Newzoo_2018_Global_Games_Market_Report_Light.pdf Newzoo], Jun 2018)

*The interactive entertainment sector generated a record $108.4bn in 2017, with the three major games revenues split between mobile ($59.2bn), PC ($33bn) and console ($8.3bn). Wider interactive sector made up the rest of the revenues, XR (Extended / Mixed Reality - £4bn), game video content ($3.2bn) and esports ($0.8bn). ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*2017’s $8.3bn global console game market was dominated by North American and Euopean markets, at $4.2bn and $3.1bn respectively. The Asian console market reached $0.2bn. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*Consumers spent $14B more on mobile games in 2017 than in 2016. Games such as Arena of Valor and Fantasy Westward Journey from Asian publishers like Tencent and NetEase contributed to a 31% year-over-year growth for the worldwide mobile market. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*The global video games market is set to grow considerably in the period to 2022. The largest segment will be social / casual games, generating over $80bn by 2022. ([https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/industries/tmt/media/outlook/segment-findings.html PwC], Jun 2018)

[[File:PwC Growth in All Major Video Game Subsegments.png|border|400px|PwC Growth Available in All Major Video Game Subsegments]]

*Red Dead Redemption 2 generated $725 million in its first three days. It’s the second biggest opening for a product in entertainment history. ([https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-10-30-red-dead-redemption-2-makes-usd725-million-in-three-days Gamesindustry.biz], 2018)

*According to Activision Blizzard, the Call of Duty franchise has generated more revenue than the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the box office, and double that of the cumulative box office of Star Wars. ([https://www.mcvuk.com/business/activision-blizzard-q3-financials-blizzard-revenue-up-20-as-destiny-2-underperforms MCV], Nov 2018)

*Global PC game revenue reached $33bn in 2017, of which free-to-play games contributed $15bn. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*The top grossing free-to-play PC games in 2017 were League of Legends ($2.1bn), Dungeon Fighter Online ($1.6bn) and CrossFire ($1.4bn). ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*In 2017, 56% of the PC game market was comprised of RPGs (34%) and Shooters (22%). ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*Bluehole’s PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds was the largest grossing PC paid/premium game revenue, generating $714m or 12% of the sub-sector’s revenues. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*According to Steamspy, 7,672 games were released on Valve’s Steam platform in 2017, an increase of 53% on 2016’s 5,006 games. ([http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-01-10-steam-saw-more-than-7-600-games-debut-in-2017-steamspy Steamspy / gamesindustry.biz], Jan 2018)

== 2017 Stats ==

*Approximately 2.2bn people play games worldwide ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/the-global-games-market-will-reach-108-9-billion-in-2017-with-mobile-taking-42/ Newzoo], Apr 2017), although some estimates put this as high as 2.6bn. ([http://dq756f9pzlyr3.cloudfront.net/file/Internet+Trends+2017+Report.pdf Unity], Apr 2017)

*The global games market will be worth $116bn in 2017, growing by 10.7% on the previous year. With a projected CAGR of 8.2% over the coming years, it is expected to reach $143.5bn by 2020. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/new-gaming-boom-newzoo-ups-its-2017-global-games-market-estimate-to-116-0bn-growing-to-143-5bn-in-2020/ Newzoo], Nov 2017)

*The global mobile revenues will remain just short of half of the market (43%), worth $50.4bn in 2017. Current estimates see this growing to $72.3bn by 2020. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/new-gaming-boom-newzoo-ups-its-2017-global-games-market-estimate-to-116-0bn-growing-to-143-5bn-in-2020/ Newzoo], Nov 2017)

*The console market represents 29% of the current market, worth $33.3bn and the PC market a similar share at $32.3bn. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/new-gaming-boom-newzoo-ups-its-2017-global-games-market-estimate-to-116-0bn-growing-to-143-5bn-in-2020/ Newzoo], Nov 2017)

*Sony's PlayStation 4 console has shipped 82.2m units globally since launch in November 2013 and is projected to reach 90m units by March 2019. ([http://gamasutra.com/view/news/323326/Worldwide_PlayStation_4_shipments_have_topped_80_million.php gamasutra], Aug 2018)

*Sony’s PlayStation 4 console has sold 67.5m units to date and is projected to sell 79m by the end of March 2018. ([http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-10-31-playstation-drives-sonys-q2-2017-revenues-up-to-usd18-25bn GamesIndustry.biz], Oct 2017)

*The global games market is now worth over $100bn annually, reaching a total of $101.1bn in 2016. With a projected CAGR of 6.2%, it is expected to reach $108.9bn by the end of 2017 and $128.5bn by the end of 2020. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/the-global-games-market-will-reach-108-9-billion-in-2017-with-mobile-taking-42/ Newzoo], Apr 2017)

*2017 is expected to be the year mobile revenues become the largest segment of the global market, growing by 19.3% YOY to reach $46.1bn or 32% of the global total. Digital game revenues will account for $94.4bn or 87% of the global market. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/the-global-games-market-will-reach-108-9-billion-in-2017-with-mobile-taking-42/ Newzoo], Apr 2017)

*The Asia-Pacific market will generate 47% ($51.2bn) of global revenues in 2017, with China accounting for $27.5bn of the total. In comparison, the US will account for $25.1bn and the EMEA will be make up $26.2bn. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/the-global-games-market-will-reach-108-9-billion-in-2017-with-mobile-taking-42/ Newzoo], Apr 2017)

*In January 6th 2017, Valve’s digital PC games platform Steam reached 18.5m concurrent users. ([https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/312771/Steam_sets_new_concurrent_user_record_at_185M.php Gamasutra], Jan 2017)

*Valve’s Steam platform now counts 67 million monthly active players and 33 million daily active players, as of August 2017. At peak, this relates to 14 million concurrent users per day, up from 8.4 million in 2015. ([https://www.geekwire.com/2017/valve-reveals-steams-monthly-active-user-count-game-sales-region/ Geekwire], Aug 2017)

*Of Steam sales in January-August 2017, 34% of sales were to North America, 29% Western Europe and 17% Asia, with the remaining split between other regions. ([https://www.geekwire.com/2017/valve-reveals-steams-monthly-active-user-count-game-sales-region/ Geekwire], Aug 2017)

*Microsoft’s Xbox Live platform counts 53 million monthly active users, as of Q4 2016/17. They also a quarterly “gaming” revenue of $1.657bn for the same period. ([https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https://c.s-microsoft.com/en-us/CMSFiles/SlidesFY17Q4.pptx?version=c9735c19-0baa-103d-2a4e-bacd46514428 Microsoft], Aug 2017)

*Valve’s Steam platform reported 125m total active lifetime users in 2015, estimated up to 150m by August 2017. ([http://www.pcgamesinsider.biz/news/65996/steam-has-67-million-monthly-active-users/ PC Games Insider], Aug 2017)

*For the first time, Ubisoft has reported that recurring player investment (e.g. the sale of in-game items, DLC, season passes and subscriptions) has outperformed digital full-game sales in Q1/2 2017. ([https://www.ubisoft.com/en-US/company/investor_center/earnings_sales.aspx Ubisoft], Oct 2017)

== 2016 Stats ==

*The top 25 public companies by game revenues generated $41.4 billion in the first half of 2017, increasing 20% compared to the same period in 2016. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/game-revenues-of-top-25-public-companies-jump-20-to-41-4-billion-in-h1-2017/ Newzoo], Sept 2016)

*Mobile gaming accounted for 42% of all revenues generated by the top 10 companies ($31.4bn), up from 40% in the first half of last year. Tencent was once again the largest gaming company in the world with revenues of $7.4 billion. Sony grew by 25% year over year to take the #2 spot with revenues of $4.3 billion. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/game-revenues-of-top-25-public-companies-jump-20-to-41-4-billion-in-h1-2017/ Newzoo], Sept 2016)

*The global video games market generated $91bn in 2016, with mobile sector making up the largest share ($40.6bn). PC accounted for $35.8bn and Console $6.6bn. Esports ($0.9bn), gaming videos ($4.4bn) and VR ($2.7bn) made up the remainder. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ SuperData], Dec 2016)

*The top 25 Public Companies by Game Revenues generated $34.5 billion in the first half of 2016, an increase of 22% compared to the same period in 2015. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/game-revenues-of-top-25-public-companies-jump-22-to-34-5bn-in-h1-2016/ Newzoo], Oct 2016)

*According to Newzoo’s estimation, China has overtaken the US as the as world’s largest gaming market at $24.4bn, vs the US’s $23.6bn. With a larger population and gaming yet to reach a mature penetration, we can expect China’s lead to grow over time. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/regional-breakdown-99-6-bn-global-games-market-free-report/ Newzoo], June 2016)

*China is now the largest national market for iOS App Store revenues overall, earning more than $1.7 billion in the Q3 2016, exceeding the US by around 15%. Games make up approximately 75% of that revenue, in which China has been leading since Q2 2016. (App Annie, October 2016, LINK)

*China is the no.1 national market for iOS App Store Games revenues, exceeding the US and Japan revenues in Q2 2016. ([https://www.appannie.com/insights/market-data/q3-2016-index-china-hits-ios-app-store-milestone/ App Annie], Oct 2016)

*As of December 2016, the Sony PlayStation 4 has sold through over 50 million units worldwide. (including sales of the PlayStation 4 Pro) ([http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2016-12-07-playstation-4-worldwide-sales-surpass-50m GI.biz], Dec 2016)

*The Asia-Pacific region dominates the global revenues with 47% share ($46.6bn), North America and the EMEA make up approximately a quarter each (25%, $25.4bn and 24%, $23.5bn). Latin America is the smallest region, but also the fastest growing, up 20.1% yoy to $4.1bn (4%). ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/regional-breakdown-99-6-bn-global-games-market-free-report/ Newzoo], June 2016)

*Of all console gamers, 87% also plays games on a PC. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/regional-breakdown-99-6-bn-global-games-market-free-report/ Newzoo], June 2016)

*As of Q3 2016, GTA V has sold-in (shipped to retailers) 70 million copies since launch. ([http://www.gamespot.com/articles/gta-5-ships-70-million-copies-as-gta-online-contin/1100-6445053/ GameSpot], Nov 2016)

*4,727 games on the Steam platform were first released in 2016, making up just over 40% of the total games available on the platform (11,697 games). ([https://steamspy.com/ SteamSpy], Dec 2016)

== 2015 Stats ==

*The global digital games market has reached $5.5bn, a +7% year-on-year increase. All segments except P2P MMO have grown. Digital PC revenues rose to $622m (+6%), driven by Asia spending, while digital console revenues rose to $375m (+14%). ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/us-digital-games-market/ Superdata], Oct 2015, LINK)

*In terms of monthly active users, this was up +13% totalling 2.3bn in October, the average spending is slowing, which shows in the revenue growing by +7% to $2.1bn. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/us-digital-games-market/ Superdata], Oct 2015, LINK)

*The most common global digital payment methods are eWallet (32%), credit/debit cards (25%) and mobile (14%), although this varies by region – eWallets are more popular in the Asia/Pacific region and credit/debit cards more popular in North America, for instance. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/payment-preferences-of-gamers-worldwide/ Superdata], Apr 2016)

*There are currently more than 700 games that entered Early Access since 2013, and 150 (21%) of them got released since. On average, games that use the Early Access spend 14 months in it. ([https://medium.com/steam-spy/on-early-access-games-39aed2b8f82d#.kouq0t7in Steam Spy], Oct 2015)

*The average game will sell 8,000 copies during Early Access stage if it manages to stay around until release, and another 3,600 in the first month after launch. ([https://medium.com/steam-spy/on-early-access-games-39aed2b8f82d#.kouq0t7in Steam Spy], Oct 2015)

*15m Steam players (11% of all Steam players) own at least one paid Early Access game, and people from Germany and France are more likely to own Early Access games, while less so in Poland. ([https://medium.com/steam-spy/on-early-access-games-39aed2b8f82d#.kouq0t7in Steam Spy], Oct 2015)

*1% of Steam gamers own 33% of all copies of games on Steam. 20% of Steam gamers own 88%. To be in the 1% group you need to own 107 games or more. To be in the 20% you need to own 4 games or more. ([https://medium.com/steam-spy/your-target-audience-doesn-t-exist-999b78aa77ae Steam Spy], August 2015)

*Valve is estimated to have had over $730m revenues in 2014. Their own titles like DOTA 2, Team Fortress 2 and CS:GO accounted for $400m, the remaining $330m coming from royalties from third-party titles. Valve has not released its own figures. ([http://www.develop-online.net/news/valve-made-more-than-730m-in-2014-report-claims/0209311 Superdata], July 2015)

*Most popular games on Steam: in 2014 the Nbr 1 title was Unturned, with 12.2m owners and “only” 9.1m players. Average daily sales on Steam: Unturned, is also Nbr1 with 52.5 daily sales, followed by Dead Island: Epidemic (40.2 daily sales) and Robocraft (23 daily sales). In terms of hours played, Football Manager 2015 has reached highest number of mean hours per owner, with an impressive 152.6. It’s followed by Dark Souls II (73.1) and Panzer Corps (71.7). (Ars Technica wasn’t able to retrieve data for DOTA 2 or Team Fortress 2, which are in the Top3 most played games on Steam). ([http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/03/steam-gauge-measuring-the-most-popular-steam-games-of-2014/1/ Ars Technica], Mar 2015)

*In the last 18 months, Steam has seen as many new games added as its first 10 years combined. ([http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/03/steam-gauge-measuring-the-most-popular-steam-games-of-2014/1/ Ars Technica], Mar 2015)

*Steam has exceeded 9m concurrent users in March 2015, and there are currently 125m accounts on the platform, more than Mexico’s whole population, close to Japan’s. ([http://www.technobuffalo.com/2015/03/16/steam-surpasses-125-million-active-9-million-concurrent-users/ TechnoBuffalo], Mar 2015)

*Digital console sales: the Top10 US titles by worldwide revenues in Jan 2015 have been published. GTA V is king at $31.8m, followed by CoD: Advanced Warfare ($23.5m) and Destiny at $14.2m. Dying Light ranked a surprise 4th place at à12m. In terms of console revenue shares between Playstation and Xbox (Gen7 and Gen8 combined), PS leads at 63%. Gen8 consoles grossed 70% more revenues than Gen7. ([http://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/top-10-digital-console-games/?mc_cid=2cf6c0a475&mc_eid=93d0f69887 Superdata], Feb 2015)

*The total for worldwide digital console for 2014 was $2.98bn. The best-selling month since February 2013 was December 2014, at $363m. ([http://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/digital-console-games-market/ Superdata], Feb 2015)

*The worldwide digital console games market was worth $233m in February 2015, slightly down compared to February 2014 (-3.7%). ([http://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/digital-console-games-market/ Superdata], Feb 2015)

*Valve shared that it paid content creators who crafted in-game items for Team Fortress 2, Dota 2 and CG:GO $57m in 2014. This amount was shared by 1,500 contributors from 75 countries. Valve has now expanded the Workshop service to non-Valve games like Dungeon Defenders: Eternity and Chivalry: Medieval Warfare. ([http://uk.ign.com/articles/2015/01/29/steam-workshop-content-creators-have-raked-in-57m IGN], Jan 2015)

*Console players could spend more than PC players in free-to-play games: the MMO DC Universe PS4 version has been making more than 3 times what the PC version has as of Jan 2015. ([http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/ps4-players-spend-more-on-dc-universe-online-than-pc-counterparts/0143611 MCV], Jan 2015)

*In 2014 the global digital market was worth $49bn, with high growth in percentage terms in the Latin America region (+13%) and Digital Consoles (+24%). ([http://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/infographic-2014-digital-games-year-review/ Superdata], Dec 2014)

== 2014 Stats ==

*When looking at the Top 20 Entertainment Products of 2013 in the UK, Grand Theft Auto V was the leader with 3.67m units sold, ahead of Skyfall (2.96m units on DVD and Blu-ray). The third product in units sold was FIFA 14 (2.66m units sold) ahead of The Hobbit DVD and Blu-ray (2.07m units) ([http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/gta-v-is-the-biggest-selling-entertainment-product-of-2013-call-of-duty-falls-to-no-5/0126323 MCV], Jan 2014)

== 2013 Stats ==

*GTA V made $1bn worldwide in 3 days in 2013, faster than any other entertainment product including movies. ([http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/gta-v-makes-1bn-in-three-days/0121447 MCV], Sept 2013)

Job market and economic contribution

2021-10-14T11:35:02Z

UkieColm: /* Gross Value Added */

== Official DCMS Statistics ==

=== Gross Value Added ===

'''GVA by current prices in £bn for the period 2010-2019 across multiple DCMS sectors and subsectors''' ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

{| class="wikitable"
!Sector
!2010
!2011
!2012
!2013
!2014
!2015
!2016
!2017
!2018
!2019
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | '''Computer Games (£bn)'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.40'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.68'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.53'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.44'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.40'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.40'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.96'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''2.32*'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''2.67'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''2.91'''
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Creative Industries (£bn)
|style="text-align:right;" | 69.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 72.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 76.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 81.0
|style="text-align:right;" | 84.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 93.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 98.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 102.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 107.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 115.9
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Digital Sector (£bn)
|style="text-align:right;" | 103.0
|style="text-align:right;" | 108.4
|style="text-align:right;" | 111.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 113.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 115.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 118.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 129.7
|style="text-align:right;" | 134.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 139.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 150.6
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | UK Economy Total (£bn)
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,446
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,482
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,530
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,589
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,661
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,712
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,777
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,844
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,910
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,970
|}

''<nowiki>*</nowiki>The leap in computer games GVA between 2016 and 2017 is likely due to improvement in games companies assigning themselves correct SIC codes following [https://www.nesta.org.uk/press-release/ukie-and-nesta-team-up-to-put-uk-games-industry-on-the-map/ Ukie's campaign to achieve this], rather than owing purely to an increase in GVA.''

*According to DCMS's Sector Economic Estimates, GVA by chained volume measures for the whole of the creative industries was a record £113.6bn in 2019, up 5.6% on the total from the previous year. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*Video games contributed a record £2.91bn to the UK economy in 2019, measured using current prices and so not accounting for inflation. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*Video game development and publishing also contribute to the digital sector, which saw a record total GVA of 147.5bn by chained volume measures in 2019, up 6.1% on 2018. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

=== Employment ===

*The video games industry employs 27,000 people, 16,000 (59%) of whom are aged 16-39, with the remaining 11,000 people (41%) aged 40 and over. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2019-employment DCMS], Apr 2020)

== Industry Stats ==

=== Screen Business (2018) ===

The 2018 BFI report [[BFI_Screen_Business|Screen Business: How tax incentives help power economic growth across the UK’,]] provided a range of updated and alternative economic measurements of the UK games industry's economic impact in 2016, including a detailed assessment of the impacts of VGTR. These include:

''Overall UK Games Industry (all stats relate to 2016)'''
*The UK games industry supported 47,620 FTE jobs and contributed £2.87bn in GVA to the UK economy.
*The industry directly employs 20,430 FTEs in development, publishing and retail roles, which contribute £1.52bn in direct GVA to the economy.

{| class="wikitable"
|'''Subsector'''
|'''Employment (FTEs)'''
|'''GVA (£m)'''
|-
|Publishing
|2,300
|526.6
|-
|Digital Retail
|310
|31.7
|-
|Physical Retail
|3,980
|132.0
|-
|'''Total'''
|'''20,430'''
|'''1.52'''
|}

*In 2016, the UK games industry spent £1.25bn on game development.
*In the period 2015-2017, there was at least £1.75bn of inward investment in the UK games industry. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

'''VGTR'''
*The VGTR supports 9,240 FTE jobs across the UK games industry, including 4,320 directly in development roles (31% of the total UK development workforce).
*VGTR games represented £389.9m of UK development spend, 31% of the total development spend. Overall, projects supported by the VGTR contibuted£525m in GVA to the UK economy and £158m in tax revenue.
*68% of VGTR-supported games would not be made in the UK, or at all, without the relief in place.
*For every £1 the Government invested into the games sector via VGTR, an additional £4 in GVA was generated for the UK economy.
*Of all the screen sector tax reliefs, the games sector was shown to have the highest rate of productivity, where each employee generated an average of £83,800 in GVA for the economy, significantly above the national industrial average of £62,100.

=== 2018 Stats ===

*There are 2,277 active video game companies in the UK, as of October 2018. ([https://gamesmap.uk UK Games Map], Oct 2018)

*In November 2018 there were 5.7m professional developers in Europe, up by 200,000 on 2017. This compares to the 4.4m in the US, which has that stayed flat year on year. The UK is home to 830,500 professional developers. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*London is home to 357,900 professional developers, making it the largest hub of professional developers in Europe and considerably ahead of second-place Paris at 268,600. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*THE UK remains the No.1 European destination for international movers in the tech ecosystem, accounting for 20.9% of all international movers. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*44% of founders and employees of private tech start-ups in the UK and Ireland are migrants, the highest percentage of any European region. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 100 highest grossing games of 2017 list featured 15 games made or partly made in the UK, including two games in the top “platinum tier”, one in the gold tier and four in silver. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 92 games by peak simultaneous players featured 14 games made or partly made in the UK (15.2%), including Rockstar’s ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ in the top "over 100k simultaneous players" tier and six games from the UK (or 40%) in the second "over 50k players" tier. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 10 highest grossing VR games featured 11 games made in the UK, including one game partly made in the UK in the top “platinum” tier, one UK-made game in the gold tier and four in silver. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

=== 2017 Stats ===

*83% of UK games businesses predict growth in FY2017/18, up from 79% in the previous year. 82% of games companies are also looking to expand their workforce in the same period. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2017/11/ukie-member-survey-prospects-exports-satisfaction Ukie], Nov 2017)

*The UK has been ranked as third best country in the world for the ability to attract, retain, train and educate skilled workers, according to the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (INSEAD, Jan 2017, [https://www.insead.edu/global-indices/gtci LINK] and [http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/uk-ranks-third-in-global-talent-competitiveness-ranking LINK])

*London, Birmingham and Cardiff act as talent magnets, helping the UK attract more highly-skilled workers. Cardiff is the 11th best city worldwide at attracting, growing and retaining talent, with London listed 16th and Birmingham 17th. (INSEAD, Jan 2017, [https://www.insead.edu/global-indices/gtci LINK] and [http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/uk-ranks-third-in-global-talent-competitiveness-ranking LINK])

*According to Creative Assembly, their game ‘Halo Wars 2’ contained 1,023,574 lines of code in 146,605 blocks. Their game ‘Alien: Isolation’ contained 691,685 lines of code in 159,050 blocks. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

*Creative Assembly employed 133 people in their art teams in 2017, 2.3 times larger than in 2012. The ratio of women employed has increased by 5.7 times in the same period. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

*Environment Artists are the largest group of specialists in the Creative Assembly art team, representing 23% of the workforce. Character Artists (15%), Animators (14%) and Concept Artists (12%) are large parts of the overall team. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-art Creative Assembly], 2017)

*In terms of time spent across the three main art areas , 51.6% of time is spent on environment art, 28% on character art and 20% on concept art. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

=== 2016 Stats ===

*European games industry professionals rate the UK as the place in Europe where both the best games are made today and the best games will be made in five year’s time. ([http://registration.gdceurope.com/GDCEurope-StateOfGame?_mc=blog_x_gdceu_wp_aud_gdceu_x_x-sotieu GDC], Aug 2016)

*The UK’s creative industries are now worth a record £84.1 billion to the UK economy. The figures show the sector growing at almost twice the rate of the wider UK economy - generating £9.6million per hour. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/news/creative-industries-worth-almost-10-million-an-hour-to-economy Gov.co.uk], Jan 2016)

=== 2015 Stats ===

*In 2013, the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) supported 12,100 FTEs of direct employment. This is split into 9,400 FTEs in development, 900 in publishing and 1,800 in retail. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*In 2013, the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) contributed £755m in direct GVA. This is split into £639.1m in development, £63.3m in publishing and £53m in retail. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*In 2013, taking into account the total economic contribution (including multiplier and spillover effects) the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) supported 23,900 FTEs of employment, generated £1.4bn in GVA and contributed £429m to the Exchequer. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*When looking at regional distribution of employment in 2013: for development most FTEs are in London (27%), the South East (21%), the East of England (10%) and West Midlands (10%). For publishing most FTEs are in the South East (32%), London (31%), the East of England (18%) and West Midlands (7%). ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

Job market and economic contribution

2021-10-14T11:33:19Z

UkieColm: /* Gross Value Added */

== Official DCMS Statistics ==

=== Gross Value Added ===

'''GVA by current prices in £bn for the period 2010-2019 across multiple DCMS sectors and subsectors''' ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

{| class="wikitable"
!Sector
!2010
!2011
!2012
!2013
!2014
!2015
!2016
!2017
!2018
!2019
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | '''Computer Games (£bn)'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.40'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.68'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.53'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.44'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.40'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.40'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.96'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''2.32*'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''2.67'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''2.91'''
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Creative Industries (£bn)
|style="text-align:right;" | 69.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 72.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 76.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 81.0
|style="text-align:right;" | 84.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 93.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 98.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 102.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 107.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 115.9
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Digital Sector (£bn)
|style="text-align:right;" | 103.0
|style="text-align:right;" | 108.4
|style="text-align:right;" | 111.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 113.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 115.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 118.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 129.7
|style="text-align:right;" | 134.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 139.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 150.6
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | UK Economy Total (£bn)
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,446
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,482
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,530
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,589
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,661
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,712
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,777
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,844
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,910
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,970
|}

''<nowiki>*</nowiki>The leap in computer games GVA between 2016 and 2017 is likely due to improvement in games companies assigning themselves correct SIC codes following [https://www.nesta.org.uk/press-release/ukie-and-nesta-team-up-to-put-uk-games-industry-on-the-map/ Ukie's campaign to achieve this], rather than owing purely to an increase in GVA.''

The following figures are given in chained volume measures and so do account for inflation.

*According to DCMS's Sector Economic Estimates, GVA for the whole of the creative industries was a record £113.6bn in 2019, up 5.6% on the total from the previous year. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*Video games contributed a record £2.91bn to the UK economy in 2019, though this figure does not account for inflation. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*Video game development and publishing also contribute to the digital sector, which saw a record total GVA of 147.5bn in 2019, up 6.1% on 2018. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

=== Employment ===

*The video games industry employs 27,000 people, 16,000 (59%) of whom are aged 16-39, with the remaining 11,000 people (41%) aged 40 and over. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2019-employment DCMS], Apr 2020)

== Industry Stats ==

=== Screen Business (2018) ===

The 2018 BFI report [[BFI_Screen_Business|Screen Business: How tax incentives help power economic growth across the UK’,]] provided a range of updated and alternative economic measurements of the UK games industry's economic impact in 2016, including a detailed assessment of the impacts of VGTR. These include:

''Overall UK Games Industry (all stats relate to 2016)'''
*The UK games industry supported 47,620 FTE jobs and contributed £2.87bn in GVA to the UK economy.
*The industry directly employs 20,430 FTEs in development, publishing and retail roles, which contribute £1.52bn in direct GVA to the economy.

{| class="wikitable"
|'''Subsector'''
|'''Employment (FTEs)'''
|'''GVA (£m)'''
|-
|Publishing
|2,300
|526.6
|-
|Digital Retail
|310
|31.7
|-
|Physical Retail
|3,980
|132.0
|-
|'''Total'''
|'''20,430'''
|'''1.52'''
|}

*In 2016, the UK games industry spent £1.25bn on game development.
*In the period 2015-2017, there was at least £1.75bn of inward investment in the UK games industry. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

'''VGTR'''
*The VGTR supports 9,240 FTE jobs across the UK games industry, including 4,320 directly in development roles (31% of the total UK development workforce).
*VGTR games represented £389.9m of UK development spend, 31% of the total development spend. Overall, projects supported by the VGTR contibuted£525m in GVA to the UK economy and £158m in tax revenue.
*68% of VGTR-supported games would not be made in the UK, or at all, without the relief in place.
*For every £1 the Government invested into the games sector via VGTR, an additional £4 in GVA was generated for the UK economy.
*Of all the screen sector tax reliefs, the games sector was shown to have the highest rate of productivity, where each employee generated an average of £83,800 in GVA for the economy, significantly above the national industrial average of £62,100.

=== 2018 Stats ===

*There are 2,277 active video game companies in the UK, as of October 2018. ([https://gamesmap.uk UK Games Map], Oct 2018)

*In November 2018 there were 5.7m professional developers in Europe, up by 200,000 on 2017. This compares to the 4.4m in the US, which has that stayed flat year on year. The UK is home to 830,500 professional developers. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*London is home to 357,900 professional developers, making it the largest hub of professional developers in Europe and considerably ahead of second-place Paris at 268,600. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*THE UK remains the No.1 European destination for international movers in the tech ecosystem, accounting for 20.9% of all international movers. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*44% of founders and employees of private tech start-ups in the UK and Ireland are migrants, the highest percentage of any European region. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 100 highest grossing games of 2017 list featured 15 games made or partly made in the UK, including two games in the top “platinum tier”, one in the gold tier and four in silver. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 92 games by peak simultaneous players featured 14 games made or partly made in the UK (15.2%), including Rockstar’s ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ in the top "over 100k simultaneous players" tier and six games from the UK (or 40%) in the second "over 50k players" tier. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 10 highest grossing VR games featured 11 games made in the UK, including one game partly made in the UK in the top “platinum” tier, one UK-made game in the gold tier and four in silver. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

=== 2017 Stats ===

*83% of UK games businesses predict growth in FY2017/18, up from 79% in the previous year. 82% of games companies are also looking to expand their workforce in the same period. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2017/11/ukie-member-survey-prospects-exports-satisfaction Ukie], Nov 2017)

*The UK has been ranked as third best country in the world for the ability to attract, retain, train and educate skilled workers, according to the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (INSEAD, Jan 2017, [https://www.insead.edu/global-indices/gtci LINK] and [http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/uk-ranks-third-in-global-talent-competitiveness-ranking LINK])

*London, Birmingham and Cardiff act as talent magnets, helping the UK attract more highly-skilled workers. Cardiff is the 11th best city worldwide at attracting, growing and retaining talent, with London listed 16th and Birmingham 17th. (INSEAD, Jan 2017, [https://www.insead.edu/global-indices/gtci LINK] and [http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/uk-ranks-third-in-global-talent-competitiveness-ranking LINK])

*According to Creative Assembly, their game ‘Halo Wars 2’ contained 1,023,574 lines of code in 146,605 blocks. Their game ‘Alien: Isolation’ contained 691,685 lines of code in 159,050 blocks. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

*Creative Assembly employed 133 people in their art teams in 2017, 2.3 times larger than in 2012. The ratio of women employed has increased by 5.7 times in the same period. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

*Environment Artists are the largest group of specialists in the Creative Assembly art team, representing 23% of the workforce. Character Artists (15%), Animators (14%) and Concept Artists (12%) are large parts of the overall team. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-art Creative Assembly], 2017)

*In terms of time spent across the three main art areas , 51.6% of time is spent on environment art, 28% on character art and 20% on concept art. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

=== 2016 Stats ===

*European games industry professionals rate the UK as the place in Europe where both the best games are made today and the best games will be made in five year’s time. ([http://registration.gdceurope.com/GDCEurope-StateOfGame?_mc=blog_x_gdceu_wp_aud_gdceu_x_x-sotieu GDC], Aug 2016)

*The UK’s creative industries are now worth a record £84.1 billion to the UK economy. The figures show the sector growing at almost twice the rate of the wider UK economy - generating £9.6million per hour. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/news/creative-industries-worth-almost-10-million-an-hour-to-economy Gov.co.uk], Jan 2016)

=== 2015 Stats ===

*In 2013, the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) supported 12,100 FTEs of direct employment. This is split into 9,400 FTEs in development, 900 in publishing and 1,800 in retail. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*In 2013, the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) contributed £755m in direct GVA. This is split into £639.1m in development, £63.3m in publishing and £53m in retail. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*In 2013, taking into account the total economic contribution (including multiplier and spillover effects) the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) supported 23,900 FTEs of employment, generated £1.4bn in GVA and contributed £429m to the Exchequer. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*When looking at regional distribution of employment in 2013: for development most FTEs are in London (27%), the South East (21%), the East of England (10%) and West Midlands (10%). For publishing most FTEs are in the South East (32%), London (31%), the East of England (18%) and West Midlands (7%). ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

Job market and economic contribution

2021-10-14T10:30:52Z

UkieColm: /* Gross Value Added */

== Official DCMS Statistics ==

=== Gross Value Added ===

'''GVA by current prices in £bn for the period 2010-2019 across multiple DCMS sectors and subsectors''' ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

{| class="wikitable"
!Sector
!2010
!2011
!2012
!2013
!2014
!2015
!2016
!2017
!2018
!2019
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | '''Computer Games (£bn)'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.40'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.68'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.53'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.44'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.40'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.40'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''0.96'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''2.32*'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''2.67'''
|style="text-align:right;" | '''2.91'''
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Creative Industries (£bn)
|style="text-align:right;" | 69.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 72.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 76.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 81.0
|style="text-align:right;" | 84.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 93.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 98.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 102.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 107.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 115.9
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Digital Sector (£bn)
|style="text-align:right;" | 103.0
|style="text-align:right;" | 108.4
|style="text-align:right;" | 111.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 113.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 115.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 118.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 129.7
|style="text-align:right;" | 134.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 139.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 150.6
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | UK Economy Total (£bn)
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,446
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,482
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,530
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,589
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,661
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,712
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,777
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,844
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,910
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,970
|}

''<nowiki>*</nowiki>The leap in computer games GVA between 2016 and 2017 is likely due to improvement in games companies assigning themselves correct SIC codes following [https://www.nesta.org.uk/press-release/ukie-and-nesta-team-up-to-put-uk-games-industry-on-the-map/ Ukie's campaign to achieve this], rather than owing purely to an increase in GVA.''

The following figures are given in chained volume measures and so do account for inflation.

*According to DCMS's Sector Economic Estimates, GVA for the whole of the creative industries was a record £113.6bn in 2019, up 5.6% on the total from the previous year. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*Video games contributed a record £2.91bn to the UK economy in 2019, though this figure does not account for inflation. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*The whole of the creative industries contributed a record £101.5bn in GVA to the UK economy in 2017, an increase of 7.1% on the previous year. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2017-gva DCMS], Nov 2018)

*Video game development and publishing also contribute to the digital sector, which saw a record total GVA of 147.5bn in 2019, up 6.1% on 2018. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

=== Employment ===

*The video games industry employs 27,000 people, 16,000 (59%) of whom are aged 16-39, with the remaining 11,000 people (41%) aged 40 and over. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2019-employment DCMS], Apr 2020)

== Industry Stats ==

=== Screen Business (2018) ===

The 2018 BFI report [[BFI_Screen_Business|Screen Business: How tax incentives help power economic growth across the UK’,]] provided a range of updated and alternative economic measurements of the UK games industry's economic impact in 2016, including a detailed assessment of the impacts of VGTR. These include:

''Overall UK Games Industry (all stats relate to 2016)'''
*The UK games industry supported 47,620 FTE jobs and contributed £2.87bn in GVA to the UK economy.
*The industry directly employs 20,430 FTEs in development, publishing and retail roles, which contribute £1.52bn in direct GVA to the economy.

{| class="wikitable"
|'''Subsector'''
|'''Employment (FTEs)'''
|'''GVA (£m)'''
|-
|Publishing
|2,300
|526.6
|-
|Digital Retail
|310
|31.7
|-
|Physical Retail
|3,980
|132.0
|-
|'''Total'''
|'''20,430'''
|'''1.52'''
|}

*In 2016, the UK games industry spent £1.25bn on game development.
*In the period 2015-2017, there was at least £1.75bn of inward investment in the UK games industry. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

'''VGTR'''
*The VGTR supports 9,240 FTE jobs across the UK games industry, including 4,320 directly in development roles (31% of the total UK development workforce).
*VGTR games represented £389.9m of UK development spend, 31% of the total development spend. Overall, projects supported by the VGTR contibuted£525m in GVA to the UK economy and £158m in tax revenue.
*68% of VGTR-supported games would not be made in the UK, or at all, without the relief in place.
*For every £1 the Government invested into the games sector via VGTR, an additional £4 in GVA was generated for the UK economy.
*Of all the screen sector tax reliefs, the games sector was shown to have the highest rate of productivity, where each employee generated an average of £83,800 in GVA for the economy, significantly above the national industrial average of £62,100.

=== 2018 Stats ===

*There are 2,277 active video game companies in the UK, as of October 2018. ([https://gamesmap.uk UK Games Map], Oct 2018)

*In November 2018 there were 5.7m professional developers in Europe, up by 200,000 on 2017. This compares to the 4.4m in the US, which has that stayed flat year on year. The UK is home to 830,500 professional developers. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*London is home to 357,900 professional developers, making it the largest hub of professional developers in Europe and considerably ahead of second-place Paris at 268,600. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*THE UK remains the No.1 European destination for international movers in the tech ecosystem, accounting for 20.9% of all international movers. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*44% of founders and employees of private tech start-ups in the UK and Ireland are migrants, the highest percentage of any European region. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 100 highest grossing games of 2017 list featured 15 games made or partly made in the UK, including two games in the top “platinum tier”, one in the gold tier and four in silver. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 92 games by peak simultaneous players featured 14 games made or partly made in the UK (15.2%), including Rockstar’s ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ in the top "over 100k simultaneous players" tier and six games from the UK (or 40%) in the second "over 50k players" tier. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 10 highest grossing VR games featured 11 games made in the UK, including one game partly made in the UK in the top “platinum” tier, one UK-made game in the gold tier and four in silver. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

=== 2017 Stats ===

*83% of UK games businesses predict growth in FY2017/18, up from 79% in the previous year. 82% of games companies are also looking to expand their workforce in the same period. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2017/11/ukie-member-survey-prospects-exports-satisfaction Ukie], Nov 2017)

*The UK has been ranked as third best country in the world for the ability to attract, retain, train and educate skilled workers, according to the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (INSEAD, Jan 2017, [https://www.insead.edu/global-indices/gtci LINK] and [http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/uk-ranks-third-in-global-talent-competitiveness-ranking LINK])

*London, Birmingham and Cardiff act as talent magnets, helping the UK attract more highly-skilled workers. Cardiff is the 11th best city worldwide at attracting, growing and retaining talent, with London listed 16th and Birmingham 17th. (INSEAD, Jan 2017, [https://www.insead.edu/global-indices/gtci LINK] and [http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/uk-ranks-third-in-global-talent-competitiveness-ranking LINK])

*According to Creative Assembly, their game ‘Halo Wars 2’ contained 1,023,574 lines of code in 146,605 blocks. Their game ‘Alien: Isolation’ contained 691,685 lines of code in 159,050 blocks. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

*Creative Assembly employed 133 people in their art teams in 2017, 2.3 times larger than in 2012. The ratio of women employed has increased by 5.7 times in the same period. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

*Environment Artists are the largest group of specialists in the Creative Assembly art team, representing 23% of the workforce. Character Artists (15%), Animators (14%) and Concept Artists (12%) are large parts of the overall team. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-art Creative Assembly], 2017)

*In terms of time spent across the three main art areas , 51.6% of time is spent on environment art, 28% on character art and 20% on concept art. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

=== 2016 Stats ===

*European games industry professionals rate the UK as the place in Europe where both the best games are made today and the best games will be made in five year’s time. ([http://registration.gdceurope.com/GDCEurope-StateOfGame?_mc=blog_x_gdceu_wp_aud_gdceu_x_x-sotieu GDC], Aug 2016)

*The UK’s creative industries are now worth a record £84.1 billion to the UK economy. The figures show the sector growing at almost twice the rate of the wider UK economy - generating £9.6million per hour. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/news/creative-industries-worth-almost-10-million-an-hour-to-economy Gov.co.uk], Jan 2016)

=== 2015 Stats ===

*In 2013, the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) supported 12,100 FTEs of direct employment. This is split into 9,400 FTEs in development, 900 in publishing and 1,800 in retail. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*In 2013, the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) contributed £755m in direct GVA. This is split into £639.1m in development, £63.3m in publishing and £53m in retail. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*In 2013, taking into account the total economic contribution (including multiplier and spillover effects) the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) supported 23,900 FTEs of employment, generated £1.4bn in GVA and contributed £429m to the Exchequer. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*When looking at regional distribution of employment in 2013: for development most FTEs are in London (27%), the South East (21%), the East of England (10%) and West Midlands (10%). For publishing most FTEs are in the South East (32%), London (31%), the East of England (18%) and West Midlands (7%). ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

Notable Dates in UK Games Industry History

2021-10-14T09:30:17Z

UkieColm: /* 2020 */

Help us complete this list of notable dates in the UK games industry history by submitting any suggestions you have via [https://forms.gle/9agp8mppXNuWYiBL6 this online form].

== 1950s ==

=== 1950 ===

*Following the second world war and his groundbreaking work on cracking the enigma machine, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing Alan Turing] develops a [https://www.history.com/news/in-1950-alan-turing-created-a-chess-computer-program-that-prefigured-a-i chess-playing program]

=== 1951 ===

*For a post-war festival celebrating British contributions to science and technology, a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimrod_(computer) computer was developed that could play the game Nim], a mathematical game in which players take turn to remove matches.

=== 1952 ===

*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OXO OXO (or Noughts and Crosses)] was developed by A.S Douglas for the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC), one of the first games developed in the early history of video games.

=== 1957 ===

*14th October - The British Computer Society (now known as [https://www.bcs.org/ BCS, The Chartered Institute for I.T.]) is founded [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/6099/BCS%20-%20%20British%20Computer%20Society%20is%20Founded promote the study, practice and advance the knowledge of computing].

== 1960s ==

=== 1961 ===

*25th July - [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/5856/Clive%20Sinclair%20founds%20Sinclair%20Radionics Clive Sinclair founds Sinclair Radionics] in Cambridge, developing hi-fi products, radios, calculators and scientific instruments, a precursor to his computer company Sinclair Research.

== 1970s ==

=== 1975 ===

*1st April - The [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/34794/The%20Magnavox%20Odyssey,%20the%20first%20video%20game%20console,%20is%20released Magnavox Odyssey], the first video game console, is released in the UK.

*Roy Trubshaw, a student at the University of Essex, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUD#Origins started working on a multi-user adventure game] in the MACRO-10 assembly language for a DEC PDP-10. He named the game MUD (Multi-User Dungeon). Deveopment was completed in 1980 by fellow student Richard Bartle.

=== 1975 ===
*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Games_Workshop Games Workshop], famous for selling Dungeons and Dragons and Warhammer tabletop games, is founded.

== 1980s ==

=== 1980 ===

*29th January - The [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/5445/Sinclair-ZX80-Launched/ Sinclair ZX80] personal computer was launched by Sinclair Research Ltd of Cambridge.

=== 1981 ===

*5th March - The ZX81, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX81 Sinclair Research's pioneering British home computer], was released.

*May - The [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/10388/VIC-20%20Released%20in%20Europe%20&%20US Commodore VIC-20] is released in the US and Europe.

*1st December - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Micro BBC Micro], designed and built by the Acorn Computer company for the BBC, is released.

=== 1982 ===

*January - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64 Commodore 64] is launched worldwide.

*23rd February - Argonaut Games was [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argonaut_Games founded in Colindale, London]. It was most notable for the development of the Super NES video game Star Fox and its supporting Super FX hardware

*23rd April - The [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/43781/Sinclair%20ZX%20Spectrum%20Launched Sinclair ZX Spectrum] is released by Sinclair Computers.

*August - The Dragon 32 home computer [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_32/64 was released for sales in the European market] by Dragon Data Ltd, but with limited graphics capabilities it struggled to compete against the more popular ZX Spectrum and BBC Micro home computers.

*17th September - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagine_Software Imagine Software] was founded in Liverpool byt formeer members of Bug-Byte. The short-lived company achieved nationwide notoriety when it was filmed by a BBC documentary crew while in the process of going bust.It would later be referenced in Bandersnatch, Netflix's interactive espisode of Black Mirror,

=== 1983 ===

*The American [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_crash_of_1983 video game crash of 1983] occurs, having a significant knock-on impact on the British games industry.

*1st August - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manic_Miner Manic Miner], developed by Matthew Smith, was released by Bug-Byte for the ZX Spectrum.

*[https://web.archive.org/web/19980611190501fw_/http://www.vie.co.uk/level3/corporat.htm Virgin Games was founded]. It would later become Virgin Interactive Entertainment, the video game publishing division of the Virgin Group. The company grew significantly afer acquiring Mastertronic in 1987.

=== 1984 ===

*12th April - The Amstrad CPC 464 was [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amstrad_CPC_464 released in the UK]. The first personal home computer built by Amstrad, it was one of the bestselling microcomputers of the era with more than 2 million units sold in Europe.

*July - [https://reflections.ubisoft.com/ Ubisoft Reflections] is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubisoft_Reflections founded in Newcastle],

*20th September - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_(video_game) Elite], the space trading game written and developed by David Braben and Ian Bell, is published by Acornsoft for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron computers.

*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockstar_North Acme Software was founded in Dundee]. It would later rebrand as DMA Deisgn and produce many well-known titles across the Amiga, Atari ST and Commodores 64, including the smash hit Lemmings. In 2001, following the release of Grand Theft Auto III, DMA Design was renamed Rockstar North and became part of the Rockstar Games label.

=== 1985 ===

*April - Rare Limited is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_(company) founded in Twycross], Leicestershire and would go on to have a long history of critically acclaimed and globally successful titles, including Battletoads, Goldeneye 007, Donkey Kong Country and Sea of Thieves.

*June - Atari release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_ST Atari 520ST], the first of their successful ST series of home computers.

*23rd June - Commodore release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga Amiga 1000], the first of the Amiga home computers.

*3rd July - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psygnosis Psygnosis was founded] in Wavertree Technology Park, Liverpool.

=== 1986 ===

*1st September - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Entertainment_System Nintendo Entertainment System], also known as the NES, is released in the UK.

*October - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codemasters Codemasters], one of the oldest active British game studios, founded by brothers Richard and David Darling.

=== 1987 ===

*May - Commodore launch their best-selling [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_500#Releases Amiga 500], the first low-end Commodore Amiga 16/32-bit multimedia home/personal computer.

*June - The first game of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dizzy_(series) Dizzy] series is created, proving to be a commercial smash hit and one of the first long term video game franchises.

*18th August - [https://www.creative-assembly.com/ Creative Assembly], one of the largest studios in the UK and creators of the Total War franchise and Alien Isolation, [https://www.mobygames.com/company/creative-assembly-ltd is founded in Horsham], West Sussex by Tim Ansell.

*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullfrog_Productions Bullfrog Productions was founded in Guildford] by Peter Molyneux and Les Edgar. The company went on to achieve a string of hits, including Theme Park, Magic Carpet, Syndicate and Dungeon Keeper.

=== 1988 ===

*13th May - Core Design, developers of the original Tomb Raider titles, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_Design is founded in Derby] by former employees of Gremlin Graphics.

*October - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurocom Eurocom was founded in Derby]. The studio was mainly known for its arcade to console ports and games based on licensed properties.

=== 1989 ===

*March - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee Tim Berners-Lee] lays out his vision for [https://webfoundation.org/about/vision/history-of-the-web/ what would become the web] in a document called “[http://info.cern.ch/Proposal.html Information Management: A Proposal]”.

*5th June - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populous_(video_game) Bullfrog Productions releases Populous] on the Amiga. The game would go on to sell over 4 million copies, becoming one of the biggest-selling PC games of all time.

*27th July - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrilla_Cambridge Guerilla Cambridge], initially known as Millennium Interactive Ltd, is founded. The company was best known for producing the MediEvil series.

*6th September - [http://ukie.org.uk Ukie], then known as ELSPA, [http://ukie.org.uk/about is founded] - the first trade association for the video games industry anywhere in the world.

*[http://www.ttgames.com/ Traveller's Tales], best known as the developers of the LEGO games franchise, is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveller%27s_Tales founded in Knutsford], Cheshire.

== 1990s ==

=== 1990 ===

*September - The [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Nintendo Game Boy] is released across Europe.

*7th December - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team17 Team 17 is founded] in Wakefield. The company has produced many well known titles, most notbaly including the Worms series.

=== 1991 ===

*14th February - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemmings_(video_game) Lemmings is released on the Amiga] by DMA Design. One of the best-selling games of all time, it is estimated to have sold around 20 million copies.

=== 1992 ===

*April/June - The [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Super Nintendo Entertainment System], also known as the SNES, is released in Europe.

*May - The first game in the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensible_Soccer Sensible Soccer] series is released

*10th July - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philips_CD-i Phillips CD-i is released across Europe]. The "interactive multimedia CD player" would become seen as a commercial failure, estimated to have lost Philips as much as $1bn in the American market.

=== 1993 ===

*Criterion Games, best known for the Burnout series, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criterion_Games is founded in Guildford].

=== 1994 ===

*11th June - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3DO_Interactive_Multiplayer 3DO Interactive Multiplayer], often called the 3DO, is released across Europe. The console's comparably high price prevented it achiving the same success as the SEGA and Nintendo's conosles of the same era.

=== 1995 ===

*January - Sony Computer Entertainment Europe is [https://www.sie.com/en/corporate/history/1993_2002.html established in London].

*1st June - Team 17 releases Worms across multiple formats, incluing the Amiga, CD32 and Mega Drive. The original entry in the series would go on to sell more than 5 million copies and spawned over 20 sequels over the next 20 years.

*21st July - Nintendo's Virtual Boy was [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Boy released in Japan]. The first ever console to utilise stereoscopic 3D graphics, it failed to meet sales tarets and was eventually discontinued after only 22 games. While later released in North America, the console was never made available to the European market.

*29th September - Sony Computer Entertainment [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_(console) release the first PlayStation console] in Europe.

*29th September - Psygnosis's futuristic racing game [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wipeout_(video_game) Wipeout was released] as a launch title for Sony's new PlayStation console. As well as the game's positive reviews and controversial marketing, Wipeout was also famous for its unique techno and electronica soundtrack.

=== 1996 ===

*August - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Develop_(magazine) Launch of Develop], a monthly UK trade magazine for the UK video game industry. It closed in December 2017, eventually merging with MCV to become the combined [https://www.mcvuk.com/ MCV/Develop] brand.

*7th Septmeber - SEGA opens [https://segaretro.org/SegaWorld_London SegaWorld London] in London's Trocadero complex in Picadilly Circus. It was the largest indoor arcade in Europe, with 10,200m² of floorspace over seven floors.

*25th October - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_Raider_(1996_video_game) Tomb Raider], the first game in the best-selling Tomb Raider franchise, is released worldwide by Eidos Interactive and UK developer Core Design. It would go on to sell over 7 million copies globally and and continues to be cited as one of the greatest video games ever made.

=== 1997 ===

*March - [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Nintendo's N64] console is released in Europe.

*20th June - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmageddon Carmageddon is released] by Stainless Games. The controversial game was partly censored upon released and even banned in some countries. After successfully appealing, the uncensored version was released in the UK ten months later. The series would go on to sell around two million copies.

*July - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionhead_Studios Lionhead Studios is founded] by Peter Molyneux, Mark Webley, Tim Rance, and Steve Jackson. It would go on to produce the hit Fable and Black & White series.

*25th August - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GoldenEye_007_(1997_video_game) GoldenEye 007], developed for the N64 console by UK company Rare, is released.

=== 1998 ===

*17th July - Rare [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banjo-Kazooie released Banjo Kazooie], both a critical and commercial success.

*15th July - Codemasters release the hugely successful [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_McRae_Rally_(video_game) Colin McRae Rally] for the PlayStation, which would go on to sell over 4 million units across all formats.

*September - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MCV/Develop Launch of UK games industry trade magazine MCV] (later [https://www.mcvuk.com/ MCV/Develop])

*29th October - The first [http://awards.bafta.org/award/1998/interactive/www.bafta.org/guru Bafta Interactive Entertainment Awards] take place, with [https://twitter.com/BAFTAGames/status/1105161107084374016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1105161107084374016&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2F30yearsofplay.uk%2Fblog-1%2F2019%2F2%2F4%2Fbritish-releases-1990s Stephen Fry presenting ‘Best Computer Game’] to Rare’s GoldenEye 007.

=== 1999 ===

*27th March - The first [https://insomniagamingfestival.com/ Insomnia Gaming Festival], Insomnia99, run by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiplay Multiplay], brings together a [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/306431.stm reported 300 PC gamers] for the UK's then largest ever LAN party.

*April - Free Radical Deign Ltd, most notable for the Timesplitters series was [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crytek_UK founded in Nottingham]. The studio would later be bought by German developer Crytek and renamed Crytek UK, before eventually closing in 2014.

*20th April - Racing game specialists Evolution Studios, creators of the World Rally Championship and MotorStorm series, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_Studios were founded in Runcorn], Cheshire.

*25th June - Newcastle's Reflections Interactive (later Ubisoft Reflection) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driver_(video_game) released the critically-acclaimed Driver] for Sony's PlayStation.

*14th October - SEGA release their [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamcast Dreamcast console] across Europe, launching the "sixth generation" of game consoles.

== 2000s ==

=== 2000 ===

*March - Ninja Theory (initially known as Just Add Monsters Ltd), creators of the multi-BAFTA winning Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, were [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninja_Theory founded in Cambridge].

*28th April - Jagex, creators of one of the world's largest massively multiplayer online roleplay games, Runescape, are [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jagex founded in Cambridge].

*13th June - [https://www.totalwar.com/blog/17-years-total-war/ Creative Assembly releases Shogun: Total War], the first game in the long-running Total War series.

*November - Sony Computer Entertainment release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_2 PlayStation 2] in Europe.

*24th November - Timesplitters by Free Radical Design [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TimeSplitters_(video_game) is released in Europe] for the PlayStation 2.

=== 2001 ===

*4th January - [https://oldschoolrunescape.fandom.com/wiki/RuneScape_Classic Jagex release the original version of Runescape] (now known as Runescape Classic) for Windows PC.

*8th March - [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/a_tiga The official launch] of [http://tiga.org/ TIGA], The Independent Games Developers Assocation for the UK.

*30th March - Lionhead [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_%26_White_(video_game) release God-simulator Black & White] worldwide for Windows PC.

*30th April - Multiplayer first-person shooter specialists [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splash_Damage Splash Damage were founded in London].

*June - Nintendo's [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Game Boy Advance] is released in Europe.

*22nd October - Rockstar Games release [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_III Grand Theft Auto III].

=== 2002 ===

*The first [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MCV/Develop MCV/Develop awards] take place, celebrating the success of UK publishers, retail and distribution.

*14 March - Microsoft release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_(console) Xbox] console in Europe.

*May - The Nintendo [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches GameCube] is released in Europe.

*29th Oct 2002 - Rockstar Games releases [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto:_Vice_City Grand Theft Auto: Vice City].

*24th September - [https://news.microsoft.com/2002/09/24/microsoft-acquires-video-game-powerhouse-rare-ltd/ Microsoft acquires Twycross-based developer Rare Ltd] for $375m.

*18th November - Eurocom releases James Bond 007: Nightfire, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bond_007:_Nightfire#Reception achieving “Platinum” sales] in the UK.

*11th December - Sony's [http://www.worldwidestudios.net/london SCE London Studio] and Team Soho [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Getaway_(video_game) releases The Getaway] for the PlayStation 2. The game is especially notable for its realistic re-creation of large areas of London.

=== 2003 ===

*9th April - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_European_Game_Information Pan European Game Information] (PEGI) video game content rating system is launched. The PEGI system is now used in 39 countries. more detials on the number of games rated each year [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_European_Game_Information is available here].

*31st July - Derby-based [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/derbyshire/3112271.stm Core Design loses the rights to develop future Tomb Raider games], as parent company Eidos shifts development to California-based Crystal Dynamics.

*11th September - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_(software) Valve releases] the PC-based digital distribution platform Steam worldwide.

*3rd October - Nokia releases the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-Gage_(device) N-Gage], one of the first major attempts to combine a mobile phone and a handheld game system.

*Sumo Digital, a prolific developer of games across multiple platforms is is [https://www.sumo-digital.com/who-we-are/ founded in Sheffield]. The studio would grow to become one of the UK's largest developers, employing over 500 people across multiple sites.

=== 2004 ===

*February - The first [http://awards.bafta.org/award/2004/games British Academy Games Awards] takes place.

*21 May - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SingStar Sony London Studio releases SingStar] for the PlayStation 2. The series would go on to achieve over 17.5m units.

*14th September - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fable_(2004_video_game) Lionhead releases Fable worldwide], the first game in the successful Fable franchise.

*26th October - Rockstar Games releases [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto:_San_Andreas Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas].

*5th November - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_Manager_2005 Sports Interactive releases Football Manager 2005], the first of the popular football manager series to be released after splitting from the previous Championship Manger brand.

*13 December - [http://rocksteadyltd.com Rocksteady Studios], creators of the Batman Arkham franchise, is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocksteady_Studios founded in London].

=== 2005 ===

*March - Nintendo's [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches handheld DS console] is released in Europe.

*1st September - Sony Computer Entertainment [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_Portable releases the PlayStation Portable] handheld console across Europe.

*12th October - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rag_Doll_Kung_Fu Rag Doll Kung Fu] was the first third party game released on Steam. It was created predominantly by artist Mark Healey, while working for Lionhead Studio.

*18th October - Rebellion Developments releases the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sniper_Elite_(video_game) first game in the Sniper Elite series].

*2nd December - Microsoft release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360 Xbox 360] console in Europe.

*7th December - The [https://www.askaboutgames.com/ Ask About Games] website is [https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/98381/UKs_ELSPA_Launches_Askaboutgamescom.php launched by industry body ELSPA] (now known as Ukie), providing information to parents and carers about the video games age ratings system used in the UK.

=== 2006 ===

*4th January - [http://www.mediamolecule.com/ Media Molecule], creators of the LittleBigPlanet franchise, is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Molecule founded in Guildford], Surrey.

*November / December - The [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Nintendo Wii] is released in Europe.

=== 2007 ===

*23rd March - Sony Computer Entertainment release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3 PlayStation 3] in Europe.

*19th June - The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/6767623.stm bans Rockstar Games' Manhunt 2] across the UK. It would eventually be approved by the BBFC for [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhunt_2#BBFC release on 31st October 2008] with an 18 certificate.

*23rd June - Apple [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone launch the iPhone] worldwide.

*20th Septmeber - Sony Computer Entertainment [https://www.sie.com/en/corporate/release/2007/070920d.html acquires Evolution Studios and Bigbig Studios].

*26th September - Activision [https://investor.activision.com/news-releases/news-release-details/activision-acquires-uk-game-developer-bizarre-creations acquires Bizarre Creations], known for the Project Gotham Racing and Geometry Wars series.

*The Chinese Room, creators of Dear Esther and Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chinese_Roomis founded in Brighton].

=== 2008 ===

*February - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello_Games Hello Games is founded] in Guildford.

*27th October - LittleBigPlanet is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LittleBigPlanet released for the PlayStation 3] by UK developer [http://www.mediamolecule.com/ Media Molecule].

*28th October - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EGX_(expo) first Eurogamer Expo], now known as [https://www.egx.net/egx EGX] and the largest single games event in the UK, takes place at the Truman Brewery in London, attended by 4,000 people.

*November - [https://www.playground-games.com/ Playground Games], developers of the Forza Horizon franchise, is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playground_Games founded in Leamington Spa], Warwickshire.

*November - The first Android-enabled smartphone, the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_Dream T-Mobile G1] (also known as the HTC Dream) is released in the UK.

=== 2009 ===
*2009 was when game profits in UK exceeded those from film for the first time (source?)

*June - The [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/parliamentary-group-for-games-industry-created all-party Parliamentary group for the computer and videogames industry] was founded, chaired by Bill Olner MP, with Lord Puttnam and John Whittingdale MP as vice-chairs. The group continues today as the [https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmallparty/190102/video-games-and-esports.htm APPG for Video Games and Esports].

*25th August - [http://rocksteadyltd.com/ Rocksteady Games] release the much acclaimed [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman:_Arkham_Asylum Batman: Arkham Asylum] worldwide.

== 2010s ==

=== 2010 ===

*26th February - The new £36.2m inner-city Derby ring road is renamed [https://goo.gl/maps/a7GHiGCrJWq Lara Croft Way] following [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/derbyshire/8538106.stm overwhelming support in a public vote].

*19th March - ELSPA [https://ukie.org.uk/node/193 announces its name change to Ukie] (the Association for UK Interactive Entertainment).

*4th November - [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12697975 Microsoft launches the Kinect], an infra-red camera for the Xbox 360 that can track players body movements. It becomes the fastest-selling consumer device to date, selling more than 8 million units in a 60 day period.

=== 2011 ===

*February / March - The [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Nintendo 3DS] is released in Europe.

=== 2012 ===

*20th February - Peter Molyneux [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/22Cans opens new game development studio 22Cans] in Guildford.

*22nd February - Sony Computer Entertianment [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_Vita releases the PlayStation Vita] handheld console across Europe.

*9th May - An Xbox 360 version of Minecraft is released, [https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Xbox_360_Edition#Release developed by 4J Studios].

*30th July - The PEGI age rating system [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19042908 becomes legally enforceable in the UK].

*22nd August - Sony Computer Entertainment [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-08-22-sony-closes-studio-liverpool officially closes SCE Studio Liverpool], founded in 1984 as Psygnosis and best known for the Wipeout series.

*November / December - The [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Nintendo Wii U] is released in Europe.

=== 2013 ===

*25th June - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouya#History The Ouya] was released worldwide. The Android-based microconsole was a Kickstarter success, raising $8.5m, however underperforming post-release sales saw the unit [https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/07/so-long-ouya-razer-acquires-microconsoles-storefront-technical-team/ discontinued in 2015].

*17th September - Grand Theft Auto v is released by Rockstar Games and becomes the [http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2013/10/confirmed-grand-theft-auto-breaks-six-sales-world-records-51900 fasting-selling entertainment product in history], grossing over $1bn in three days. To date, it has sold over [https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/gta-v-100-million-sales-1203022310/ 100 million copies] and is considered the [https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/gta-v-100-million-sales-1203022310/ most profitable entertainment product] of all time.

*22nd November - Microsoft release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_One Xbox One] in Europe.

*29th November - Sony Interactive Entertainment release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_4 PlayStation 4] in Europe.

=== 2014 ===

*30th January - The Chancellor, George Osborne, [https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/announcements/launch-tax-reliefs-high-end-television-animation-video-games officially launches the video games tax relief (VGTR)].

*1st April - The Uk's [https://www.gov.uk/guidance/corporation-tax-creative-industry-tax-reliefs#video-games-tax-relief-vgtr video games tax relief] officially comes into effect.

=== 2015 ===

*5th April - HTC and Valve Corporation release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_Vive HTC Vive], a high-end virtual reality head-mounted display offering "room scale" tracking technology, allowing the user to move in 3D space and use motion-tracked handheld controllers to interact with the environment.

*27th November - Samsung release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Gear_VR Gear VR], their head-mounted visrtual reality display designed to incorporate Samsung Galaxy mobile phones.

=== 2016 ===

*22nd March - Sony [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2016-03-22-sony-confirms-closure-of-evolution-studio announces the closure of Evolution Studios]. However, the [http://blog.codemasters.com/community/04/codemasters-welcomes-the-team-from-evolution-studios/ Evolution Studios team would join Codemasters] less than a month later on 11th April, forming Codemasters EVO.

*28th March - Oculus release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oculus_Rift Oculus Rift], one of the first major virtual reality head-mounted displays.

*9th August - [http://hellogames.org/ Hello Games] releases [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Man%27s_Sky No Man's Sky], featuring a procedurally-generated universe, comprising over 18 quintillion planets.

*27th September - Playground Games [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forza_Horizon_3 releases Forza Horizon 3] worldwide and would go on to sell over 2.5 million copies.

*13th October - Sony releases [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_VR PlayStation VR] (also known as PSVR), a virtual reality head-mounted display for the PlayStation 4.

=== 2017 ===

*12th January - [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-38598919 Sony closes Guerilla Cambridge].

*3rd March - The Nintendo Switch is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Switch released worldwide].

*4rd April - The inaugural [http://www.digitalschoolhouse.org.uk/articles/2017/04/team-veracity-win-inaugural-esports-tournament Digital Schoolhouse esports tournament] culminates with the Grand Final at Gfinity's arena in London, the first immersive careers education event of its kind.

*8th August - Ninja Theory release the multi-BAFTA winning [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellblade:_Senua%27s_Sacrifice Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice]. Most notably, the game featured a credible and well-received depiction of psychosis, constructed in collboration with neuroscientists, mental health specialists and people suffering from the condition.

=== 2018 ===

*January - UK video games trade magazines Develop and Esports Pro are [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MCV/Develop merged with sister trade magazine MCV]. The combined publication would eventually be rebranded to MCV/Develop in October 2019.

*2nd January - [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-01-02-sumo-digital-takes-over-ccp-newcastle-studio Sumo Digital acquires CCP Games' Newcastle studio] of 34 staff, developers of EVE Valkyrie after CCP indicates a move away from VR content.

*15th May - Hanger 13 [https://hangar13games.com/news/hangar-13-expands-to-brighton/ opens a new studio in Brighton].

*8th / 10th June - The Rocket League World Championship Finals [https://www.rocketleagueesports.com/news/the-rlcs-world-championship-returns-to-europe-/ take place in London at the Copper Box Arena].

*10th June - [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-06-10-microsoft-super-sizes-first-party-studio-system Microsoft announces the acquisition] of both Hellblade developer Ninja Theory and Forza series developer Playground Games at E3.

*15th August - [https://www.gamespot.com/articles/crackdown-3-dev-acquires-acclaimed-studio-behind-e/1100-6461160/ Sumo Digital acquires The Chinese Room], developers of the BAFTA-winning Everybody's Gone To The Rapture.

*15th August - [https://www.polygon.com/2018/8/15/17692384/thq-nordic-timesplitters-crytek THQ Nordic acquires Timesplitters series]

*8th September - London's [https://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/sep/05/was-that-a-reference-to-magritte-design-play-disrupt-review Victoria & Albert Museum opens its first video game exhibition] entitled Videogames: Design/Play/Disrupt.

*18th October - Rockstar Games release Red Dead Redemption 2 for the Playstation 4, and experiences the largest opening weekend of any product in the history of entertainment, making [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Dead_Redemption_2#Reception over $725 million in revenue in three days]. Within two weeks, it had shipped over 17 million copies, and increased to 23 million copies by February 2019.

*29th October - The UK Houses of Parliament, in partnership with the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Video Games, hosts the [https://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/10/mps-attend-first-ever-esports-parliamentary-event first ever parliamentary event on esports].

*8th December - Epic Games [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_Games_Store launches the Epic Games Store], a digital storefront for PC and Mac platforms.

*14th December - Game Workers Unite UK, a branch of the IWGB, [https://www.gwu-uk.org/2018/12/14/game-workers-of-the-uk-unite/ becomes a legal trade union] dedicated to representing game developers.

=== 2019 ===

*3rd January - The Entertainment Retailer's Association announces figures showing [https://eraltd.org/news-events/press-releases/2019/streaming-drives-entertainment-sales-94-higher-in-2018-to-sixth-consecutive-year-of-growth/ UK sales of games exceed the combined sales of music and film] for the first time.

*9th May - [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-05-09-sega-acquires-two-point-studios SEGA acquires Two Point Studios] the Farnham-based developer of Two Point Hospital.

*19th September - Apples flagship games subscription service, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Arcade Apple Arcade], is launched worldwide.

*19th September - SEGA enters the mini-console market with the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Genesis_Mini launch of the SEGA Mega Drive Mini].

*19th November - Google launch their cloud gaming service, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Stadia Stadia] worldwide.

== 2020s ==

=== 2020 ===

*4th February - Ukie and the University of Sheffield launch the [https://ukie.org.uk/UK-games-industry-census-2020 UK Games Industry Census] results, the most detailed assessment of diversity in the UK games industry workforce ever conducted.

*19th March - UK trade association Ukie [https://ukie.org.uk/news/2020/03/ukie-launches-ukiepedia launches Ukiepedia], a brand new repository of games industry facts, insight, resources and links.

*28 April - MacArthur Fortune [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-04-28-jagex-sold-for-usd530m acquires] Cambridge-based Runescape studio Jagex for $530m.

*18th May - Sumo Group acquires Leamington Spa-based [https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/363065/Sumo_Group_acquires_UK_workforhire_studio_Lab42.php work-for-hire development studio Lab42] for an undisclosed fee.

*25 September - Epic Games [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-09-25-epic-games-acquires-superawesome acquires] London-based "kidtech" specialist SuperAwesome for an undisclosed fee.

*05 October - Sunderland developer and publisher Coatsink [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-10-05-thunderful-group-acquires-coatsink acquired] by Swedish company Thunderful Group for £23m.

*13 October - Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality headset released worldwide.

*14 October - Ruffian Games [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-10-12-rockstar-buys-ruffian-games-rebrands-to-rockstar-dundee becomes part of] Rockstar Games as Rockstar Dundee

*10 November - Microsoft Xbox Series X/S released worldwide.

*12 November - Sony PlayStation 5 released worldwide.

*08 December - London-based mobile studio Hutch Games [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-12-08-mtg-acquires-hutch-games-for-an-expected-USD375-million acquired] by Swedish media company Modern Times Group.

*14 December - Tencent [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-12-14-leyou-shareholders-approve-tencent-takeover acquires] Bromley-based Splash Damage as part of $1.3bn purchase of Leyou Technologies Holdings.

=== 2021 ===

*22 January - Carlyle group [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-01-25-jagex-reportedly-sold-to-carlyle-group acquires] Jagex, matching previous $530m price.

*18 February - Electronic Arts completes its [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-02-18-ea-completes-codemasters-acquisition-and-hopes-to-revolutionise-racing-games $1.2bn acquisition] of UK-based racing games specialist Codemasters after outbidding a previous offer from Take-Two.

*18 February - Belgian games company Larian Studios [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-01-25-jagex-reportedly-sold-to-carlyle-group acquires] Turbulenz to found Lartian Guildford.

*02 March - Epic Games [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-03-02-epic-acquires-fall-guys-studios-parent-company buys] Tonic Group for undisclosed sum.

*05 March - Australian fitness company OliveX [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-03-08-zombies-run-dev-six-to-start-acquired-for-usd9-5m acquires] Zombies Run! developer Six to Start for $9.5m.

*22 April - Portsmouth company Climax Studios [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-04-22-keywords-acquires-climax-for-up-to-43m joins] Keywords Group for £43m.

*23 June - Electronic Arts [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-06-23-ea-acquires-playdemic-for-usd1-4bn purchases] Golf Clash developer Playdemic from Warner Brothers for $1.4bn.

*19 July - Tencent [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-07-19-tencent-to-buy-crackdown-and-sackboy-developer-sumo-in-usd1-3bn-deal acquires] Sumo Group for $1.3bn.

*08 September - Liverpool VR developer Firesprite [https://blog.playstation.com/2021/09/08/welcoming-firesprite-to-the-playstation-studios-family/ joins] PlayStation Studios for undisclosed sum.

*14 September - Sumo Group [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-09-14-sumo-acquires-auroch-digital adds] Bristol-based Auroch Digital to their roster for £6m.

Notable Dates in UK Games Industry History

2021-10-14T09:28:45Z

UkieColm: /* 2020 */

Help us complete this list of notable dates in the UK games industry history by submitting any suggestions you have via [https://forms.gle/9agp8mppXNuWYiBL6 this online form].

== 1950s ==

=== 1950 ===

*Following the second world war and his groundbreaking work on cracking the enigma machine, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing Alan Turing] develops a [https://www.history.com/news/in-1950-alan-turing-created-a-chess-computer-program-that-prefigured-a-i chess-playing program]

=== 1951 ===

*For a post-war festival celebrating British contributions to science and technology, a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimrod_(computer) computer was developed that could play the game Nim], a mathematical game in which players take turn to remove matches.

=== 1952 ===

*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OXO OXO (or Noughts and Crosses)] was developed by A.S Douglas for the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC), one of the first games developed in the early history of video games.

=== 1957 ===

*14th October - The British Computer Society (now known as [https://www.bcs.org/ BCS, The Chartered Institute for I.T.]) is founded [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/6099/BCS%20-%20%20British%20Computer%20Society%20is%20Founded promote the study, practice and advance the knowledge of computing].

== 1960s ==

=== 1961 ===

*25th July - [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/5856/Clive%20Sinclair%20founds%20Sinclair%20Radionics Clive Sinclair founds Sinclair Radionics] in Cambridge, developing hi-fi products, radios, calculators and scientific instruments, a precursor to his computer company Sinclair Research.

== 1970s ==

=== 1975 ===

*1st April - The [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/34794/The%20Magnavox%20Odyssey,%20the%20first%20video%20game%20console,%20is%20released Magnavox Odyssey], the first video game console, is released in the UK.

*Roy Trubshaw, a student at the University of Essex, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUD#Origins started working on a multi-user adventure game] in the MACRO-10 assembly language for a DEC PDP-10. He named the game MUD (Multi-User Dungeon). Deveopment was completed in 1980 by fellow student Richard Bartle.

=== 1975 ===
*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Games_Workshop Games Workshop], famous for selling Dungeons and Dragons and Warhammer tabletop games, is founded.

== 1980s ==

=== 1980 ===

*29th January - The [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/5445/Sinclair-ZX80-Launched/ Sinclair ZX80] personal computer was launched by Sinclair Research Ltd of Cambridge.

=== 1981 ===

*5th March - The ZX81, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX81 Sinclair Research's pioneering British home computer], was released.

*May - The [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/10388/VIC-20%20Released%20in%20Europe%20&%20US Commodore VIC-20] is released in the US and Europe.

*1st December - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Micro BBC Micro], designed and built by the Acorn Computer company for the BBC, is released.

=== 1982 ===

*January - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64 Commodore 64] is launched worldwide.

*23rd February - Argonaut Games was [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argonaut_Games founded in Colindale, London]. It was most notable for the development of the Super NES video game Star Fox and its supporting Super FX hardware

*23rd April - The [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/43781/Sinclair%20ZX%20Spectrum%20Launched Sinclair ZX Spectrum] is released by Sinclair Computers.

*August - The Dragon 32 home computer [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_32/64 was released for sales in the European market] by Dragon Data Ltd, but with limited graphics capabilities it struggled to compete against the more popular ZX Spectrum and BBC Micro home computers.

*17th September - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagine_Software Imagine Software] was founded in Liverpool byt formeer members of Bug-Byte. The short-lived company achieved nationwide notoriety when it was filmed by a BBC documentary crew while in the process of going bust.It would later be referenced in Bandersnatch, Netflix's interactive espisode of Black Mirror,

=== 1983 ===

*The American [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_crash_of_1983 video game crash of 1983] occurs, having a significant knock-on impact on the British games industry.

*1st August - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manic_Miner Manic Miner], developed by Matthew Smith, was released by Bug-Byte for the ZX Spectrum.

*[https://web.archive.org/web/19980611190501fw_/http://www.vie.co.uk/level3/corporat.htm Virgin Games was founded]. It would later become Virgin Interactive Entertainment, the video game publishing division of the Virgin Group. The company grew significantly afer acquiring Mastertronic in 1987.

=== 1984 ===

*12th April - The Amstrad CPC 464 was [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amstrad_CPC_464 released in the UK]. The first personal home computer built by Amstrad, it was one of the bestselling microcomputers of the era with more than 2 million units sold in Europe.

*July - [https://reflections.ubisoft.com/ Ubisoft Reflections] is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubisoft_Reflections founded in Newcastle],

*20th September - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_(video_game) Elite], the space trading game written and developed by David Braben and Ian Bell, is published by Acornsoft for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron computers.

*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockstar_North Acme Software was founded in Dundee]. It would later rebrand as DMA Deisgn and produce many well-known titles across the Amiga, Atari ST and Commodores 64, including the smash hit Lemmings. In 2001, following the release of Grand Theft Auto III, DMA Design was renamed Rockstar North and became part of the Rockstar Games label.

=== 1985 ===

*April - Rare Limited is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_(company) founded in Twycross], Leicestershire and would go on to have a long history of critically acclaimed and globally successful titles, including Battletoads, Goldeneye 007, Donkey Kong Country and Sea of Thieves.

*June - Atari release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_ST Atari 520ST], the first of their successful ST series of home computers.

*23rd June - Commodore release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga Amiga 1000], the first of the Amiga home computers.

*3rd July - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psygnosis Psygnosis was founded] in Wavertree Technology Park, Liverpool.

=== 1986 ===

*1st September - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Entertainment_System Nintendo Entertainment System], also known as the NES, is released in the UK.

*October - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codemasters Codemasters], one of the oldest active British game studios, founded by brothers Richard and David Darling.

=== 1987 ===

*May - Commodore launch their best-selling [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_500#Releases Amiga 500], the first low-end Commodore Amiga 16/32-bit multimedia home/personal computer.

*June - The first game of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dizzy_(series) Dizzy] series is created, proving to be a commercial smash hit and one of the first long term video game franchises.

*18th August - [https://www.creative-assembly.com/ Creative Assembly], one of the largest studios in the UK and creators of the Total War franchise and Alien Isolation, [https://www.mobygames.com/company/creative-assembly-ltd is founded in Horsham], West Sussex by Tim Ansell.

*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullfrog_Productions Bullfrog Productions was founded in Guildford] by Peter Molyneux and Les Edgar. The company went on to achieve a string of hits, including Theme Park, Magic Carpet, Syndicate and Dungeon Keeper.

=== 1988 ===

*13th May - Core Design, developers of the original Tomb Raider titles, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_Design is founded in Derby] by former employees of Gremlin Graphics.

*October - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurocom Eurocom was founded in Derby]. The studio was mainly known for its arcade to console ports and games based on licensed properties.

=== 1989 ===

*March - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee Tim Berners-Lee] lays out his vision for [https://webfoundation.org/about/vision/history-of-the-web/ what would become the web] in a document called “[http://info.cern.ch/Proposal.html Information Management: A Proposal]”.

*5th June - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populous_(video_game) Bullfrog Productions releases Populous] on the Amiga. The game would go on to sell over 4 million copies, becoming one of the biggest-selling PC games of all time.

*27th July - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrilla_Cambridge Guerilla Cambridge], initially known as Millennium Interactive Ltd, is founded. The company was best known for producing the MediEvil series.

*6th September - [http://ukie.org.uk Ukie], then known as ELSPA, [http://ukie.org.uk/about is founded] - the first trade association for the video games industry anywhere in the world.

*[http://www.ttgames.com/ Traveller's Tales], best known as the developers of the LEGO games franchise, is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveller%27s_Tales founded in Knutsford], Cheshire.

== 1990s ==

=== 1990 ===

*September - The [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Nintendo Game Boy] is released across Europe.

*7th December - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team17 Team 17 is founded] in Wakefield. The company has produced many well known titles, most notbaly including the Worms series.

=== 1991 ===

*14th February - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemmings_(video_game) Lemmings is released on the Amiga] by DMA Design. One of the best-selling games of all time, it is estimated to have sold around 20 million copies.

=== 1992 ===

*April/June - The [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Super Nintendo Entertainment System], also known as the SNES, is released in Europe.

*May - The first game in the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensible_Soccer Sensible Soccer] series is released

*10th July - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philips_CD-i Phillips CD-i is released across Europe]. The "interactive multimedia CD player" would become seen as a commercial failure, estimated to have lost Philips as much as $1bn in the American market.

=== 1993 ===

*Criterion Games, best known for the Burnout series, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criterion_Games is founded in Guildford].

=== 1994 ===

*11th June - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3DO_Interactive_Multiplayer 3DO Interactive Multiplayer], often called the 3DO, is released across Europe. The console's comparably high price prevented it achiving the same success as the SEGA and Nintendo's conosles of the same era.

=== 1995 ===

*January - Sony Computer Entertainment Europe is [https://www.sie.com/en/corporate/history/1993_2002.html established in London].

*1st June - Team 17 releases Worms across multiple formats, incluing the Amiga, CD32 and Mega Drive. The original entry in the series would go on to sell more than 5 million copies and spawned over 20 sequels over the next 20 years.

*21st July - Nintendo's Virtual Boy was [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Boy released in Japan]. The first ever console to utilise stereoscopic 3D graphics, it failed to meet sales tarets and was eventually discontinued after only 22 games. While later released in North America, the console was never made available to the European market.

*29th September - Sony Computer Entertainment [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_(console) release the first PlayStation console] in Europe.

*29th September - Psygnosis's futuristic racing game [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wipeout_(video_game) Wipeout was released] as a launch title for Sony's new PlayStation console. As well as the game's positive reviews and controversial marketing, Wipeout was also famous for its unique techno and electronica soundtrack.

=== 1996 ===

*August - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Develop_(magazine) Launch of Develop], a monthly UK trade magazine for the UK video game industry. It closed in December 2017, eventually merging with MCV to become the combined [https://www.mcvuk.com/ MCV/Develop] brand.

*7th Septmeber - SEGA opens [https://segaretro.org/SegaWorld_London SegaWorld London] in London's Trocadero complex in Picadilly Circus. It was the largest indoor arcade in Europe, with 10,200m² of floorspace over seven floors.

*25th October - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_Raider_(1996_video_game) Tomb Raider], the first game in the best-selling Tomb Raider franchise, is released worldwide by Eidos Interactive and UK developer Core Design. It would go on to sell over 7 million copies globally and and continues to be cited as one of the greatest video games ever made.

=== 1997 ===

*March - [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Nintendo's N64] console is released in Europe.

*20th June - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmageddon Carmageddon is released] by Stainless Games. The controversial game was partly censored upon released and even banned in some countries. After successfully appealing, the uncensored version was released in the UK ten months later. The series would go on to sell around two million copies.

*July - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionhead_Studios Lionhead Studios is founded] by Peter Molyneux, Mark Webley, Tim Rance, and Steve Jackson. It would go on to produce the hit Fable and Black & White series.

*25th August - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GoldenEye_007_(1997_video_game) GoldenEye 007], developed for the N64 console by UK company Rare, is released.

=== 1998 ===

*17th July - Rare [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banjo-Kazooie released Banjo Kazooie], both a critical and commercial success.

*15th July - Codemasters release the hugely successful [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_McRae_Rally_(video_game) Colin McRae Rally] for the PlayStation, which would go on to sell over 4 million units across all formats.

*September - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MCV/Develop Launch of UK games industry trade magazine MCV] (later [https://www.mcvuk.com/ MCV/Develop])

*29th October - The first [http://awards.bafta.org/award/1998/interactive/www.bafta.org/guru Bafta Interactive Entertainment Awards] take place, with [https://twitter.com/BAFTAGames/status/1105161107084374016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1105161107084374016&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2F30yearsofplay.uk%2Fblog-1%2F2019%2F2%2F4%2Fbritish-releases-1990s Stephen Fry presenting ‘Best Computer Game’] to Rare’s GoldenEye 007.

=== 1999 ===

*27th March - The first [https://insomniagamingfestival.com/ Insomnia Gaming Festival], Insomnia99, run by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiplay Multiplay], brings together a [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/306431.stm reported 300 PC gamers] for the UK's then largest ever LAN party.

*April - Free Radical Deign Ltd, most notable for the Timesplitters series was [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crytek_UK founded in Nottingham]. The studio would later be bought by German developer Crytek and renamed Crytek UK, before eventually closing in 2014.

*20th April - Racing game specialists Evolution Studios, creators of the World Rally Championship and MotorStorm series, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_Studios were founded in Runcorn], Cheshire.

*25th June - Newcastle's Reflections Interactive (later Ubisoft Reflection) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driver_(video_game) released the critically-acclaimed Driver] for Sony's PlayStation.

*14th October - SEGA release their [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamcast Dreamcast console] across Europe, launching the "sixth generation" of game consoles.

== 2000s ==

=== 2000 ===

*March - Ninja Theory (initially known as Just Add Monsters Ltd), creators of the multi-BAFTA winning Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, were [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninja_Theory founded in Cambridge].

*28th April - Jagex, creators of one of the world's largest massively multiplayer online roleplay games, Runescape, are [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jagex founded in Cambridge].

*13th June - [https://www.totalwar.com/blog/17-years-total-war/ Creative Assembly releases Shogun: Total War], the first game in the long-running Total War series.

*November - Sony Computer Entertainment release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_2 PlayStation 2] in Europe.

*24th November - Timesplitters by Free Radical Design [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TimeSplitters_(video_game) is released in Europe] for the PlayStation 2.

=== 2001 ===

*4th January - [https://oldschoolrunescape.fandom.com/wiki/RuneScape_Classic Jagex release the original version of Runescape] (now known as Runescape Classic) for Windows PC.

*8th March - [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/a_tiga The official launch] of [http://tiga.org/ TIGA], The Independent Games Developers Assocation for the UK.

*30th March - Lionhead [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_%26_White_(video_game) release God-simulator Black & White] worldwide for Windows PC.

*30th April - Multiplayer first-person shooter specialists [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splash_Damage Splash Damage were founded in London].

*June - Nintendo's [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Game Boy Advance] is released in Europe.

*22nd October - Rockstar Games release [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_III Grand Theft Auto III].

=== 2002 ===

*The first [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MCV/Develop MCV/Develop awards] take place, celebrating the success of UK publishers, retail and distribution.

*14 March - Microsoft release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_(console) Xbox] console in Europe.

*May - The Nintendo [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches GameCube] is released in Europe.

*29th Oct 2002 - Rockstar Games releases [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto:_Vice_City Grand Theft Auto: Vice City].

*24th September - [https://news.microsoft.com/2002/09/24/microsoft-acquires-video-game-powerhouse-rare-ltd/ Microsoft acquires Twycross-based developer Rare Ltd] for $375m.

*18th November - Eurocom releases James Bond 007: Nightfire, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bond_007:_Nightfire#Reception achieving “Platinum” sales] in the UK.

*11th December - Sony's [http://www.worldwidestudios.net/london SCE London Studio] and Team Soho [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Getaway_(video_game) releases The Getaway] for the PlayStation 2. The game is especially notable for its realistic re-creation of large areas of London.

=== 2003 ===

*9th April - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_European_Game_Information Pan European Game Information] (PEGI) video game content rating system is launched. The PEGI system is now used in 39 countries. more detials on the number of games rated each year [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_European_Game_Information is available here].

*31st July - Derby-based [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/derbyshire/3112271.stm Core Design loses the rights to develop future Tomb Raider games], as parent company Eidos shifts development to California-based Crystal Dynamics.

*11th September - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_(software) Valve releases] the PC-based digital distribution platform Steam worldwide.

*3rd October - Nokia releases the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-Gage_(device) N-Gage], one of the first major attempts to combine a mobile phone and a handheld game system.

*Sumo Digital, a prolific developer of games across multiple platforms is is [https://www.sumo-digital.com/who-we-are/ founded in Sheffield]. The studio would grow to become one of the UK's largest developers, employing over 500 people across multiple sites.

=== 2004 ===

*February - The first [http://awards.bafta.org/award/2004/games British Academy Games Awards] takes place.

*21 May - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SingStar Sony London Studio releases SingStar] for the PlayStation 2. The series would go on to achieve over 17.5m units.

*14th September - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fable_(2004_video_game) Lionhead releases Fable worldwide], the first game in the successful Fable franchise.

*26th October - Rockstar Games releases [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto:_San_Andreas Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas].

*5th November - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_Manager_2005 Sports Interactive releases Football Manager 2005], the first of the popular football manager series to be released after splitting from the previous Championship Manger brand.

*13 December - [http://rocksteadyltd.com Rocksteady Studios], creators of the Batman Arkham franchise, is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocksteady_Studios founded in London].

=== 2005 ===

*March - Nintendo's [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches handheld DS console] is released in Europe.

*1st September - Sony Computer Entertainment [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_Portable releases the PlayStation Portable] handheld console across Europe.

*12th October - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rag_Doll_Kung_Fu Rag Doll Kung Fu] was the first third party game released on Steam. It was created predominantly by artist Mark Healey, while working for Lionhead Studio.

*18th October - Rebellion Developments releases the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sniper_Elite_(video_game) first game in the Sniper Elite series].

*2nd December - Microsoft release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360 Xbox 360] console in Europe.

*7th December - The [https://www.askaboutgames.com/ Ask About Games] website is [https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/98381/UKs_ELSPA_Launches_Askaboutgamescom.php launched by industry body ELSPA] (now known as Ukie), providing information to parents and carers about the video games age ratings system used in the UK.

=== 2006 ===

*4th January - [http://www.mediamolecule.com/ Media Molecule], creators of the LittleBigPlanet franchise, is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Molecule founded in Guildford], Surrey.

*November / December - The [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Nintendo Wii] is released in Europe.

=== 2007 ===

*23rd March - Sony Computer Entertainment release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3 PlayStation 3] in Europe.

*19th June - The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/6767623.stm bans Rockstar Games' Manhunt 2] across the UK. It would eventually be approved by the BBFC for [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhunt_2#BBFC release on 31st October 2008] with an 18 certificate.

*23rd June - Apple [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone launch the iPhone] worldwide.

*20th Septmeber - Sony Computer Entertainment [https://www.sie.com/en/corporate/release/2007/070920d.html acquires Evolution Studios and Bigbig Studios].

*26th September - Activision [https://investor.activision.com/news-releases/news-release-details/activision-acquires-uk-game-developer-bizarre-creations acquires Bizarre Creations], known for the Project Gotham Racing and Geometry Wars series.

*The Chinese Room, creators of Dear Esther and Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chinese_Roomis founded in Brighton].

=== 2008 ===

*February - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello_Games Hello Games is founded] in Guildford.

*27th October - LittleBigPlanet is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LittleBigPlanet released for the PlayStation 3] by UK developer [http://www.mediamolecule.com/ Media Molecule].

*28th October - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EGX_(expo) first Eurogamer Expo], now known as [https://www.egx.net/egx EGX] and the largest single games event in the UK, takes place at the Truman Brewery in London, attended by 4,000 people.

*November - [https://www.playground-games.com/ Playground Games], developers of the Forza Horizon franchise, is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playground_Games founded in Leamington Spa], Warwickshire.

*November - The first Android-enabled smartphone, the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_Dream T-Mobile G1] (also known as the HTC Dream) is released in the UK.

=== 2009 ===
*2009 was when game profits in UK exceeded those from film for the first time (source?)

*June - The [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/parliamentary-group-for-games-industry-created all-party Parliamentary group for the computer and videogames industry] was founded, chaired by Bill Olner MP, with Lord Puttnam and John Whittingdale MP as vice-chairs. The group continues today as the [https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmallparty/190102/video-games-and-esports.htm APPG for Video Games and Esports].

*25th August - [http://rocksteadyltd.com/ Rocksteady Games] release the much acclaimed [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman:_Arkham_Asylum Batman: Arkham Asylum] worldwide.

== 2010s ==

=== 2010 ===

*26th February - The new £36.2m inner-city Derby ring road is renamed [https://goo.gl/maps/a7GHiGCrJWq Lara Croft Way] following [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/derbyshire/8538106.stm overwhelming support in a public vote].

*19th March - ELSPA [https://ukie.org.uk/node/193 announces its name change to Ukie] (the Association for UK Interactive Entertainment).

*4th November - [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12697975 Microsoft launches the Kinect], an infra-red camera for the Xbox 360 that can track players body movements. It becomes the fastest-selling consumer device to date, selling more than 8 million units in a 60 day period.

=== 2011 ===

*February / March - The [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Nintendo 3DS] is released in Europe.

=== 2012 ===

*20th February - Peter Molyneux [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/22Cans opens new game development studio 22Cans] in Guildford.

*22nd February - Sony Computer Entertianment [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_Vita releases the PlayStation Vita] handheld console across Europe.

*9th May - An Xbox 360 version of Minecraft is released, [https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Xbox_360_Edition#Release developed by 4J Studios].

*30th July - The PEGI age rating system [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19042908 becomes legally enforceable in the UK].

*22nd August - Sony Computer Entertainment [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-08-22-sony-closes-studio-liverpool officially closes SCE Studio Liverpool], founded in 1984 as Psygnosis and best known for the Wipeout series.

*November / December - The [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Nintendo Wii U] is released in Europe.

=== 2013 ===

*25th June - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouya#History The Ouya] was released worldwide. The Android-based microconsole was a Kickstarter success, raising $8.5m, however underperforming post-release sales saw the unit [https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/07/so-long-ouya-razer-acquires-microconsoles-storefront-technical-team/ discontinued in 2015].

*17th September - Grand Theft Auto v is released by Rockstar Games and becomes the [http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2013/10/confirmed-grand-theft-auto-breaks-six-sales-world-records-51900 fasting-selling entertainment product in history], grossing over $1bn in three days. To date, it has sold over [https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/gta-v-100-million-sales-1203022310/ 100 million copies] and is considered the [https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/gta-v-100-million-sales-1203022310/ most profitable entertainment product] of all time.

*22nd November - Microsoft release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_One Xbox One] in Europe.

*29th November - Sony Interactive Entertainment release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_4 PlayStation 4] in Europe.

=== 2014 ===

*30th January - The Chancellor, George Osborne, [https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/announcements/launch-tax-reliefs-high-end-television-animation-video-games officially launches the video games tax relief (VGTR)].

*1st April - The Uk's [https://www.gov.uk/guidance/corporation-tax-creative-industry-tax-reliefs#video-games-tax-relief-vgtr video games tax relief] officially comes into effect.

=== 2015 ===

*5th April - HTC and Valve Corporation release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_Vive HTC Vive], a high-end virtual reality head-mounted display offering "room scale" tracking technology, allowing the user to move in 3D space and use motion-tracked handheld controllers to interact with the environment.

*27th November - Samsung release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Gear_VR Gear VR], their head-mounted visrtual reality display designed to incorporate Samsung Galaxy mobile phones.

=== 2016 ===

*22nd March - Sony [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2016-03-22-sony-confirms-closure-of-evolution-studio announces the closure of Evolution Studios]. However, the [http://blog.codemasters.com/community/04/codemasters-welcomes-the-team-from-evolution-studios/ Evolution Studios team would join Codemasters] less than a month later on 11th April, forming Codemasters EVO.

*28th March - Oculus release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oculus_Rift Oculus Rift], one of the first major virtual reality head-mounted displays.

*9th August - [http://hellogames.org/ Hello Games] releases [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Man%27s_Sky No Man's Sky], featuring a procedurally-generated universe, comprising over 18 quintillion planets.

*27th September - Playground Games [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forza_Horizon_3 releases Forza Horizon 3] worldwide and would go on to sell over 2.5 million copies.

*13th October - Sony releases [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_VR PlayStation VR] (also known as PSVR), a virtual reality head-mounted display for the PlayStation 4.

=== 2017 ===

*12th January - [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-38598919 Sony closes Guerilla Cambridge].

*3rd March - The Nintendo Switch is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Switch released worldwide].

*4rd April - The inaugural [http://www.digitalschoolhouse.org.uk/articles/2017/04/team-veracity-win-inaugural-esports-tournament Digital Schoolhouse esports tournament] culminates with the Grand Final at Gfinity's arena in London, the first immersive careers education event of its kind.

*8th August - Ninja Theory release the multi-BAFTA winning [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellblade:_Senua%27s_Sacrifice Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice]. Most notably, the game featured a credible and well-received depiction of psychosis, constructed in collboration with neuroscientists, mental health specialists and people suffering from the condition.

=== 2018 ===

*January - UK video games trade magazines Develop and Esports Pro are [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MCV/Develop merged with sister trade magazine MCV]. The combined publication would eventually be rebranded to MCV/Develop in October 2019.

*2nd January - [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-01-02-sumo-digital-takes-over-ccp-newcastle-studio Sumo Digital acquires CCP Games' Newcastle studio] of 34 staff, developers of EVE Valkyrie after CCP indicates a move away from VR content.

*15th May - Hanger 13 [https://hangar13games.com/news/hangar-13-expands-to-brighton/ opens a new studio in Brighton].

*8th / 10th June - The Rocket League World Championship Finals [https://www.rocketleagueesports.com/news/the-rlcs-world-championship-returns-to-europe-/ take place in London at the Copper Box Arena].

*10th June - [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-06-10-microsoft-super-sizes-first-party-studio-system Microsoft announces the acquisition] of both Hellblade developer Ninja Theory and Forza series developer Playground Games at E3.

*15th August - [https://www.gamespot.com/articles/crackdown-3-dev-acquires-acclaimed-studio-behind-e/1100-6461160/ Sumo Digital acquires The Chinese Room], developers of the BAFTA-winning Everybody's Gone To The Rapture.

*15th August - [https://www.polygon.com/2018/8/15/17692384/thq-nordic-timesplitters-crytek THQ Nordic acquires Timesplitters series]

*8th September - London's [https://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/sep/05/was-that-a-reference-to-magritte-design-play-disrupt-review Victoria & Albert Museum opens its first video game exhibition] entitled Videogames: Design/Play/Disrupt.

*18th October - Rockstar Games release Red Dead Redemption 2 for the Playstation 4, and experiences the largest opening weekend of any product in the history of entertainment, making [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Dead_Redemption_2#Reception over $725 million in revenue in three days]. Within two weeks, it had shipped over 17 million copies, and increased to 23 million copies by February 2019.

*29th October - The UK Houses of Parliament, in partnership with the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Video Games, hosts the [https://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/10/mps-attend-first-ever-esports-parliamentary-event first ever parliamentary event on esports].

*8th December - Epic Games [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_Games_Store launches the Epic Games Store], a digital storefront for PC and Mac platforms.

*14th December - Game Workers Unite UK, a branch of the IWGB, [https://www.gwu-uk.org/2018/12/14/game-workers-of-the-uk-unite/ becomes a legal trade union] dedicated to representing game developers.

=== 2019 ===

*3rd January - The Entertainment Retailer's Association announces figures showing [https://eraltd.org/news-events/press-releases/2019/streaming-drives-entertainment-sales-94-higher-in-2018-to-sixth-consecutive-year-of-growth/ UK sales of games exceed the combined sales of music and film] for the first time.

*9th May - [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-05-09-sega-acquires-two-point-studios SEGA acquires Two Point Studios] the Farnham-based developer of Two Point Hospital.

*19th September - Apples flagship games subscription service, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Arcade Apple Arcade], is launched worldwide.

*19th September - SEGA enters the mini-console market with the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Genesis_Mini launch of the SEGA Mega Drive Mini].

*19th November - Google launch their cloud gaming service, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Stadia Stadia] worldwide.

== 2020s ==

=== 2020 ===

*4th February - Ukie and the University of Sheffield launch the [https://ukie.org.uk/UK-games-industry-census-2020 UK Games Industry Census] results, the most detailed assessment of diversity in the UK games industry workforce ever conducted.

*19th March - UK trade association Ukie [https://ukie.org.uk/news/2020/03/ukie-launches-ukiepedia launches Ukiepedia], a brand new repository of games industry facts, insight, resources and links.

*28 April - MacArthur Fortune [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-04-28-jagex-sold-for-usd530m acquires] Cambridge-based Runescape studio Jagex for $530m.

*18th May - Sumo Group acquires Leamington Spa-based [https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/363065/Sumo_Group_acquires_UK_workforhire_studio_Lab42.php work-for-hire development studio Lab42] for an undisclosed fee.

*25 September - Epic Games [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-09-25-epic-games-acquires-superawesome acquires] London-based "kidtech" specialist SuperAwesome for an undisclosed fee.

*05 October - Sunderland developer and publisher Coatsink [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-10-05-thunderful-group-acquires-coatsink acquired] by Swedish company Thunderful Group for £23m.

*14 October - Ruffian Games [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-10-12-rockstar-buys-ruffian-games-rebrands-to-rockstar-dundee becomes part of] Rockstar Games as Rockstar Dundee

*10 November - Microsoft Xbox Series X/S released worldwide.

*12 November - Sony PlayStation 5 released worldwide.

*08 December - London-based mobile studio Hutch Games [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-12-08-mtg-acquires-hutch-games-for-an-expected-USD375-million acquired] by Swedish media company Modern Times Group.

*14 December - Tencent [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-12-14-leyou-shareholders-approve-tencent-takeover acquires] Bromley-based Splash Damage as part of $1.3bn purchase of Leyou Technologies Holdings.

=== 2021 ===

*22 January - Carlyle group [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-01-25-jagex-reportedly-sold-to-carlyle-group acquires] Jagex, matching previous $530m price.

*18 February - Electronic Arts completes its [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-02-18-ea-completes-codemasters-acquisition-and-hopes-to-revolutionise-racing-games $1.2bn acquisition] of UK-based racing games specialist Codemasters after outbidding a previous offer from Take-Two.

*18 February - Belgian games company Larian Studios [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-01-25-jagex-reportedly-sold-to-carlyle-group acquires] Turbulenz to found Lartian Guildford.

*02 March - Epic Games [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-03-02-epic-acquires-fall-guys-studios-parent-company buys] Tonic Group for undisclosed sum.

*05 March - Australian fitness company OliveX [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-03-08-zombies-run-dev-six-to-start-acquired-for-usd9-5m acquires] Zombies Run! developer Six to Start for $9.5m.

*22 April - Portsmouth company Climax Studios [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-04-22-keywords-acquires-climax-for-up-to-43m joins] Keywords Group for £43m.

*23 June - Electronic Arts [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-06-23-ea-acquires-playdemic-for-usd1-4bn purchases] Golf Clash developer Playdemic from Warner Brothers for $1.4bn.

*19 July - Tencent [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-07-19-tencent-to-buy-crackdown-and-sackboy-developer-sumo-in-usd1-3bn-deal acquires] Sumo Group for $1.3bn.

*08 September - Liverpool VR developer Firesprite [https://blog.playstation.com/2021/09/08/welcoming-firesprite-to-the-playstation-studios-family/ joins] PlayStation Studios for undisclosed sum.

*14 September - Sumo Group [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-09-14-sumo-acquires-auroch-digital adds] Bristol-based Auroch Digital to their roster for £6m.

Notable Dates in UK Games Industry History

2021-10-14T09:03:32Z

UkieColm: /* 2021 */

Help us complete this list of notable dates in the UK games industry history by submitting any suggestions you have via [https://forms.gle/9agp8mppXNuWYiBL6 this online form].

== 1950s ==

=== 1950 ===

*Following the second world war and his groundbreaking work on cracking the enigma machine, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing Alan Turing] develops a [https://www.history.com/news/in-1950-alan-turing-created-a-chess-computer-program-that-prefigured-a-i chess-playing program]

=== 1951 ===

*For a post-war festival celebrating British contributions to science and technology, a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimrod_(computer) computer was developed that could play the game Nim], a mathematical game in which players take turn to remove matches.

=== 1952 ===

*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OXO OXO (or Noughts and Crosses)] was developed by A.S Douglas for the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC), one of the first games developed in the early history of video games.

=== 1957 ===

*14th October - The British Computer Society (now known as [https://www.bcs.org/ BCS, The Chartered Institute for I.T.]) is founded [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/6099/BCS%20-%20%20British%20Computer%20Society%20is%20Founded promote the study, practice and advance the knowledge of computing].

== 1960s ==

=== 1961 ===

*25th July - [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/5856/Clive%20Sinclair%20founds%20Sinclair%20Radionics Clive Sinclair founds Sinclair Radionics] in Cambridge, developing hi-fi products, radios, calculators and scientific instruments, a precursor to his computer company Sinclair Research.

== 1970s ==

=== 1975 ===

*1st April - The [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/34794/The%20Magnavox%20Odyssey,%20the%20first%20video%20game%20console,%20is%20released Magnavox Odyssey], the first video game console, is released in the UK.

*Roy Trubshaw, a student at the University of Essex, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUD#Origins started working on a multi-user adventure game] in the MACRO-10 assembly language for a DEC PDP-10. He named the game MUD (Multi-User Dungeon). Deveopment was completed in 1980 by fellow student Richard Bartle.

=== 1975 ===
*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Games_Workshop Games Workshop], famous for selling Dungeons and Dragons and Warhammer tabletop games, is founded.

== 1980s ==

=== 1980 ===

*29th January - The [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/5445/Sinclair-ZX80-Launched/ Sinclair ZX80] personal computer was launched by Sinclair Research Ltd of Cambridge.

=== 1981 ===

*5th March - The ZX81, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX81 Sinclair Research's pioneering British home computer], was released.

*May - The [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/10388/VIC-20%20Released%20in%20Europe%20&%20US Commodore VIC-20] is released in the US and Europe.

*1st December - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Micro BBC Micro], designed and built by the Acorn Computer company for the BBC, is released.

=== 1982 ===

*January - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64 Commodore 64] is launched worldwide.

*23rd February - Argonaut Games was [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argonaut_Games founded in Colindale, London]. It was most notable for the development of the Super NES video game Star Fox and its supporting Super FX hardware

*23rd April - The [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/43781/Sinclair%20ZX%20Spectrum%20Launched Sinclair ZX Spectrum] is released by Sinclair Computers.

*August - The Dragon 32 home computer [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_32/64 was released for sales in the European market] by Dragon Data Ltd, but with limited graphics capabilities it struggled to compete against the more popular ZX Spectrum and BBC Micro home computers.

*17th September - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagine_Software Imagine Software] was founded in Liverpool byt formeer members of Bug-Byte. The short-lived company achieved nationwide notoriety when it was filmed by a BBC documentary crew while in the process of going bust.It would later be referenced in Bandersnatch, Netflix's interactive espisode of Black Mirror,

=== 1983 ===

*The American [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_crash_of_1983 video game crash of 1983] occurs, having a significant knock-on impact on the British games industry.

*1st August - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manic_Miner Manic Miner], developed by Matthew Smith, was released by Bug-Byte for the ZX Spectrum.

*[https://web.archive.org/web/19980611190501fw_/http://www.vie.co.uk/level3/corporat.htm Virgin Games was founded]. It would later become Virgin Interactive Entertainment, the video game publishing division of the Virgin Group. The company grew significantly afer acquiring Mastertronic in 1987.

=== 1984 ===

*12th April - The Amstrad CPC 464 was [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amstrad_CPC_464 released in the UK]. The first personal home computer built by Amstrad, it was one of the bestselling microcomputers of the era with more than 2 million units sold in Europe.

*July - [https://reflections.ubisoft.com/ Ubisoft Reflections] is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubisoft_Reflections founded in Newcastle],

*20th September - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_(video_game) Elite], the space trading game written and developed by David Braben and Ian Bell, is published by Acornsoft for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron computers.

*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockstar_North Acme Software was founded in Dundee]. It would later rebrand as DMA Deisgn and produce many well-known titles across the Amiga, Atari ST and Commodores 64, including the smash hit Lemmings. In 2001, following the release of Grand Theft Auto III, DMA Design was renamed Rockstar North and became part of the Rockstar Games label.

=== 1985 ===

*April - Rare Limited is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_(company) founded in Twycross], Leicestershire and would go on to have a long history of critically acclaimed and globally successful titles, including Battletoads, Goldeneye 007, Donkey Kong Country and Sea of Thieves.

*June - Atari release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_ST Atari 520ST], the first of their successful ST series of home computers.

*23rd June - Commodore release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga Amiga 1000], the first of the Amiga home computers.

*3rd July - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psygnosis Psygnosis was founded] in Wavertree Technology Park, Liverpool.

=== 1986 ===

*1st September - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Entertainment_System Nintendo Entertainment System], also known as the NES, is released in the UK.

*October - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codemasters Codemasters], one of the oldest active British game studios, founded by brothers Richard and David Darling.

=== 1987 ===

*May - Commodore launch their best-selling [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_500#Releases Amiga 500], the first low-end Commodore Amiga 16/32-bit multimedia home/personal computer.

*June - The first game of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dizzy_(series) Dizzy] series is created, proving to be a commercial smash hit and one of the first long term video game franchises.

*18th August - [https://www.creative-assembly.com/ Creative Assembly], one of the largest studios in the UK and creators of the Total War franchise and Alien Isolation, [https://www.mobygames.com/company/creative-assembly-ltd is founded in Horsham], West Sussex by Tim Ansell.

*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullfrog_Productions Bullfrog Productions was founded in Guildford] by Peter Molyneux and Les Edgar. The company went on to achieve a string of hits, including Theme Park, Magic Carpet, Syndicate and Dungeon Keeper.

=== 1988 ===

*13th May - Core Design, developers of the original Tomb Raider titles, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_Design is founded in Derby] by former employees of Gremlin Graphics.

*October - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurocom Eurocom was founded in Derby]. The studio was mainly known for its arcade to console ports and games based on licensed properties.

=== 1989 ===

*March - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee Tim Berners-Lee] lays out his vision for [https://webfoundation.org/about/vision/history-of-the-web/ what would become the web] in a document called “[http://info.cern.ch/Proposal.html Information Management: A Proposal]”.

*5th June - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populous_(video_game) Bullfrog Productions releases Populous] on the Amiga. The game would go on to sell over 4 million copies, becoming one of the biggest-selling PC games of all time.

*27th July - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrilla_Cambridge Guerilla Cambridge], initially known as Millennium Interactive Ltd, is founded. The company was best known for producing the MediEvil series.

*6th September - [http://ukie.org.uk Ukie], then known as ELSPA, [http://ukie.org.uk/about is founded] - the first trade association for the video games industry anywhere in the world.

*[http://www.ttgames.com/ Traveller's Tales], best known as the developers of the LEGO games franchise, is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveller%27s_Tales founded in Knutsford], Cheshire.

== 1990s ==

=== 1990 ===

*September - The [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Nintendo Game Boy] is released across Europe.

*7th December - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team17 Team 17 is founded] in Wakefield. The company has produced many well known titles, most notbaly including the Worms series.

=== 1991 ===

*14th February - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemmings_(video_game) Lemmings is released on the Amiga] by DMA Design. One of the best-selling games of all time, it is estimated to have sold around 20 million copies.

=== 1992 ===

*April/June - The [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Super Nintendo Entertainment System], also known as the SNES, is released in Europe.

*May - The first game in the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensible_Soccer Sensible Soccer] series is released

*10th July - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philips_CD-i Phillips CD-i is released across Europe]. The "interactive multimedia CD player" would become seen as a commercial failure, estimated to have lost Philips as much as $1bn in the American market.

=== 1993 ===

*Criterion Games, best known for the Burnout series, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criterion_Games is founded in Guildford].

=== 1994 ===

*11th June - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3DO_Interactive_Multiplayer 3DO Interactive Multiplayer], often called the 3DO, is released across Europe. The console's comparably high price prevented it achiving the same success as the SEGA and Nintendo's conosles of the same era.

=== 1995 ===

*January - Sony Computer Entertainment Europe is [https://www.sie.com/en/corporate/history/1993_2002.html established in London].

*1st June - Team 17 releases Worms across multiple formats, incluing the Amiga, CD32 and Mega Drive. The original entry in the series would go on to sell more than 5 million copies and spawned over 20 sequels over the next 20 years.

*21st July - Nintendo's Virtual Boy was [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Boy released in Japan]. The first ever console to utilise stereoscopic 3D graphics, it failed to meet sales tarets and was eventually discontinued after only 22 games. While later released in North America, the console was never made available to the European market.

*29th September - Sony Computer Entertainment [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_(console) release the first PlayStation console] in Europe.

*29th September - Psygnosis's futuristic racing game [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wipeout_(video_game) Wipeout was released] as a launch title for Sony's new PlayStation console. As well as the game's positive reviews and controversial marketing, Wipeout was also famous for its unique techno and electronica soundtrack.

=== 1996 ===

*August - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Develop_(magazine) Launch of Develop], a monthly UK trade magazine for the UK video game industry. It closed in December 2017, eventually merging with MCV to become the combined [https://www.mcvuk.com/ MCV/Develop] brand.

*7th Septmeber - SEGA opens [https://segaretro.org/SegaWorld_London SegaWorld London] in London's Trocadero complex in Picadilly Circus. It was the largest indoor arcade in Europe, with 10,200m² of floorspace over seven floors.

*25th October - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_Raider_(1996_video_game) Tomb Raider], the first game in the best-selling Tomb Raider franchise, is released worldwide by Eidos Interactive and UK developer Core Design. It would go on to sell over 7 million copies globally and and continues to be cited as one of the greatest video games ever made.

=== 1997 ===

*March - [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Nintendo's N64] console is released in Europe.

*20th June - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmageddon Carmageddon is released] by Stainless Games. The controversial game was partly censored upon released and even banned in some countries. After successfully appealing, the uncensored version was released in the UK ten months later. The series would go on to sell around two million copies.

*July - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionhead_Studios Lionhead Studios is founded] by Peter Molyneux, Mark Webley, Tim Rance, and Steve Jackson. It would go on to produce the hit Fable and Black & White series.

*25th August - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GoldenEye_007_(1997_video_game) GoldenEye 007], developed for the N64 console by UK company Rare, is released.

=== 1998 ===

*17th July - Rare [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banjo-Kazooie released Banjo Kazooie], both a critical and commercial success.

*15th July - Codemasters release the hugely successful [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_McRae_Rally_(video_game) Colin McRae Rally] for the PlayStation, which would go on to sell over 4 million units across all formats.

*September - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MCV/Develop Launch of UK games industry trade magazine MCV] (later [https://www.mcvuk.com/ MCV/Develop])

*29th October - The first [http://awards.bafta.org/award/1998/interactive/www.bafta.org/guru Bafta Interactive Entertainment Awards] take place, with [https://twitter.com/BAFTAGames/status/1105161107084374016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1105161107084374016&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2F30yearsofplay.uk%2Fblog-1%2F2019%2F2%2F4%2Fbritish-releases-1990s Stephen Fry presenting ‘Best Computer Game’] to Rare’s GoldenEye 007.

=== 1999 ===

*27th March - The first [https://insomniagamingfestival.com/ Insomnia Gaming Festival], Insomnia99, run by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiplay Multiplay], brings together a [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/306431.stm reported 300 PC gamers] for the UK's then largest ever LAN party.

*April - Free Radical Deign Ltd, most notable for the Timesplitters series was [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crytek_UK founded in Nottingham]. The studio would later be bought by German developer Crytek and renamed Crytek UK, before eventually closing in 2014.

*20th April - Racing game specialists Evolution Studios, creators of the World Rally Championship and MotorStorm series, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_Studios were founded in Runcorn], Cheshire.

*25th June - Newcastle's Reflections Interactive (later Ubisoft Reflection) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driver_(video_game) released the critically-acclaimed Driver] for Sony's PlayStation.

*14th October - SEGA release their [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamcast Dreamcast console] across Europe, launching the "sixth generation" of game consoles.

== 2000s ==

=== 2000 ===

*March - Ninja Theory (initially known as Just Add Monsters Ltd), creators of the multi-BAFTA winning Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, were [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninja_Theory founded in Cambridge].

*28th April - Jagex, creators of one of the world's largest massively multiplayer online roleplay games, Runescape, are [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jagex founded in Cambridge].

*13th June - [https://www.totalwar.com/blog/17-years-total-war/ Creative Assembly releases Shogun: Total War], the first game in the long-running Total War series.

*November - Sony Computer Entertainment release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_2 PlayStation 2] in Europe.

*24th November - Timesplitters by Free Radical Design [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TimeSplitters_(video_game) is released in Europe] for the PlayStation 2.

=== 2001 ===

*4th January - [https://oldschoolrunescape.fandom.com/wiki/RuneScape_Classic Jagex release the original version of Runescape] (now known as Runescape Classic) for Windows PC.

*8th March - [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/a_tiga The official launch] of [http://tiga.org/ TIGA], The Independent Games Developers Assocation for the UK.

*30th March - Lionhead [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_%26_White_(video_game) release God-simulator Black & White] worldwide for Windows PC.

*30th April - Multiplayer first-person shooter specialists [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splash_Damage Splash Damage were founded in London].

*June - Nintendo's [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Game Boy Advance] is released in Europe.

*22nd October - Rockstar Games release [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_III Grand Theft Auto III].

=== 2002 ===

*The first [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MCV/Develop MCV/Develop awards] take place, celebrating the success of UK publishers, retail and distribution.

*14 March - Microsoft release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_(console) Xbox] console in Europe.

*May - The Nintendo [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches GameCube] is released in Europe.

*29th Oct 2002 - Rockstar Games releases [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto:_Vice_City Grand Theft Auto: Vice City].

*24th September - [https://news.microsoft.com/2002/09/24/microsoft-acquires-video-game-powerhouse-rare-ltd/ Microsoft acquires Twycross-based developer Rare Ltd] for $375m.

*18th November - Eurocom releases James Bond 007: Nightfire, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bond_007:_Nightfire#Reception achieving “Platinum” sales] in the UK.

*11th December - Sony's [http://www.worldwidestudios.net/london SCE London Studio] and Team Soho [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Getaway_(video_game) releases The Getaway] for the PlayStation 2. The game is especially notable for its realistic re-creation of large areas of London.

=== 2003 ===

*9th April - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_European_Game_Information Pan European Game Information] (PEGI) video game content rating system is launched. The PEGI system is now used in 39 countries. more detials on the number of games rated each year [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_European_Game_Information is available here].

*31st July - Derby-based [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/derbyshire/3112271.stm Core Design loses the rights to develop future Tomb Raider games], as parent company Eidos shifts development to California-based Crystal Dynamics.

*11th September - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_(software) Valve releases] the PC-based digital distribution platform Steam worldwide.

*3rd October - Nokia releases the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-Gage_(device) N-Gage], one of the first major attempts to combine a mobile phone and a handheld game system.

*Sumo Digital, a prolific developer of games across multiple platforms is is [https://www.sumo-digital.com/who-we-are/ founded in Sheffield]. The studio would grow to become one of the UK's largest developers, employing over 500 people across multiple sites.

=== 2004 ===

*February - The first [http://awards.bafta.org/award/2004/games British Academy Games Awards] takes place.

*21 May - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SingStar Sony London Studio releases SingStar] for the PlayStation 2. The series would go on to achieve over 17.5m units.

*14th September - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fable_(2004_video_game) Lionhead releases Fable worldwide], the first game in the successful Fable franchise.

*26th October - Rockstar Games releases [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto:_San_Andreas Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas].

*5th November - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_Manager_2005 Sports Interactive releases Football Manager 2005], the first of the popular football manager series to be released after splitting from the previous Championship Manger brand.

*13 December - [http://rocksteadyltd.com Rocksteady Studios], creators of the Batman Arkham franchise, is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocksteady_Studios founded in London].

=== 2005 ===

*March - Nintendo's [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches handheld DS console] is released in Europe.

*1st September - Sony Computer Entertainment [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_Portable releases the PlayStation Portable] handheld console across Europe.

*12th October - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rag_Doll_Kung_Fu Rag Doll Kung Fu] was the first third party game released on Steam. It was created predominantly by artist Mark Healey, while working for Lionhead Studio.

*18th October - Rebellion Developments releases the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sniper_Elite_(video_game) first game in the Sniper Elite series].

*2nd December - Microsoft release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360 Xbox 360] console in Europe.

*7th December - The [https://www.askaboutgames.com/ Ask About Games] website is [https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/98381/UKs_ELSPA_Launches_Askaboutgamescom.php launched by industry body ELSPA] (now known as Ukie), providing information to parents and carers about the video games age ratings system used in the UK.

=== 2006 ===

*4th January - [http://www.mediamolecule.com/ Media Molecule], creators of the LittleBigPlanet franchise, is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Molecule founded in Guildford], Surrey.

*November / December - The [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Nintendo Wii] is released in Europe.

=== 2007 ===

*23rd March - Sony Computer Entertainment release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3 PlayStation 3] in Europe.

*19th June - The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/6767623.stm bans Rockstar Games' Manhunt 2] across the UK. It would eventually be approved by the BBFC for [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhunt_2#BBFC release on 31st October 2008] with an 18 certificate.

*23rd June - Apple [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone launch the iPhone] worldwide.

*20th Septmeber - Sony Computer Entertainment [https://www.sie.com/en/corporate/release/2007/070920d.html acquires Evolution Studios and Bigbig Studios].

*26th September - Activision [https://investor.activision.com/news-releases/news-release-details/activision-acquires-uk-game-developer-bizarre-creations acquires Bizarre Creations], known for the Project Gotham Racing and Geometry Wars series.

*The Chinese Room, creators of Dear Esther and Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chinese_Roomis founded in Brighton].

=== 2008 ===

*February - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello_Games Hello Games is founded] in Guildford.

*27th October - LittleBigPlanet is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LittleBigPlanet released for the PlayStation 3] by UK developer [http://www.mediamolecule.com/ Media Molecule].

*28th October - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EGX_(expo) first Eurogamer Expo], now known as [https://www.egx.net/egx EGX] and the largest single games event in the UK, takes place at the Truman Brewery in London, attended by 4,000 people.

*November - [https://www.playground-games.com/ Playground Games], developers of the Forza Horizon franchise, is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playground_Games founded in Leamington Spa], Warwickshire.

*November - The first Android-enabled smartphone, the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_Dream T-Mobile G1] (also known as the HTC Dream) is released in the UK.

=== 2009 ===
*2009 was when game profits in UK exceeded those from film for the first time (source?)

*June - The [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/parliamentary-group-for-games-industry-created all-party Parliamentary group for the computer and videogames industry] was founded, chaired by Bill Olner MP, with Lord Puttnam and John Whittingdale MP as vice-chairs. The group continues today as the [https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmallparty/190102/video-games-and-esports.htm APPG for Video Games and Esports].

*25th August - [http://rocksteadyltd.com/ Rocksteady Games] release the much acclaimed [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman:_Arkham_Asylum Batman: Arkham Asylum] worldwide.

== 2010s ==

=== 2010 ===

*26th February - The new £36.2m inner-city Derby ring road is renamed [https://goo.gl/maps/a7GHiGCrJWq Lara Croft Way] following [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/derbyshire/8538106.stm overwhelming support in a public vote].

*19th March - ELSPA [https://ukie.org.uk/node/193 announces its name change to Ukie] (the Association for UK Interactive Entertainment).

*4th November - [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12697975 Microsoft launches the Kinect], an infra-red camera for the Xbox 360 that can track players body movements. It becomes the fastest-selling consumer device to date, selling more than 8 million units in a 60 day period.

=== 2011 ===

*February / March - The [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Nintendo 3DS] is released in Europe.

=== 2012 ===

*20th February - Peter Molyneux [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/22Cans opens new game development studio 22Cans] in Guildford.

*22nd February - Sony Computer Entertianment [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_Vita releases the PlayStation Vita] handheld console across Europe.

*9th May - An Xbox 360 version of Minecraft is released, [https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Xbox_360_Edition#Release developed by 4J Studios].

*30th July - The PEGI age rating system [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19042908 becomes legally enforceable in the UK].

*22nd August - Sony Computer Entertainment [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-08-22-sony-closes-studio-liverpool officially closes SCE Studio Liverpool], founded in 1984 as Psygnosis and best known for the Wipeout series.

*November / December - The [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Nintendo Wii U] is released in Europe.

=== 2013 ===

*25th June - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouya#History The Ouya] was released worldwide. The Android-based microconsole was a Kickstarter success, raising $8.5m, however underperforming post-release sales saw the unit [https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/07/so-long-ouya-razer-acquires-microconsoles-storefront-technical-team/ discontinued in 2015].

*17th September - Grand Theft Auto v is released by Rockstar Games and becomes the [http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2013/10/confirmed-grand-theft-auto-breaks-six-sales-world-records-51900 fasting-selling entertainment product in history], grossing over $1bn in three days. To date, it has sold over [https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/gta-v-100-million-sales-1203022310/ 100 million copies] and is considered the [https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/gta-v-100-million-sales-1203022310/ most profitable entertainment product] of all time.

*22nd November - Microsoft release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_One Xbox One] in Europe.

*29th November - Sony Interactive Entertainment release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_4 PlayStation 4] in Europe.

=== 2014 ===

*30th January - The Chancellor, George Osborne, [https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/announcements/launch-tax-reliefs-high-end-television-animation-video-games officially launches the video games tax relief (VGTR)].

*1st April - The Uk's [https://www.gov.uk/guidance/corporation-tax-creative-industry-tax-reliefs#video-games-tax-relief-vgtr video games tax relief] officially comes into effect.

=== 2015 ===

*5th April - HTC and Valve Corporation release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_Vive HTC Vive], a high-end virtual reality head-mounted display offering "room scale" tracking technology, allowing the user to move in 3D space and use motion-tracked handheld controllers to interact with the environment.

*27th November - Samsung release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Gear_VR Gear VR], their head-mounted visrtual reality display designed to incorporate Samsung Galaxy mobile phones.

=== 2016 ===

*22nd March - Sony [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2016-03-22-sony-confirms-closure-of-evolution-studio announces the closure of Evolution Studios]. However, the [http://blog.codemasters.com/community/04/codemasters-welcomes-the-team-from-evolution-studios/ Evolution Studios team would join Codemasters] less than a month later on 11th April, forming Codemasters EVO.

*28th March - Oculus release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oculus_Rift Oculus Rift], one of the first major virtual reality head-mounted displays.

*9th August - [http://hellogames.org/ Hello Games] releases [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Man%27s_Sky No Man's Sky], featuring a procedurally-generated universe, comprising over 18 quintillion planets.

*27th September - Playground Games [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forza_Horizon_3 releases Forza Horizon 3] worldwide and would go on to sell over 2.5 million copies.

*13th October - Sony releases [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_VR PlayStation VR] (also known as PSVR), a virtual reality head-mounted display for the PlayStation 4.

=== 2017 ===

*12th January - [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-38598919 Sony closes Guerilla Cambridge].

*3rd March - The Nintendo Switch is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Switch released worldwide].

*4rd April - The inaugural [http://www.digitalschoolhouse.org.uk/articles/2017/04/team-veracity-win-inaugural-esports-tournament Digital Schoolhouse esports tournament] culminates with the Grand Final at Gfinity's arena in London, the first immersive careers education event of its kind.

*8th August - Ninja Theory release the multi-BAFTA winning [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellblade:_Senua%27s_Sacrifice Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice]. Most notably, the game featured a credible and well-received depiction of psychosis, constructed in collboration with neuroscientists, mental health specialists and people suffering from the condition.

=== 2018 ===

*January - UK video games trade magazines Develop and Esports Pro are [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MCV/Develop merged with sister trade magazine MCV]. The combined publication would eventually be rebranded to MCV/Develop in October 2019.

*2nd January - [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-01-02-sumo-digital-takes-over-ccp-newcastle-studio Sumo Digital acquires CCP Games' Newcastle studio] of 34 staff, developers of EVE Valkyrie after CCP indicates a move away from VR content.

*15th May - Hanger 13 [https://hangar13games.com/news/hangar-13-expands-to-brighton/ opens a new studio in Brighton].

*8th / 10th June - The Rocket League World Championship Finals [https://www.rocketleagueesports.com/news/the-rlcs-world-championship-returns-to-europe-/ take place in London at the Copper Box Arena].

*10th June - [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-06-10-microsoft-super-sizes-first-party-studio-system Microsoft announces the acquisition] of both Hellblade developer Ninja Theory and Forza series developer Playground Games at E3.

*15th August - [https://www.gamespot.com/articles/crackdown-3-dev-acquires-acclaimed-studio-behind-e/1100-6461160/ Sumo Digital acquires The Chinese Room], developers of the BAFTA-winning Everybody's Gone To The Rapture.

*15th August - [https://www.polygon.com/2018/8/15/17692384/thq-nordic-timesplitters-crytek THQ Nordic acquires Timesplitters series]

*8th September - London's [https://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/sep/05/was-that-a-reference-to-magritte-design-play-disrupt-review Victoria & Albert Museum opens its first video game exhibition] entitled Videogames: Design/Play/Disrupt.

*18th October - Rockstar Games release Red Dead Redemption 2 for the Playstation 4, and experiences the largest opening weekend of any product in the history of entertainment, making [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Dead_Redemption_2#Reception over $725 million in revenue in three days]. Within two weeks, it had shipped over 17 million copies, and increased to 23 million copies by February 2019.

*29th October - The UK Houses of Parliament, in partnership with the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Video Games, hosts the [https://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/10/mps-attend-first-ever-esports-parliamentary-event first ever parliamentary event on esports].

*8th December - Epic Games [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_Games_Store launches the Epic Games Store], a digital storefront for PC and Mac platforms.

*14th December - Game Workers Unite UK, a branch of the IWGB, [https://www.gwu-uk.org/2018/12/14/game-workers-of-the-uk-unite/ becomes a legal trade union] dedicated to representing game developers.

=== 2019 ===

*3rd January - The Entertainment Retailer's Association announces figures showing [https://eraltd.org/news-events/press-releases/2019/streaming-drives-entertainment-sales-94-higher-in-2018-to-sixth-consecutive-year-of-growth/ UK sales of games exceed the combined sales of music and film] for the first time.

*9th May - [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-05-09-sega-acquires-two-point-studios SEGA acquires Two Point Studios] the Farnham-based developer of Two Point Hospital.

*19th September - Apples flagship games subscription service, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Arcade Apple Arcade], is launched worldwide.

*19th September - SEGA enters the mini-console market with the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Genesis_Mini launch of the SEGA Mega Drive Mini].

*19th November - Google launch their cloud gaming service, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Stadia Stadia] worldwide.

== 2020s ==

=== 2020 ===

*4th February - Ukie and the University of Sheffield launch the [https://ukie.org.uk/UK-games-industry-census-2020 UK Games Industry Census] results, the most detailed assessment of diversity in the UK games industry workforce ever conducted.

*19th March - UK trade association Ukie [https://ukie.org.uk/news/2020/03/ukie-launches-ukiepedia launches Ukiepedia], a brand new repository of games industry facts, insight, resources and links.

*28 April - MacArthur Fortune [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-04-28-jagex-sold-for-usd530m acquires] Cambridge-based Runescape studio Jagex for $530m.

*18th May - Sumo Group acquires Leamington Spa-based [https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/363065/Sumo_Group_acquires_UK_workforhire_studio_Lab42.php work-for-hire development studio Lab42] for an undisclosed fee.

*25 September - Epic Games [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-09-25-epic-games-acquires-superawesome acquires] London-based "kidtech" specialist SuperAwesome for an undisclosed fee.

*05 October - Sunderland developer and publisher Coatsink [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-10-05-thunderful-group-acquires-coatsink acquired] by Swedish company Thunderful Group for £23m.

*14 October - Ruffian Games [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-10-12-rockstar-buys-ruffian-games-rebrands-to-rockstar-dundee becomes part of] Rockstar Games as Rockstar Dundee

*08 December - London-based mobile studio Hutch Games [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-12-08-mtg-acquires-hutch-games-for-an-expected-USD375-million acquired] by Swedish media company Modern Times Group.

*14 December - Tencent [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-12-14-leyou-shareholders-approve-tencent-takeover acquires] Bromley-based Splash Damage as part of $1.3bn purchase of Leyou Technologies Holdings.

=== 2021 ===

*22 January - Carlyle group [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-01-25-jagex-reportedly-sold-to-carlyle-group acquires] Jagex, matching previous $530m price.

*18 February - Electronic Arts completes its [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-02-18-ea-completes-codemasters-acquisition-and-hopes-to-revolutionise-racing-games $1.2bn acquisition] of UK-based racing games specialist Codemasters after outbidding a previous offer from Take-Two.

*18 February - Belgian games company Larian Studios [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-01-25-jagex-reportedly-sold-to-carlyle-group acquires] Turbulenz to found Lartian Guildford.

*02 March - Epic Games [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-03-02-epic-acquires-fall-guys-studios-parent-company buys] Tonic Group for undisclosed sum.

*05 March - Australian fitness company OliveX [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-03-08-zombies-run-dev-six-to-start-acquired-for-usd9-5m acquires] Zombies Run! developer Six to Start for $9.5m.

*22 April - Portsmouth company Climax Studios [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-04-22-keywords-acquires-climax-for-up-to-43m joins] Keywords Group for £43m.

*23 June - Electronic Arts [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-06-23-ea-acquires-playdemic-for-usd1-4bn purchases] Golf Clash developer Playdemic from Warner Brothers for $1.4bn.

*19 July - Tencent [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-07-19-tencent-to-buy-crackdown-and-sackboy-developer-sumo-in-usd1-3bn-deal acquires] Sumo Group for $1.3bn.

*08 September - Liverpool VR developer Firesprite [https://blog.playstation.com/2021/09/08/welcoming-firesprite-to-the-playstation-studios-family/ joins] PlayStation Studios for undisclosed sum.

*14 September - Sumo Group [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-09-14-sumo-acquires-auroch-digital adds] Bristol-based Auroch Digital to their roster for £6m.

Notable Dates in UK Games Industry History

2021-10-13T16:38:10Z

UkieColm: /* 2021 */

Help us complete this list of notable dates in the UK games industry history by submitting any suggestions you have via [https://forms.gle/9agp8mppXNuWYiBL6 this online form].

== 1950s ==

=== 1950 ===

*Following the second world war and his groundbreaking work on cracking the enigma machine, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing Alan Turing] develops a [https://www.history.com/news/in-1950-alan-turing-created-a-chess-computer-program-that-prefigured-a-i chess-playing program]

=== 1951 ===

*For a post-war festival celebrating British contributions to science and technology, a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimrod_(computer) computer was developed that could play the game Nim], a mathematical game in which players take turn to remove matches.

=== 1952 ===

*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OXO OXO (or Noughts and Crosses)] was developed by A.S Douglas for the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC), one of the first games developed in the early history of video games.

=== 1957 ===

*14th October - The British Computer Society (now known as [https://www.bcs.org/ BCS, The Chartered Institute for I.T.]) is founded [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/6099/BCS%20-%20%20British%20Computer%20Society%20is%20Founded promote the study, practice and advance the knowledge of computing].

== 1960s ==

=== 1961 ===

*25th July - [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/5856/Clive%20Sinclair%20founds%20Sinclair%20Radionics Clive Sinclair founds Sinclair Radionics] in Cambridge, developing hi-fi products, radios, calculators and scientific instruments, a precursor to his computer company Sinclair Research.

== 1970s ==

=== 1975 ===

*1st April - The [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/34794/The%20Magnavox%20Odyssey,%20the%20first%20video%20game%20console,%20is%20released Magnavox Odyssey], the first video game console, is released in the UK.

*Roy Trubshaw, a student at the University of Essex, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUD#Origins started working on a multi-user adventure game] in the MACRO-10 assembly language for a DEC PDP-10. He named the game MUD (Multi-User Dungeon). Deveopment was completed in 1980 by fellow student Richard Bartle.

=== 1975 ===
*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Games_Workshop Games Workshop], famous for selling Dungeons and Dragons and Warhammer tabletop games, is founded.

== 1980s ==

=== 1980 ===

*29th January - The [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/5445/Sinclair-ZX80-Launched/ Sinclair ZX80] personal computer was launched by Sinclair Research Ltd of Cambridge.

=== 1981 ===

*5th March - The ZX81, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX81 Sinclair Research's pioneering British home computer], was released.

*May - The [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/10388/VIC-20%20Released%20in%20Europe%20&%20US Commodore VIC-20] is released in the US and Europe.

*1st December - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Micro BBC Micro], designed and built by the Acorn Computer company for the BBC, is released.

=== 1982 ===

*January - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64 Commodore 64] is launched worldwide.

*23rd February - Argonaut Games was [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argonaut_Games founded in Colindale, London]. It was most notable for the development of the Super NES video game Star Fox and its supporting Super FX hardware

*23rd April - The [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/43781/Sinclair%20ZX%20Spectrum%20Launched Sinclair ZX Spectrum] is released by Sinclair Computers.

*August - The Dragon 32 home computer [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_32/64 was released for sales in the European market] by Dragon Data Ltd, but with limited graphics capabilities it struggled to compete against the more popular ZX Spectrum and BBC Micro home computers.

*17th September - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagine_Software Imagine Software] was founded in Liverpool byt formeer members of Bug-Byte. The short-lived company achieved nationwide notoriety when it was filmed by a BBC documentary crew while in the process of going bust.It would later be referenced in Bandersnatch, Netflix's interactive espisode of Black Mirror,

=== 1983 ===

*The American [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_crash_of_1983 video game crash of 1983] occurs, having a significant knock-on impact on the British games industry.

*1st August - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manic_Miner Manic Miner], developed by Matthew Smith, was released by Bug-Byte for the ZX Spectrum.

*[https://web.archive.org/web/19980611190501fw_/http://www.vie.co.uk/level3/corporat.htm Virgin Games was founded]. It would later become Virgin Interactive Entertainment, the video game publishing division of the Virgin Group. The company grew significantly afer acquiring Mastertronic in 1987.

=== 1984 ===

*12th April - The Amstrad CPC 464 was [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amstrad_CPC_464 released in the UK]. The first personal home computer built by Amstrad, it was one of the bestselling microcomputers of the era with more than 2 million units sold in Europe.

*July - [https://reflections.ubisoft.com/ Ubisoft Reflections] is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubisoft_Reflections founded in Newcastle],

*20th September - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_(video_game) Elite], the space trading game written and developed by David Braben and Ian Bell, is published by Acornsoft for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron computers.

*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockstar_North Acme Software was founded in Dundee]. It would later rebrand as DMA Deisgn and produce many well-known titles across the Amiga, Atari ST and Commodores 64, including the smash hit Lemmings. In 2001, following the release of Grand Theft Auto III, DMA Design was renamed Rockstar North and became part of the Rockstar Games label.

=== 1985 ===

*April - Rare Limited is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_(company) founded in Twycross], Leicestershire and would go on to have a long history of critically acclaimed and globally successful titles, including Battletoads, Goldeneye 007, Donkey Kong Country and Sea of Thieves.

*June - Atari release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_ST Atari 520ST], the first of their successful ST series of home computers.

*23rd June - Commodore release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga Amiga 1000], the first of the Amiga home computers.

*3rd July - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psygnosis Psygnosis was founded] in Wavertree Technology Park, Liverpool.

=== 1986 ===

*1st September - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Entertainment_System Nintendo Entertainment System], also known as the NES, is released in the UK.

*October - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codemasters Codemasters], one of the oldest active British game studios, founded by brothers Richard and David Darling.

=== 1987 ===

*May - Commodore launch their best-selling [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_500#Releases Amiga 500], the first low-end Commodore Amiga 16/32-bit multimedia home/personal computer.

*June - The first game of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dizzy_(series) Dizzy] series is created, proving to be a commercial smash hit and one of the first long term video game franchises.

*18th August - [https://www.creative-assembly.com/ Creative Assembly], one of the largest studios in the UK and creators of the Total War franchise and Alien Isolation, [https://www.mobygames.com/company/creative-assembly-ltd is founded in Horsham], West Sussex by Tim Ansell.

*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullfrog_Productions Bullfrog Productions was founded in Guildford] by Peter Molyneux and Les Edgar. The company went on to achieve a string of hits, including Theme Park, Magic Carpet, Syndicate and Dungeon Keeper.

=== 1988 ===

*13th May - Core Design, developers of the original Tomb Raider titles, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_Design is founded in Derby] by former employees of Gremlin Graphics.

*October - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurocom Eurocom was founded in Derby]. The studio was mainly known for its arcade to console ports and games based on licensed properties.

=== 1989 ===

*March - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee Tim Berners-Lee] lays out his vision for [https://webfoundation.org/about/vision/history-of-the-web/ what would become the web] in a document called “[http://info.cern.ch/Proposal.html Information Management: A Proposal]”.

*5th June - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populous_(video_game) Bullfrog Productions releases Populous] on the Amiga. The game would go on to sell over 4 million copies, becoming one of the biggest-selling PC games of all time.

*27th July - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrilla_Cambridge Guerilla Cambridge], initially known as Millennium Interactive Ltd, is founded. The company was best known for producing the MediEvil series.

*6th September - [http://ukie.org.uk Ukie], then known as ELSPA, [http://ukie.org.uk/about is founded] - the first trade association for the video games industry anywhere in the world.

*[http://www.ttgames.com/ Traveller's Tales], best known as the developers of the LEGO games franchise, is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveller%27s_Tales founded in Knutsford], Cheshire.

== 1990s ==

=== 1990 ===

*September - The [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Nintendo Game Boy] is released across Europe.

*7th December - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team17 Team 17 is founded] in Wakefield. The company has produced many well known titles, most notbaly including the Worms series.

=== 1991 ===

*14th February - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemmings_(video_game) Lemmings is released on the Amiga] by DMA Design. One of the best-selling games of all time, it is estimated to have sold around 20 million copies.

=== 1992 ===

*April/June - The [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Super Nintendo Entertainment System], also known as the SNES, is released in Europe.

*May - The first game in the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensible_Soccer Sensible Soccer] series is released

*10th July - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philips_CD-i Phillips CD-i is released across Europe]. The "interactive multimedia CD player" would become seen as a commercial failure, estimated to have lost Philips as much as $1bn in the American market.

=== 1993 ===

*Criterion Games, best known for the Burnout series, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criterion_Games is founded in Guildford].

=== 1994 ===

*11th June - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3DO_Interactive_Multiplayer 3DO Interactive Multiplayer], often called the 3DO, is released across Europe. The console's comparably high price prevented it achiving the same success as the SEGA and Nintendo's conosles of the same era.

=== 1995 ===

*January - Sony Computer Entertainment Europe is [https://www.sie.com/en/corporate/history/1993_2002.html established in London].

*1st June - Team 17 releases Worms across multiple formats, incluing the Amiga, CD32 and Mega Drive. The original entry in the series would go on to sell more than 5 million copies and spawned over 20 sequels over the next 20 years.

*21st July - Nintendo's Virtual Boy was [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Boy released in Japan]. The first ever console to utilise stereoscopic 3D graphics, it failed to meet sales tarets and was eventually discontinued after only 22 games. While later released in North America, the console was never made available to the European market.

*29th September - Sony Computer Entertainment [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_(console) release the first PlayStation console] in Europe.

*29th September - Psygnosis's futuristic racing game [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wipeout_(video_game) Wipeout was released] as a launch title for Sony's new PlayStation console. As well as the game's positive reviews and controversial marketing, Wipeout was also famous for its unique techno and electronica soundtrack.

=== 1996 ===

*August - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Develop_(magazine) Launch of Develop], a monthly UK trade magazine for the UK video game industry. It closed in December 2017, eventually merging with MCV to become the combined [https://www.mcvuk.com/ MCV/Develop] brand.

*7th Septmeber - SEGA opens [https://segaretro.org/SegaWorld_London SegaWorld London] in London's Trocadero complex in Picadilly Circus. It was the largest indoor arcade in Europe, with 10,200m² of floorspace over seven floors.

*25th October - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_Raider_(1996_video_game) Tomb Raider], the first game in the best-selling Tomb Raider franchise, is released worldwide by Eidos Interactive and UK developer Core Design. It would go on to sell over 7 million copies globally and and continues to be cited as one of the greatest video games ever made.

=== 1997 ===

*March - [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Nintendo's N64] console is released in Europe.

*20th June - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmageddon Carmageddon is released] by Stainless Games. The controversial game was partly censored upon released and even banned in some countries. After successfully appealing, the uncensored version was released in the UK ten months later. The series would go on to sell around two million copies.

*July - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionhead_Studios Lionhead Studios is founded] by Peter Molyneux, Mark Webley, Tim Rance, and Steve Jackson. It would go on to produce the hit Fable and Black & White series.

*25th August - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GoldenEye_007_(1997_video_game) GoldenEye 007], developed for the N64 console by UK company Rare, is released.

=== 1998 ===

*17th July - Rare [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banjo-Kazooie released Banjo Kazooie], both a critical and commercial success.

*15th July - Codemasters release the hugely successful [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_McRae_Rally_(video_game) Colin McRae Rally] for the PlayStation, which would go on to sell over 4 million units across all formats.

*September - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MCV/Develop Launch of UK games industry trade magazine MCV] (later [https://www.mcvuk.com/ MCV/Develop])

*29th October - The first [http://awards.bafta.org/award/1998/interactive/www.bafta.org/guru Bafta Interactive Entertainment Awards] take place, with [https://twitter.com/BAFTAGames/status/1105161107084374016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1105161107084374016&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2F30yearsofplay.uk%2Fblog-1%2F2019%2F2%2F4%2Fbritish-releases-1990s Stephen Fry presenting ‘Best Computer Game’] to Rare’s GoldenEye 007.

=== 1999 ===

*27th March - The first [https://insomniagamingfestival.com/ Insomnia Gaming Festival], Insomnia99, run by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiplay Multiplay], brings together a [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/306431.stm reported 300 PC gamers] for the UK's then largest ever LAN party.

*April - Free Radical Deign Ltd, most notable for the Timesplitters series was [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crytek_UK founded in Nottingham]. The studio would later be bought by German developer Crytek and renamed Crytek UK, before eventually closing in 2014.

*20th April - Racing game specialists Evolution Studios, creators of the World Rally Championship and MotorStorm series, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_Studios were founded in Runcorn], Cheshire.

*25th June - Newcastle's Reflections Interactive (later Ubisoft Reflection) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driver_(video_game) released the critically-acclaimed Driver] for Sony's PlayStation.

*14th October - SEGA release their [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamcast Dreamcast console] across Europe, launching the "sixth generation" of game consoles.

== 2000s ==

=== 2000 ===

*March - Ninja Theory (initially known as Just Add Monsters Ltd), creators of the multi-BAFTA winning Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, were [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninja_Theory founded in Cambridge].

*28th April - Jagex, creators of one of the world's largest massively multiplayer online roleplay games, Runescape, are [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jagex founded in Cambridge].

*13th June - [https://www.totalwar.com/blog/17-years-total-war/ Creative Assembly releases Shogun: Total War], the first game in the long-running Total War series.

*November - Sony Computer Entertainment release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_2 PlayStation 2] in Europe.

*24th November - Timesplitters by Free Radical Design [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TimeSplitters_(video_game) is released in Europe] for the PlayStation 2.

=== 2001 ===

*4th January - [https://oldschoolrunescape.fandom.com/wiki/RuneScape_Classic Jagex release the original version of Runescape] (now known as Runescape Classic) for Windows PC.

*8th March - [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/a_tiga The official launch] of [http://tiga.org/ TIGA], The Independent Games Developers Assocation for the UK.

*30th March - Lionhead [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_%26_White_(video_game) release God-simulator Black & White] worldwide for Windows PC.

*30th April - Multiplayer first-person shooter specialists [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splash_Damage Splash Damage were founded in London].

*June - Nintendo's [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Game Boy Advance] is released in Europe.

*22nd October - Rockstar Games release [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_III Grand Theft Auto III].

=== 2002 ===

*The first [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MCV/Develop MCV/Develop awards] take place, celebrating the success of UK publishers, retail and distribution.

*14 March - Microsoft release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_(console) Xbox] console in Europe.

*May - The Nintendo [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches GameCube] is released in Europe.

*29th Oct 2002 - Rockstar Games releases [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto:_Vice_City Grand Theft Auto: Vice City].

*24th September - [https://news.microsoft.com/2002/09/24/microsoft-acquires-video-game-powerhouse-rare-ltd/ Microsoft acquires Twycross-based developer Rare Ltd] for $375m.

*18th November - Eurocom releases James Bond 007: Nightfire, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bond_007:_Nightfire#Reception achieving “Platinum” sales] in the UK.

*11th December - Sony's [http://www.worldwidestudios.net/london SCE London Studio] and Team Soho [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Getaway_(video_game) releases The Getaway] for the PlayStation 2. The game is especially notable for its realistic re-creation of large areas of London.

=== 2003 ===

*9th April - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_European_Game_Information Pan European Game Information] (PEGI) video game content rating system is launched. The PEGI system is now used in 39 countries. more detials on the number of games rated each year [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_European_Game_Information is available here].

*31st July - Derby-based [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/derbyshire/3112271.stm Core Design loses the rights to develop future Tomb Raider games], as parent company Eidos shifts development to California-based Crystal Dynamics.

*11th September - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_(software) Valve releases] the PC-based digital distribution platform Steam worldwide.

*3rd October - Nokia releases the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-Gage_(device) N-Gage], one of the first major attempts to combine a mobile phone and a handheld game system.

*Sumo Digital, a prolific developer of games across multiple platforms is is [https://www.sumo-digital.com/who-we-are/ founded in Sheffield]. The studio would grow to become one of the UK's largest developers, employing over 500 people across multiple sites.

=== 2004 ===

*February - The first [http://awards.bafta.org/award/2004/games British Academy Games Awards] takes place.

*21 May - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SingStar Sony London Studio releases SingStar] for the PlayStation 2. The series would go on to achieve over 17.5m units.

*14th September - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fable_(2004_video_game) Lionhead releases Fable worldwide], the first game in the successful Fable franchise.

*26th October - Rockstar Games releases [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto:_San_Andreas Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas].

*5th November - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_Manager_2005 Sports Interactive releases Football Manager 2005], the first of the popular football manager series to be released after splitting from the previous Championship Manger brand.

*13 December - [http://rocksteadyltd.com Rocksteady Studios], creators of the Batman Arkham franchise, is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocksteady_Studios founded in London].

=== 2005 ===

*March - Nintendo's [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches handheld DS console] is released in Europe.

*1st September - Sony Computer Entertainment [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_Portable releases the PlayStation Portable] handheld console across Europe.

*12th October - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rag_Doll_Kung_Fu Rag Doll Kung Fu] was the first third party game released on Steam. It was created predominantly by artist Mark Healey, while working for Lionhead Studio.

*18th October - Rebellion Developments releases the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sniper_Elite_(video_game) first game in the Sniper Elite series].

*2nd December - Microsoft release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360 Xbox 360] console in Europe.

*7th December - The [https://www.askaboutgames.com/ Ask About Games] website is [https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/98381/UKs_ELSPA_Launches_Askaboutgamescom.php launched by industry body ELSPA] (now known as Ukie), providing information to parents and carers about the video games age ratings system used in the UK.

=== 2006 ===

*4th January - [http://www.mediamolecule.com/ Media Molecule], creators of the LittleBigPlanet franchise, is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Molecule founded in Guildford], Surrey.

*November / December - The [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Nintendo Wii] is released in Europe.

=== 2007 ===

*23rd March - Sony Computer Entertainment release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3 PlayStation 3] in Europe.

*19th June - The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/6767623.stm bans Rockstar Games' Manhunt 2] across the UK. It would eventually be approved by the BBFC for [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhunt_2#BBFC release on 31st October 2008] with an 18 certificate.

*23rd June - Apple [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone launch the iPhone] worldwide.

*20th Septmeber - Sony Computer Entertainment [https://www.sie.com/en/corporate/release/2007/070920d.html acquires Evolution Studios and Bigbig Studios].

*26th September - Activision [https://investor.activision.com/news-releases/news-release-details/activision-acquires-uk-game-developer-bizarre-creations acquires Bizarre Creations], known for the Project Gotham Racing and Geometry Wars series.

*The Chinese Room, creators of Dear Esther and Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chinese_Roomis founded in Brighton].

=== 2008 ===

*February - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello_Games Hello Games is founded] in Guildford.

*27th October - LittleBigPlanet is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LittleBigPlanet released for the PlayStation 3] by UK developer [http://www.mediamolecule.com/ Media Molecule].

*28th October - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EGX_(expo) first Eurogamer Expo], now known as [https://www.egx.net/egx EGX] and the largest single games event in the UK, takes place at the Truman Brewery in London, attended by 4,000 people.

*November - [https://www.playground-games.com/ Playground Games], developers of the Forza Horizon franchise, is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playground_Games founded in Leamington Spa], Warwickshire.

*November - The first Android-enabled smartphone, the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_Dream T-Mobile G1] (also known as the HTC Dream) is released in the UK.

=== 2009 ===
*2009 was when game profits in UK exceeded those from film for the first time (source?)

*June - The [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/parliamentary-group-for-games-industry-created all-party Parliamentary group for the computer and videogames industry] was founded, chaired by Bill Olner MP, with Lord Puttnam and John Whittingdale MP as vice-chairs. The group continues today as the [https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmallparty/190102/video-games-and-esports.htm APPG for Video Games and Esports].

*25th August - [http://rocksteadyltd.com/ Rocksteady Games] release the much acclaimed [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman:_Arkham_Asylum Batman: Arkham Asylum] worldwide.

== 2010s ==

=== 2010 ===

*26th February - The new £36.2m inner-city Derby ring road is renamed [https://goo.gl/maps/a7GHiGCrJWq Lara Croft Way] following [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/derbyshire/8538106.stm overwhelming support in a public vote].

*19th March - ELSPA [https://ukie.org.uk/node/193 announces its name change to Ukie] (the Association for UK Interactive Entertainment).

*4th November - [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12697975 Microsoft launches the Kinect], an infra-red camera for the Xbox 360 that can track players body movements. It becomes the fastest-selling consumer device to date, selling more than 8 million units in a 60 day period.

=== 2011 ===

*February / March - The [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Nintendo 3DS] is released in Europe.

=== 2012 ===

*20th February - Peter Molyneux [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/22Cans opens new game development studio 22Cans] in Guildford.

*22nd February - Sony Computer Entertianment [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_Vita releases the PlayStation Vita] handheld console across Europe.

*9th May - An Xbox 360 version of Minecraft is released, [https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Xbox_360_Edition#Release developed by 4J Studios].

*30th July - The PEGI age rating system [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19042908 becomes legally enforceable in the UK].

*22nd August - Sony Computer Entertainment [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-08-22-sony-closes-studio-liverpool officially closes SCE Studio Liverpool], founded in 1984 as Psygnosis and best known for the Wipeout series.

*November / December - The [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Nintendo Wii U] is released in Europe.

=== 2013 ===

*25th June - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouya#History The Ouya] was released worldwide. The Android-based microconsole was a Kickstarter success, raising $8.5m, however underperforming post-release sales saw the unit [https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/07/so-long-ouya-razer-acquires-microconsoles-storefront-technical-team/ discontinued in 2015].

*17th September - Grand Theft Auto v is released by Rockstar Games and becomes the [http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2013/10/confirmed-grand-theft-auto-breaks-six-sales-world-records-51900 fasting-selling entertainment product in history], grossing over $1bn in three days. To date, it has sold over [https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/gta-v-100-million-sales-1203022310/ 100 million copies] and is considered the [https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/gta-v-100-million-sales-1203022310/ most profitable entertainment product] of all time.

*22nd November - Microsoft release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_One Xbox One] in Europe.

*29th November - Sony Interactive Entertainment release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_4 PlayStation 4] in Europe.

=== 2014 ===

*30th January - The Chancellor, George Osborne, [https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/announcements/launch-tax-reliefs-high-end-television-animation-video-games officially launches the video games tax relief (VGTR)].

*1st April - The Uk's [https://www.gov.uk/guidance/corporation-tax-creative-industry-tax-reliefs#video-games-tax-relief-vgtr video games tax relief] officially comes into effect.

=== 2015 ===

*5th April - HTC and Valve Corporation release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_Vive HTC Vive], a high-end virtual reality head-mounted display offering "room scale" tracking technology, allowing the user to move in 3D space and use motion-tracked handheld controllers to interact with the environment.

*27th November - Samsung release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Gear_VR Gear VR], their head-mounted visrtual reality display designed to incorporate Samsung Galaxy mobile phones.

=== 2016 ===

*22nd March - Sony [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2016-03-22-sony-confirms-closure-of-evolution-studio announces the closure of Evolution Studios]. However, the [http://blog.codemasters.com/community/04/codemasters-welcomes-the-team-from-evolution-studios/ Evolution Studios team would join Codemasters] less than a month later on 11th April, forming Codemasters EVO.

*28th March - Oculus release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oculus_Rift Oculus Rift], one of the first major virtual reality head-mounted displays.

*9th August - [http://hellogames.org/ Hello Games] releases [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Man%27s_Sky No Man's Sky], featuring a procedurally-generated universe, comprising over 18 quintillion planets.

*27th September - Playground Games [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forza_Horizon_3 releases Forza Horizon 3] worldwide and would go on to sell over 2.5 million copies.

*13th October - Sony releases [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_VR PlayStation VR] (also known as PSVR), a virtual reality head-mounted display for the PlayStation 4.

=== 2017 ===

*12th January - [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-38598919 Sony closes Guerilla Cambridge].

*3rd March - The Nintendo Switch is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Switch released worldwide].

*4rd April - The inaugural [http://www.digitalschoolhouse.org.uk/articles/2017/04/team-veracity-win-inaugural-esports-tournament Digital Schoolhouse esports tournament] culminates with the Grand Final at Gfinity's arena in London, the first immersive careers education event of its kind.

*8th August - Ninja Theory release the multi-BAFTA winning [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellblade:_Senua%27s_Sacrifice Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice]. Most notably, the game featured a credible and well-received depiction of psychosis, constructed in collboration with neuroscientists, mental health specialists and people suffering from the condition.

=== 2018 ===

*January - UK video games trade magazines Develop and Esports Pro are [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MCV/Develop merged with sister trade magazine MCV]. The combined publication would eventually be rebranded to MCV/Develop in October 2019.

*2nd January - [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-01-02-sumo-digital-takes-over-ccp-newcastle-studio Sumo Digital acquires CCP Games' Newcastle studio] of 34 staff, developers of EVE Valkyrie after CCP indicates a move away from VR content.

*15th May - Hanger 13 [https://hangar13games.com/news/hangar-13-expands-to-brighton/ opens a new studio in Brighton].

*8th / 10th June - The Rocket League World Championship Finals [https://www.rocketleagueesports.com/news/the-rlcs-world-championship-returns-to-europe-/ take place in London at the Copper Box Arena].

*10th June - [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-06-10-microsoft-super-sizes-first-party-studio-system Microsoft announces the acquisition] of both Hellblade developer Ninja Theory and Forza series developer Playground Games at E3.

*15th August - [https://www.gamespot.com/articles/crackdown-3-dev-acquires-acclaimed-studio-behind-e/1100-6461160/ Sumo Digital acquires The Chinese Room], developers of the BAFTA-winning Everybody's Gone To The Rapture.

*15th August - [https://www.polygon.com/2018/8/15/17692384/thq-nordic-timesplitters-crytek THQ Nordic acquires Timesplitters series]

*8th September - London's [https://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/sep/05/was-that-a-reference-to-magritte-design-play-disrupt-review Victoria & Albert Museum opens its first video game exhibition] entitled Videogames: Design/Play/Disrupt.

*18th October - Rockstar Games release Red Dead Redemption 2 for the Playstation 4, and experiences the largest opening weekend of any product in the history of entertainment, making [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Dead_Redemption_2#Reception over $725 million in revenue in three days]. Within two weeks, it had shipped over 17 million copies, and increased to 23 million copies by February 2019.

*29th October - The UK Houses of Parliament, in partnership with the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Video Games, hosts the [https://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/10/mps-attend-first-ever-esports-parliamentary-event first ever parliamentary event on esports].

*8th December - Epic Games [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_Games_Store launches the Epic Games Store], a digital storefront for PC and Mac platforms.

*14th December - Game Workers Unite UK, a branch of the IWGB, [https://www.gwu-uk.org/2018/12/14/game-workers-of-the-uk-unite/ becomes a legal trade union] dedicated to representing game developers.

=== 2019 ===

*3rd January - The Entertainment Retailer's Association announces figures showing [https://eraltd.org/news-events/press-releases/2019/streaming-drives-entertainment-sales-94-higher-in-2018-to-sixth-consecutive-year-of-growth/ UK sales of games exceed the combined sales of music and film] for the first time.

*9th May - [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-05-09-sega-acquires-two-point-studios SEGA acquires Two Point Studios] the Farnham-based developer of Two Point Hospital.

*19th September - Apples flagship games subscription service, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Arcade Apple Arcade], is launched worldwide.

*19th September - SEGA enters the mini-console market with the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Genesis_Mini launch of the SEGA Mega Drive Mini].

*19th November - Google launch their cloud gaming service, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Stadia Stadia] worldwide.

== 2020s ==

=== 2020 ===

*4th February - Ukie and the University of Sheffield launch the [https://ukie.org.uk/UK-games-industry-census-2020 UK Games Industry Census] results, the most detailed assessment of diversity in the UK games industry workforce ever conducted.

*19th March - UK trade association Ukie [https://ukie.org.uk/news/2020/03/ukie-launches-ukiepedia launches Ukiepedia], a brand new repository of games industry facts, insight, resources and links.

*28 April - MacArthur Fortune [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-04-28-jagex-sold-for-usd530m acquires] Cambridge-based Runescape studio Jagex for $530m.

*18th May - Sumo Group acquires Leamington Spa-based [https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/363065/Sumo_Group_acquires_UK_workforhire_studio_Lab42.php work-for-hire development studio Lab42] for an undisclosed fee.

*25 September - Epic Games [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-09-25-epic-games-acquires-superawesome acquires] London-based "kidtech" specialist SuperAwesome for an undisclosed fee.

*05 October - Sunderland developer and publisher Coatsink [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-10-05-thunderful-group-acquires-coatsink acquired] by Swedish company Thunderful Group for £23m.

*14 October - Ruffian Games [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-10-12-rockstar-buys-ruffian-games-rebrands-to-rockstar-dundee becomes part of] Rockstar Games as Rockstar Dundee

*08 December - London-based mobile studio Hutch Games [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-12-08-mtg-acquires-hutch-games-for-an-expected-USD375-million acquired] by Swedish media company Modern Times Group.

*14 December - Tencent [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-12-14-leyou-shareholders-approve-tencent-takeover acquires] Bromley-based Splash Damage as part of $1.3bn purchase of Leyou Technologies Holdings.

=== 2021 ===

*22 January - Carlyle group [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-01-25-jagex-reportedly-sold-to-carlyle-group acquires] Jagex, matching previous $530m price.

*18 February - Electronic Arts completes its [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-02-18-ea-completes-codemasters-acquisition-and-hopes-to-revolutionise-racing-games $1.2bn acquisition] of UK-based racing games specialist Codemasters after outbidding a previous offer from Take-Two.

*18 February - Belgian games company Larian Studios [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-01-25-jagex-reportedly-sold-to-carlyle-group acquires] Turbulenz to found Lartian Guildford.

*02 March - Epic Games [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-03-02-epic-acquires-fall-guys-studios-parent-company buys] Tonic Group for undisclosed sum.

*05 March - Australian fitness company OliveX [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-03-08-zombies-run-dev-six-to-start-acquired-for-usd9-5m acquires] Zombies Run! developer Six to Start for $9.5m.

*22 April - Portsmouth company Climax Studios [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-04-22-keywords-acquires-climax-for-up-to-43m joins] Keywords Group for £43m.

Notable Dates in UK Games Industry History

2021-10-13T16:37:46Z

UkieColm: /* 2020s */

Help us complete this list of notable dates in the UK games industry history by submitting any suggestions you have via [https://forms.gle/9agp8mppXNuWYiBL6 this online form].

== 1950s ==

=== 1950 ===

*Following the second world war and his groundbreaking work on cracking the enigma machine, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing Alan Turing] develops a [https://www.history.com/news/in-1950-alan-turing-created-a-chess-computer-program-that-prefigured-a-i chess-playing program]

=== 1951 ===

*For a post-war festival celebrating British contributions to science and technology, a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimrod_(computer) computer was developed that could play the game Nim], a mathematical game in which players take turn to remove matches.

=== 1952 ===

*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OXO OXO (or Noughts and Crosses)] was developed by A.S Douglas for the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC), one of the first games developed in the early history of video games.

=== 1957 ===

*14th October - The British Computer Society (now known as [https://www.bcs.org/ BCS, The Chartered Institute for I.T.]) is founded [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/6099/BCS%20-%20%20British%20Computer%20Society%20is%20Founded promote the study, practice and advance the knowledge of computing].

== 1960s ==

=== 1961 ===

*25th July - [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/5856/Clive%20Sinclair%20founds%20Sinclair%20Radionics Clive Sinclair founds Sinclair Radionics] in Cambridge, developing hi-fi products, radios, calculators and scientific instruments, a precursor to his computer company Sinclair Research.

== 1970s ==

=== 1975 ===

*1st April - The [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/34794/The%20Magnavox%20Odyssey,%20the%20first%20video%20game%20console,%20is%20released Magnavox Odyssey], the first video game console, is released in the UK.

*Roy Trubshaw, a student at the University of Essex, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUD#Origins started working on a multi-user adventure game] in the MACRO-10 assembly language for a DEC PDP-10. He named the game MUD (Multi-User Dungeon). Deveopment was completed in 1980 by fellow student Richard Bartle.

=== 1975 ===
*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Games_Workshop Games Workshop], famous for selling Dungeons and Dragons and Warhammer tabletop games, is founded.

== 1980s ==

=== 1980 ===

*29th January - The [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/5445/Sinclair-ZX80-Launched/ Sinclair ZX80] personal computer was launched by Sinclair Research Ltd of Cambridge.

=== 1981 ===

*5th March - The ZX81, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX81 Sinclair Research's pioneering British home computer], was released.

*May - The [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/10388/VIC-20%20Released%20in%20Europe%20&%20US Commodore VIC-20] is released in the US and Europe.

*1st December - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Micro BBC Micro], designed and built by the Acorn Computer company for the BBC, is released.

=== 1982 ===

*January - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64 Commodore 64] is launched worldwide.

*23rd February - Argonaut Games was [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argonaut_Games founded in Colindale, London]. It was most notable for the development of the Super NES video game Star Fox and its supporting Super FX hardware

*23rd April - The [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/43781/Sinclair%20ZX%20Spectrum%20Launched Sinclair ZX Spectrum] is released by Sinclair Computers.

*August - The Dragon 32 home computer [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_32/64 was released for sales in the European market] by Dragon Data Ltd, but with limited graphics capabilities it struggled to compete against the more popular ZX Spectrum and BBC Micro home computers.

*17th September - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagine_Software Imagine Software] was founded in Liverpool byt formeer members of Bug-Byte. The short-lived company achieved nationwide notoriety when it was filmed by a BBC documentary crew while in the process of going bust.It would later be referenced in Bandersnatch, Netflix's interactive espisode of Black Mirror,

=== 1983 ===

*The American [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_crash_of_1983 video game crash of 1983] occurs, having a significant knock-on impact on the British games industry.

*1st August - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manic_Miner Manic Miner], developed by Matthew Smith, was released by Bug-Byte for the ZX Spectrum.

*[https://web.archive.org/web/19980611190501fw_/http://www.vie.co.uk/level3/corporat.htm Virgin Games was founded]. It would later become Virgin Interactive Entertainment, the video game publishing division of the Virgin Group. The company grew significantly afer acquiring Mastertronic in 1987.

=== 1984 ===

*12th April - The Amstrad CPC 464 was [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amstrad_CPC_464 released in the UK]. The first personal home computer built by Amstrad, it was one of the bestselling microcomputers of the era with more than 2 million units sold in Europe.

*July - [https://reflections.ubisoft.com/ Ubisoft Reflections] is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubisoft_Reflections founded in Newcastle],

*20th September - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_(video_game) Elite], the space trading game written and developed by David Braben and Ian Bell, is published by Acornsoft for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron computers.

*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockstar_North Acme Software was founded in Dundee]. It would later rebrand as DMA Deisgn and produce many well-known titles across the Amiga, Atari ST and Commodores 64, including the smash hit Lemmings. In 2001, following the release of Grand Theft Auto III, DMA Design was renamed Rockstar North and became part of the Rockstar Games label.

=== 1985 ===

*April - Rare Limited is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_(company) founded in Twycross], Leicestershire and would go on to have a long history of critically acclaimed and globally successful titles, including Battletoads, Goldeneye 007, Donkey Kong Country and Sea of Thieves.

*June - Atari release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_ST Atari 520ST], the first of their successful ST series of home computers.

*23rd June - Commodore release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga Amiga 1000], the first of the Amiga home computers.

*3rd July - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psygnosis Psygnosis was founded] in Wavertree Technology Park, Liverpool.

=== 1986 ===

*1st September - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Entertainment_System Nintendo Entertainment System], also known as the NES, is released in the UK.

*October - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codemasters Codemasters], one of the oldest active British game studios, founded by brothers Richard and David Darling.

=== 1987 ===

*May - Commodore launch their best-selling [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_500#Releases Amiga 500], the first low-end Commodore Amiga 16/32-bit multimedia home/personal computer.

*June - The first game of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dizzy_(series) Dizzy] series is created, proving to be a commercial smash hit and one of the first long term video game franchises.

*18th August - [https://www.creative-assembly.com/ Creative Assembly], one of the largest studios in the UK and creators of the Total War franchise and Alien Isolation, [https://www.mobygames.com/company/creative-assembly-ltd is founded in Horsham], West Sussex by Tim Ansell.

*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullfrog_Productions Bullfrog Productions was founded in Guildford] by Peter Molyneux and Les Edgar. The company went on to achieve a string of hits, including Theme Park, Magic Carpet, Syndicate and Dungeon Keeper.

=== 1988 ===

*13th May - Core Design, developers of the original Tomb Raider titles, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_Design is founded in Derby] by former employees of Gremlin Graphics.

*October - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurocom Eurocom was founded in Derby]. The studio was mainly known for its arcade to console ports and games based on licensed properties.

=== 1989 ===

*March - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee Tim Berners-Lee] lays out his vision for [https://webfoundation.org/about/vision/history-of-the-web/ what would become the web] in a document called “[http://info.cern.ch/Proposal.html Information Management: A Proposal]”.

*5th June - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populous_(video_game) Bullfrog Productions releases Populous] on the Amiga. The game would go on to sell over 4 million copies, becoming one of the biggest-selling PC games of all time.

*27th July - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrilla_Cambridge Guerilla Cambridge], initially known as Millennium Interactive Ltd, is founded. The company was best known for producing the MediEvil series.

*6th September - [http://ukie.org.uk Ukie], then known as ELSPA, [http://ukie.org.uk/about is founded] - the first trade association for the video games industry anywhere in the world.

*[http://www.ttgames.com/ Traveller's Tales], best known as the developers of the LEGO games franchise, is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveller%27s_Tales founded in Knutsford], Cheshire.

== 1990s ==

=== 1990 ===

*September - The [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Nintendo Game Boy] is released across Europe.

*7th December - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team17 Team 17 is founded] in Wakefield. The company has produced many well known titles, most notbaly including the Worms series.

=== 1991 ===

*14th February - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemmings_(video_game) Lemmings is released on the Amiga] by DMA Design. One of the best-selling games of all time, it is estimated to have sold around 20 million copies.

=== 1992 ===

*April/June - The [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Super Nintendo Entertainment System], also known as the SNES, is released in Europe.

*May - The first game in the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensible_Soccer Sensible Soccer] series is released

*10th July - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philips_CD-i Phillips CD-i is released across Europe]. The "interactive multimedia CD player" would become seen as a commercial failure, estimated to have lost Philips as much as $1bn in the American market.

=== 1993 ===

*Criterion Games, best known for the Burnout series, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criterion_Games is founded in Guildford].

=== 1994 ===

*11th June - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3DO_Interactive_Multiplayer 3DO Interactive Multiplayer], often called the 3DO, is released across Europe. The console's comparably high price prevented it achiving the same success as the SEGA and Nintendo's conosles of the same era.

=== 1995 ===

*January - Sony Computer Entertainment Europe is [https://www.sie.com/en/corporate/history/1993_2002.html established in London].

*1st June - Team 17 releases Worms across multiple formats, incluing the Amiga, CD32 and Mega Drive. The original entry in the series would go on to sell more than 5 million copies and spawned over 20 sequels over the next 20 years.

*21st July - Nintendo's Virtual Boy was [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Boy released in Japan]. The first ever console to utilise stereoscopic 3D graphics, it failed to meet sales tarets and was eventually discontinued after only 22 games. While later released in North America, the console was never made available to the European market.

*29th September - Sony Computer Entertainment [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_(console) release the first PlayStation console] in Europe.

*29th September - Psygnosis's futuristic racing game [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wipeout_(video_game) Wipeout was released] as a launch title for Sony's new PlayStation console. As well as the game's positive reviews and controversial marketing, Wipeout was also famous for its unique techno and electronica soundtrack.

=== 1996 ===

*August - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Develop_(magazine) Launch of Develop], a monthly UK trade magazine for the UK video game industry. It closed in December 2017, eventually merging with MCV to become the combined [https://www.mcvuk.com/ MCV/Develop] brand.

*7th Septmeber - SEGA opens [https://segaretro.org/SegaWorld_London SegaWorld London] in London's Trocadero complex in Picadilly Circus. It was the largest indoor arcade in Europe, with 10,200m² of floorspace over seven floors.

*25th October - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_Raider_(1996_video_game) Tomb Raider], the first game in the best-selling Tomb Raider franchise, is released worldwide by Eidos Interactive and UK developer Core Design. It would go on to sell over 7 million copies globally and and continues to be cited as one of the greatest video games ever made.

=== 1997 ===

*March - [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Nintendo's N64] console is released in Europe.

*20th June - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmageddon Carmageddon is released] by Stainless Games. The controversial game was partly censored upon released and even banned in some countries. After successfully appealing, the uncensored version was released in the UK ten months later. The series would go on to sell around two million copies.

*July - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionhead_Studios Lionhead Studios is founded] by Peter Molyneux, Mark Webley, Tim Rance, and Steve Jackson. It would go on to produce the hit Fable and Black & White series.

*25th August - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GoldenEye_007_(1997_video_game) GoldenEye 007], developed for the N64 console by UK company Rare, is released.

=== 1998 ===

*17th July - Rare [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banjo-Kazooie released Banjo Kazooie], both a critical and commercial success.

*15th July - Codemasters release the hugely successful [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_McRae_Rally_(video_game) Colin McRae Rally] for the PlayStation, which would go on to sell over 4 million units across all formats.

*September - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MCV/Develop Launch of UK games industry trade magazine MCV] (later [https://www.mcvuk.com/ MCV/Develop])

*29th October - The first [http://awards.bafta.org/award/1998/interactive/www.bafta.org/guru Bafta Interactive Entertainment Awards] take place, with [https://twitter.com/BAFTAGames/status/1105161107084374016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1105161107084374016&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2F30yearsofplay.uk%2Fblog-1%2F2019%2F2%2F4%2Fbritish-releases-1990s Stephen Fry presenting ‘Best Computer Game’] to Rare’s GoldenEye 007.

=== 1999 ===

*27th March - The first [https://insomniagamingfestival.com/ Insomnia Gaming Festival], Insomnia99, run by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiplay Multiplay], brings together a [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/306431.stm reported 300 PC gamers] for the UK's then largest ever LAN party.

*April - Free Radical Deign Ltd, most notable for the Timesplitters series was [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crytek_UK founded in Nottingham]. The studio would later be bought by German developer Crytek and renamed Crytek UK, before eventually closing in 2014.

*20th April - Racing game specialists Evolution Studios, creators of the World Rally Championship and MotorStorm series, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_Studios were founded in Runcorn], Cheshire.

*25th June - Newcastle's Reflections Interactive (later Ubisoft Reflection) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driver_(video_game) released the critically-acclaimed Driver] for Sony's PlayStation.

*14th October - SEGA release their [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamcast Dreamcast console] across Europe, launching the "sixth generation" of game consoles.

== 2000s ==

=== 2000 ===

*March - Ninja Theory (initially known as Just Add Monsters Ltd), creators of the multi-BAFTA winning Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, were [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninja_Theory founded in Cambridge].

*28th April - Jagex, creators of one of the world's largest massively multiplayer online roleplay games, Runescape, are [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jagex founded in Cambridge].

*13th June - [https://www.totalwar.com/blog/17-years-total-war/ Creative Assembly releases Shogun: Total War], the first game in the long-running Total War series.

*November - Sony Computer Entertainment release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_2 PlayStation 2] in Europe.

*24th November - Timesplitters by Free Radical Design [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TimeSplitters_(video_game) is released in Europe] for the PlayStation 2.

=== 2001 ===

*4th January - [https://oldschoolrunescape.fandom.com/wiki/RuneScape_Classic Jagex release the original version of Runescape] (now known as Runescape Classic) for Windows PC.

*8th March - [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/a_tiga The official launch] of [http://tiga.org/ TIGA], The Independent Games Developers Assocation for the UK.

*30th March - Lionhead [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_%26_White_(video_game) release God-simulator Black & White] worldwide for Windows PC.

*30th April - Multiplayer first-person shooter specialists [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splash_Damage Splash Damage were founded in London].

*June - Nintendo's [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Game Boy Advance] is released in Europe.

*22nd October - Rockstar Games release [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_III Grand Theft Auto III].

=== 2002 ===

*The first [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MCV/Develop MCV/Develop awards] take place, celebrating the success of UK publishers, retail and distribution.

*14 March - Microsoft release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_(console) Xbox] console in Europe.

*May - The Nintendo [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches GameCube] is released in Europe.

*29th Oct 2002 - Rockstar Games releases [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto:_Vice_City Grand Theft Auto: Vice City].

*24th September - [https://news.microsoft.com/2002/09/24/microsoft-acquires-video-game-powerhouse-rare-ltd/ Microsoft acquires Twycross-based developer Rare Ltd] for $375m.

*18th November - Eurocom releases James Bond 007: Nightfire, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bond_007:_Nightfire#Reception achieving “Platinum” sales] in the UK.

*11th December - Sony's [http://www.worldwidestudios.net/london SCE London Studio] and Team Soho [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Getaway_(video_game) releases The Getaway] for the PlayStation 2. The game is especially notable for its realistic re-creation of large areas of London.

=== 2003 ===

*9th April - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_European_Game_Information Pan European Game Information] (PEGI) video game content rating system is launched. The PEGI system is now used in 39 countries. more detials on the number of games rated each year [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_European_Game_Information is available here].

*31st July - Derby-based [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/derbyshire/3112271.stm Core Design loses the rights to develop future Tomb Raider games], as parent company Eidos shifts development to California-based Crystal Dynamics.

*11th September - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_(software) Valve releases] the PC-based digital distribution platform Steam worldwide.

*3rd October - Nokia releases the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-Gage_(device) N-Gage], one of the first major attempts to combine a mobile phone and a handheld game system.

*Sumo Digital, a prolific developer of games across multiple platforms is is [https://www.sumo-digital.com/who-we-are/ founded in Sheffield]. The studio would grow to become one of the UK's largest developers, employing over 500 people across multiple sites.

=== 2004 ===

*February - The first [http://awards.bafta.org/award/2004/games British Academy Games Awards] takes place.

*21 May - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SingStar Sony London Studio releases SingStar] for the PlayStation 2. The series would go on to achieve over 17.5m units.

*14th September - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fable_(2004_video_game) Lionhead releases Fable worldwide], the first game in the successful Fable franchise.

*26th October - Rockstar Games releases [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto:_San_Andreas Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas].

*5th November - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_Manager_2005 Sports Interactive releases Football Manager 2005], the first of the popular football manager series to be released after splitting from the previous Championship Manger brand.

*13 December - [http://rocksteadyltd.com Rocksteady Studios], creators of the Batman Arkham franchise, is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocksteady_Studios founded in London].

=== 2005 ===

*March - Nintendo's [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches handheld DS console] is released in Europe.

*1st September - Sony Computer Entertainment [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_Portable releases the PlayStation Portable] handheld console across Europe.

*12th October - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rag_Doll_Kung_Fu Rag Doll Kung Fu] was the first third party game released on Steam. It was created predominantly by artist Mark Healey, while working for Lionhead Studio.

*18th October - Rebellion Developments releases the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sniper_Elite_(video_game) first game in the Sniper Elite series].

*2nd December - Microsoft release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360 Xbox 360] console in Europe.

*7th December - The [https://www.askaboutgames.com/ Ask About Games] website is [https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/98381/UKs_ELSPA_Launches_Askaboutgamescom.php launched by industry body ELSPA] (now known as Ukie), providing information to parents and carers about the video games age ratings system used in the UK.

=== 2006 ===

*4th January - [http://www.mediamolecule.com/ Media Molecule], creators of the LittleBigPlanet franchise, is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Molecule founded in Guildford], Surrey.

*November / December - The [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Nintendo Wii] is released in Europe.

=== 2007 ===

*23rd March - Sony Computer Entertainment release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3 PlayStation 3] in Europe.

*19th June - The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/6767623.stm bans Rockstar Games' Manhunt 2] across the UK. It would eventually be approved by the BBFC for [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhunt_2#BBFC release on 31st October 2008] with an 18 certificate.

*23rd June - Apple [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone launch the iPhone] worldwide.

*20th Septmeber - Sony Computer Entertainment [https://www.sie.com/en/corporate/release/2007/070920d.html acquires Evolution Studios and Bigbig Studios].

*26th September - Activision [https://investor.activision.com/news-releases/news-release-details/activision-acquires-uk-game-developer-bizarre-creations acquires Bizarre Creations], known for the Project Gotham Racing and Geometry Wars series.

*The Chinese Room, creators of Dear Esther and Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chinese_Roomis founded in Brighton].

=== 2008 ===

*February - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello_Games Hello Games is founded] in Guildford.

*27th October - LittleBigPlanet is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LittleBigPlanet released for the PlayStation 3] by UK developer [http://www.mediamolecule.com/ Media Molecule].

*28th October - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EGX_(expo) first Eurogamer Expo], now known as [https://www.egx.net/egx EGX] and the largest single games event in the UK, takes place at the Truman Brewery in London, attended by 4,000 people.

*November - [https://www.playground-games.com/ Playground Games], developers of the Forza Horizon franchise, is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playground_Games founded in Leamington Spa], Warwickshire.

*November - The first Android-enabled smartphone, the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_Dream T-Mobile G1] (also known as the HTC Dream) is released in the UK.

=== 2009 ===
*2009 was when game profits in UK exceeded those from film for the first time (source?)

*June - The [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/parliamentary-group-for-games-industry-created all-party Parliamentary group for the computer and videogames industry] was founded, chaired by Bill Olner MP, with Lord Puttnam and John Whittingdale MP as vice-chairs. The group continues today as the [https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmallparty/190102/video-games-and-esports.htm APPG for Video Games and Esports].

*25th August - [http://rocksteadyltd.com/ Rocksteady Games] release the much acclaimed [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman:_Arkham_Asylum Batman: Arkham Asylum] worldwide.

== 2010s ==

=== 2010 ===

*26th February - The new £36.2m inner-city Derby ring road is renamed [https://goo.gl/maps/a7GHiGCrJWq Lara Croft Way] following [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/derbyshire/8538106.stm overwhelming support in a public vote].

*19th March - ELSPA [https://ukie.org.uk/node/193 announces its name change to Ukie] (the Association for UK Interactive Entertainment).

*4th November - [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12697975 Microsoft launches the Kinect], an infra-red camera for the Xbox 360 that can track players body movements. It becomes the fastest-selling consumer device to date, selling more than 8 million units in a 60 day period.

=== 2011 ===

*February / March - The [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Nintendo 3DS] is released in Europe.

=== 2012 ===

*20th February - Peter Molyneux [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/22Cans opens new game development studio 22Cans] in Guildford.

*22nd February - Sony Computer Entertianment [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_Vita releases the PlayStation Vita] handheld console across Europe.

*9th May - An Xbox 360 version of Minecraft is released, [https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Xbox_360_Edition#Release developed by 4J Studios].

*30th July - The PEGI age rating system [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19042908 becomes legally enforceable in the UK].

*22nd August - Sony Computer Entertainment [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-08-22-sony-closes-studio-liverpool officially closes SCE Studio Liverpool], founded in 1984 as Psygnosis and best known for the Wipeout series.

*November / December - The [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Nintendo Wii U] is released in Europe.

=== 2013 ===

*25th June - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouya#History The Ouya] was released worldwide. The Android-based microconsole was a Kickstarter success, raising $8.5m, however underperforming post-release sales saw the unit [https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/07/so-long-ouya-razer-acquires-microconsoles-storefront-technical-team/ discontinued in 2015].

*17th September - Grand Theft Auto v is released by Rockstar Games and becomes the [http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2013/10/confirmed-grand-theft-auto-breaks-six-sales-world-records-51900 fasting-selling entertainment product in history], grossing over $1bn in three days. To date, it has sold over [https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/gta-v-100-million-sales-1203022310/ 100 million copies] and is considered the [https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/gta-v-100-million-sales-1203022310/ most profitable entertainment product] of all time.

*22nd November - Microsoft release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_One Xbox One] in Europe.

*29th November - Sony Interactive Entertainment release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_4 PlayStation 4] in Europe.

=== 2014 ===

*30th January - The Chancellor, George Osborne, [https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/announcements/launch-tax-reliefs-high-end-television-animation-video-games officially launches the video games tax relief (VGTR)].

*1st April - The Uk's [https://www.gov.uk/guidance/corporation-tax-creative-industry-tax-reliefs#video-games-tax-relief-vgtr video games tax relief] officially comes into effect.

=== 2015 ===

*5th April - HTC and Valve Corporation release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_Vive HTC Vive], a high-end virtual reality head-mounted display offering "room scale" tracking technology, allowing the user to move in 3D space and use motion-tracked handheld controllers to interact with the environment.

*27th November - Samsung release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Gear_VR Gear VR], their head-mounted visrtual reality display designed to incorporate Samsung Galaxy mobile phones.

=== 2016 ===

*22nd March - Sony [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2016-03-22-sony-confirms-closure-of-evolution-studio announces the closure of Evolution Studios]. However, the [http://blog.codemasters.com/community/04/codemasters-welcomes-the-team-from-evolution-studios/ Evolution Studios team would join Codemasters] less than a month later on 11th April, forming Codemasters EVO.

*28th March - Oculus release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oculus_Rift Oculus Rift], one of the first major virtual reality head-mounted displays.

*9th August - [http://hellogames.org/ Hello Games] releases [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Man%27s_Sky No Man's Sky], featuring a procedurally-generated universe, comprising over 18 quintillion planets.

*27th September - Playground Games [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forza_Horizon_3 releases Forza Horizon 3] worldwide and would go on to sell over 2.5 million copies.

*13th October - Sony releases [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_VR PlayStation VR] (also known as PSVR), a virtual reality head-mounted display for the PlayStation 4.

=== 2017 ===

*12th January - [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-38598919 Sony closes Guerilla Cambridge].

*3rd March - The Nintendo Switch is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Switch released worldwide].

*4rd April - The inaugural [http://www.digitalschoolhouse.org.uk/articles/2017/04/team-veracity-win-inaugural-esports-tournament Digital Schoolhouse esports tournament] culminates with the Grand Final at Gfinity's arena in London, the first immersive careers education event of its kind.

*8th August - Ninja Theory release the multi-BAFTA winning [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellblade:_Senua%27s_Sacrifice Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice]. Most notably, the game featured a credible and well-received depiction of psychosis, constructed in collboration with neuroscientists, mental health specialists and people suffering from the condition.

=== 2018 ===

*January - UK video games trade magazines Develop and Esports Pro are [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MCV/Develop merged with sister trade magazine MCV]. The combined publication would eventually be rebranded to MCV/Develop in October 2019.

*2nd January - [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-01-02-sumo-digital-takes-over-ccp-newcastle-studio Sumo Digital acquires CCP Games' Newcastle studio] of 34 staff, developers of EVE Valkyrie after CCP indicates a move away from VR content.

*15th May - Hanger 13 [https://hangar13games.com/news/hangar-13-expands-to-brighton/ opens a new studio in Brighton].

*8th / 10th June - The Rocket League World Championship Finals [https://www.rocketleagueesports.com/news/the-rlcs-world-championship-returns-to-europe-/ take place in London at the Copper Box Arena].

*10th June - [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-06-10-microsoft-super-sizes-first-party-studio-system Microsoft announces the acquisition] of both Hellblade developer Ninja Theory and Forza series developer Playground Games at E3.

*15th August - [https://www.gamespot.com/articles/crackdown-3-dev-acquires-acclaimed-studio-behind-e/1100-6461160/ Sumo Digital acquires The Chinese Room], developers of the BAFTA-winning Everybody's Gone To The Rapture.

*15th August - [https://www.polygon.com/2018/8/15/17692384/thq-nordic-timesplitters-crytek THQ Nordic acquires Timesplitters series]

*8th September - London's [https://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/sep/05/was-that-a-reference-to-magritte-design-play-disrupt-review Victoria & Albert Museum opens its first video game exhibition] entitled Videogames: Design/Play/Disrupt.

*18th October - Rockstar Games release Red Dead Redemption 2 for the Playstation 4, and experiences the largest opening weekend of any product in the history of entertainment, making [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Dead_Redemption_2#Reception over $725 million in revenue in three days]. Within two weeks, it had shipped over 17 million copies, and increased to 23 million copies by February 2019.

*29th October - The UK Houses of Parliament, in partnership with the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Video Games, hosts the [https://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/10/mps-attend-first-ever-esports-parliamentary-event first ever parliamentary event on esports].

*8th December - Epic Games [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_Games_Store launches the Epic Games Store], a digital storefront for PC and Mac platforms.

*14th December - Game Workers Unite UK, a branch of the IWGB, [https://www.gwu-uk.org/2018/12/14/game-workers-of-the-uk-unite/ becomes a legal trade union] dedicated to representing game developers.

=== 2019 ===

*3rd January - The Entertainment Retailer's Association announces figures showing [https://eraltd.org/news-events/press-releases/2019/streaming-drives-entertainment-sales-94-higher-in-2018-to-sixth-consecutive-year-of-growth/ UK sales of games exceed the combined sales of music and film] for the first time.

*9th May - [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-05-09-sega-acquires-two-point-studios SEGA acquires Two Point Studios] the Farnham-based developer of Two Point Hospital.

*19th September - Apples flagship games subscription service, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Arcade Apple Arcade], is launched worldwide.

*19th September - SEGA enters the mini-console market with the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Genesis_Mini launch of the SEGA Mega Drive Mini].

*19th November - Google launch their cloud gaming service, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Stadia Stadia] worldwide.

== 2020s ==

=== 2020 ===

*4th February - Ukie and the University of Sheffield launch the [https://ukie.org.uk/UK-games-industry-census-2020 UK Games Industry Census] results, the most detailed assessment of diversity in the UK games industry workforce ever conducted.

*19th March - UK trade association Ukie [https://ukie.org.uk/news/2020/03/ukie-launches-ukiepedia launches Ukiepedia], a brand new repository of games industry facts, insight, resources and links.

*28 April - MacArthur Fortune [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-04-28-jagex-sold-for-usd530m acquires] Cambridge-based Runescape studio Jagex for $530m.

*18th May - Sumo Group acquires Leamington Spa-based [https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/363065/Sumo_Group_acquires_UK_workforhire_studio_Lab42.php work-for-hire development studio Lab42] for an undisclosed fee.

*25 September - Epic Games [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-09-25-epic-games-acquires-superawesome acquires] London-based "kidtech" specialist SuperAwesome for an undisclosed fee.

*05 October - Sunderland developer and publisher Coatsink [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-10-05-thunderful-group-acquires-coatsink acquired] by Swedish company Thunderful Group for £23m.

*14 October - Ruffian Games [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-10-12-rockstar-buys-ruffian-games-rebrands-to-rockstar-dundee becomes part of] Rockstar Games as Rockstar Dundee

*08 December - London-based mobile studio Hutch Games [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-12-08-mtg-acquires-hutch-games-for-an-expected-USD375-million acquired] by Swedish media company Modern Times Group.

*14 December - Tencent [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-12-14-leyou-shareholders-approve-tencent-takeover acquires] Bromley-based Splash Damage as part of $1.3bn purchase of Leyou Technologies Holdings.

=== 2021 ===

*22 January - Carlyle group [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-01-25-jagex-reportedly-sold-to-carlyle-group acquires] Jagex, matching previous $530m price.

*18 February - Electronic Arts completes its [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-02-18-ea-completes-codemasters-acquisition-and-hopes-to-revolutionise-racing-games $1.2bn acquisition] of UK-based racing games specialist Codemasters after outbidding a previous offer from Take-Two.

*18 February - Belgian games company Larian Studios [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-01-25-jagex-reportedly-sold-to-carlyle-group acquires] Turbulenz to found Lartian Guildford.

02 March - Epic Games [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-03-02-epic-acquires-fall-guys-studios-parent-company buys] Tonic Group for undisclosed sum.

05 March - Australian fitness company OliveX [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-03-08-zombies-run-dev-six-to-start-acquired-for-usd9-5m acquires] Zombies Run! developer Six to Start for $9.5m.

22 April - Portsmouth company Climax Studios [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-04-22-keywords-acquires-climax-for-up-to-43m joins] Keywords Group for £43m.

Notable Dates in UK Games Industry History

2021-10-13T10:14:59Z

UkieColm: /* 2020 */

Help us complete this list of notable dates in the UK games industry history by submitting any suggestions you have via [https://forms.gle/9agp8mppXNuWYiBL6 this online form].

== 1950s ==

=== 1950 ===

*Following the second world war and his groundbreaking work on cracking the enigma machine, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing Alan Turing] develops a [https://www.history.com/news/in-1950-alan-turing-created-a-chess-computer-program-that-prefigured-a-i chess-playing program]

=== 1951 ===

*For a post-war festival celebrating British contributions to science and technology, a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimrod_(computer) computer was developed that could play the game Nim], a mathematical game in which players take turn to remove matches.

=== 1952 ===

*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OXO OXO (or Noughts and Crosses)] was developed by A.S Douglas for the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC), one of the first games developed in the early history of video games.

=== 1957 ===

*14th October - The British Computer Society (now known as [https://www.bcs.org/ BCS, The Chartered Institute for I.T.]) is founded [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/6099/BCS%20-%20%20British%20Computer%20Society%20is%20Founded promote the study, practice and advance the knowledge of computing].

== 1960s ==

=== 1961 ===

*25th July - [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/5856/Clive%20Sinclair%20founds%20Sinclair%20Radionics Clive Sinclair founds Sinclair Radionics] in Cambridge, developing hi-fi products, radios, calculators and scientific instruments, a precursor to his computer company Sinclair Research.

== 1970s ==

=== 1975 ===

*1st April - The [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/34794/The%20Magnavox%20Odyssey,%20the%20first%20video%20game%20console,%20is%20released Magnavox Odyssey], the first video game console, is released in the UK.

*Roy Trubshaw, a student at the University of Essex, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUD#Origins started working on a multi-user adventure game] in the MACRO-10 assembly language for a DEC PDP-10. He named the game MUD (Multi-User Dungeon). Deveopment was completed in 1980 by fellow student Richard Bartle.

=== 1975 ===
*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Games_Workshop Games Workshop], famous for selling Dungeons and Dragons and Warhammer tabletop games, is founded.

== 1980s ==

=== 1980 ===

*29th January - The [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/5445/Sinclair-ZX80-Launched/ Sinclair ZX80] personal computer was launched by Sinclair Research Ltd of Cambridge.

=== 1981 ===

*5th March - The ZX81, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX81 Sinclair Research's pioneering British home computer], was released.

*May - The [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/10388/VIC-20%20Released%20in%20Europe%20&%20US Commodore VIC-20] is released in the US and Europe.

*1st December - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Micro BBC Micro], designed and built by the Acorn Computer company for the BBC, is released.

=== 1982 ===

*January - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64 Commodore 64] is launched worldwide.

*23rd February - Argonaut Games was [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argonaut_Games founded in Colindale, London]. It was most notable for the development of the Super NES video game Star Fox and its supporting Super FX hardware

*23rd April - The [http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/43781/Sinclair%20ZX%20Spectrum%20Launched Sinclair ZX Spectrum] is released by Sinclair Computers.

*August - The Dragon 32 home computer [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_32/64 was released for sales in the European market] by Dragon Data Ltd, but with limited graphics capabilities it struggled to compete against the more popular ZX Spectrum and BBC Micro home computers.

*17th September - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagine_Software Imagine Software] was founded in Liverpool byt formeer members of Bug-Byte. The short-lived company achieved nationwide notoriety when it was filmed by a BBC documentary crew while in the process of going bust.It would later be referenced in Bandersnatch, Netflix's interactive espisode of Black Mirror,

=== 1983 ===

*The American [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_crash_of_1983 video game crash of 1983] occurs, having a significant knock-on impact on the British games industry.

*1st August - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manic_Miner Manic Miner], developed by Matthew Smith, was released by Bug-Byte for the ZX Spectrum.

*[https://web.archive.org/web/19980611190501fw_/http://www.vie.co.uk/level3/corporat.htm Virgin Games was founded]. It would later become Virgin Interactive Entertainment, the video game publishing division of the Virgin Group. The company grew significantly afer acquiring Mastertronic in 1987.

=== 1984 ===

*12th April - The Amstrad CPC 464 was [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amstrad_CPC_464 released in the UK]. The first personal home computer built by Amstrad, it was one of the bestselling microcomputers of the era with more than 2 million units sold in Europe.

*July - [https://reflections.ubisoft.com/ Ubisoft Reflections] is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubisoft_Reflections founded in Newcastle],

*20th September - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_(video_game) Elite], the space trading game written and developed by David Braben and Ian Bell, is published by Acornsoft for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron computers.

*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockstar_North Acme Software was founded in Dundee]. It would later rebrand as DMA Deisgn and produce many well-known titles across the Amiga, Atari ST and Commodores 64, including the smash hit Lemmings. In 2001, following the release of Grand Theft Auto III, DMA Design was renamed Rockstar North and became part of the Rockstar Games label.

=== 1985 ===

*April - Rare Limited is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_(company) founded in Twycross], Leicestershire and would go on to have a long history of critically acclaimed and globally successful titles, including Battletoads, Goldeneye 007, Donkey Kong Country and Sea of Thieves.

*June - Atari release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_ST Atari 520ST], the first of their successful ST series of home computers.

*23rd June - Commodore release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga Amiga 1000], the first of the Amiga home computers.

*3rd July - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psygnosis Psygnosis was founded] in Wavertree Technology Park, Liverpool.

=== 1986 ===

*1st September - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Entertainment_System Nintendo Entertainment System], also known as the NES, is released in the UK.

*October - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codemasters Codemasters], one of the oldest active British game studios, founded by brothers Richard and David Darling.

=== 1987 ===

*May - Commodore launch their best-selling [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_500#Releases Amiga 500], the first low-end Commodore Amiga 16/32-bit multimedia home/personal computer.

*June - The first game of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dizzy_(series) Dizzy] series is created, proving to be a commercial smash hit and one of the first long term video game franchises.

*18th August - [https://www.creative-assembly.com/ Creative Assembly], one of the largest studios in the UK and creators of the Total War franchise and Alien Isolation, [https://www.mobygames.com/company/creative-assembly-ltd is founded in Horsham], West Sussex by Tim Ansell.

*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullfrog_Productions Bullfrog Productions was founded in Guildford] by Peter Molyneux and Les Edgar. The company went on to achieve a string of hits, including Theme Park, Magic Carpet, Syndicate and Dungeon Keeper.

=== 1988 ===

*13th May - Core Design, developers of the original Tomb Raider titles, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_Design is founded in Derby] by former employees of Gremlin Graphics.

*October - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurocom Eurocom was founded in Derby]. The studio was mainly known for its arcade to console ports and games based on licensed properties.

=== 1989 ===

*March - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee Tim Berners-Lee] lays out his vision for [https://webfoundation.org/about/vision/history-of-the-web/ what would become the web] in a document called “[http://info.cern.ch/Proposal.html Information Management: A Proposal]”.

*5th June - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populous_(video_game) Bullfrog Productions releases Populous] on the Amiga. The game would go on to sell over 4 million copies, becoming one of the biggest-selling PC games of all time.

*27th July - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrilla_Cambridge Guerilla Cambridge], initially known as Millennium Interactive Ltd, is founded. The company was best known for producing the MediEvil series.

*6th September - [http://ukie.org.uk Ukie], then known as ELSPA, [http://ukie.org.uk/about is founded] - the first trade association for the video games industry anywhere in the world.

*[http://www.ttgames.com/ Traveller's Tales], best known as the developers of the LEGO games franchise, is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveller%27s_Tales founded in Knutsford], Cheshire.

== 1990s ==

=== 1990 ===

*September - The [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Nintendo Game Boy] is released across Europe.

*7th December - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team17 Team 17 is founded] in Wakefield. The company has produced many well known titles, most notbaly including the Worms series.

=== 1991 ===

*14th February - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemmings_(video_game) Lemmings is released on the Amiga] by DMA Design. One of the best-selling games of all time, it is estimated to have sold around 20 million copies.

=== 1992 ===

*April/June - The [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Super Nintendo Entertainment System], also known as the SNES, is released in Europe.

*May - The first game in the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensible_Soccer Sensible Soccer] series is released

*10th July - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philips_CD-i Phillips CD-i is released across Europe]. The "interactive multimedia CD player" would become seen as a commercial failure, estimated to have lost Philips as much as $1bn in the American market.

=== 1993 ===

*Criterion Games, best known for the Burnout series, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criterion_Games is founded in Guildford].

=== 1994 ===

*11th June - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3DO_Interactive_Multiplayer 3DO Interactive Multiplayer], often called the 3DO, is released across Europe. The console's comparably high price prevented it achiving the same success as the SEGA and Nintendo's conosles of the same era.

=== 1995 ===

*January - Sony Computer Entertainment Europe is [https://www.sie.com/en/corporate/history/1993_2002.html established in London].

*1st June - Team 17 releases Worms across multiple formats, incluing the Amiga, CD32 and Mega Drive. The original entry in the series would go on to sell more than 5 million copies and spawned over 20 sequels over the next 20 years.

*21st July - Nintendo's Virtual Boy was [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Boy released in Japan]. The first ever console to utilise stereoscopic 3D graphics, it failed to meet sales tarets and was eventually discontinued after only 22 games. While later released in North America, the console was never made available to the European market.

*29th September - Sony Computer Entertainment [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_(console) release the first PlayStation console] in Europe.

*29th September - Psygnosis's futuristic racing game [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wipeout_(video_game) Wipeout was released] as a launch title for Sony's new PlayStation console. As well as the game's positive reviews and controversial marketing, Wipeout was also famous for its unique techno and electronica soundtrack.

=== 1996 ===

*August - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Develop_(magazine) Launch of Develop], a monthly UK trade magazine for the UK video game industry. It closed in December 2017, eventually merging with MCV to become the combined [https://www.mcvuk.com/ MCV/Develop] brand.

*7th Septmeber - SEGA opens [https://segaretro.org/SegaWorld_London SegaWorld London] in London's Trocadero complex in Picadilly Circus. It was the largest indoor arcade in Europe, with 10,200m² of floorspace over seven floors.

*25th October - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_Raider_(1996_video_game) Tomb Raider], the first game in the best-selling Tomb Raider franchise, is released worldwide by Eidos Interactive and UK developer Core Design. It would go on to sell over 7 million copies globally and and continues to be cited as one of the greatest video games ever made.

=== 1997 ===

*March - [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Nintendo's N64] console is released in Europe.

*20th June - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmageddon Carmageddon is released] by Stainless Games. The controversial game was partly censored upon released and even banned in some countries. After successfully appealing, the uncensored version was released in the UK ten months later. The series would go on to sell around two million copies.

*July - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionhead_Studios Lionhead Studios is founded] by Peter Molyneux, Mark Webley, Tim Rance, and Steve Jackson. It would go on to produce the hit Fable and Black & White series.

*25th August - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GoldenEye_007_(1997_video_game) GoldenEye 007], developed for the N64 console by UK company Rare, is released.

=== 1998 ===

*17th July - Rare [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banjo-Kazooie released Banjo Kazooie], both a critical and commercial success.

*15th July - Codemasters release the hugely successful [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_McRae_Rally_(video_game) Colin McRae Rally] for the PlayStation, which would go on to sell over 4 million units across all formats.

*September - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MCV/Develop Launch of UK games industry trade magazine MCV] (later [https://www.mcvuk.com/ MCV/Develop])

*29th October - The first [http://awards.bafta.org/award/1998/interactive/www.bafta.org/guru Bafta Interactive Entertainment Awards] take place, with [https://twitter.com/BAFTAGames/status/1105161107084374016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1105161107084374016&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2F30yearsofplay.uk%2Fblog-1%2F2019%2F2%2F4%2Fbritish-releases-1990s Stephen Fry presenting ‘Best Computer Game’] to Rare’s GoldenEye 007.

=== 1999 ===

*27th March - The first [https://insomniagamingfestival.com/ Insomnia Gaming Festival], Insomnia99, run by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiplay Multiplay], brings together a [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/306431.stm reported 300 PC gamers] for the UK's then largest ever LAN party.

*April - Free Radical Deign Ltd, most notable for the Timesplitters series was [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crytek_UK founded in Nottingham]. The studio would later be bought by German developer Crytek and renamed Crytek UK, before eventually closing in 2014.

*20th April - Racing game specialists Evolution Studios, creators of the World Rally Championship and MotorStorm series, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_Studios were founded in Runcorn], Cheshire.

*25th June - Newcastle's Reflections Interactive (later Ubisoft Reflection) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driver_(video_game) released the critically-acclaimed Driver] for Sony's PlayStation.

*14th October - SEGA release their [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamcast Dreamcast console] across Europe, launching the "sixth generation" of game consoles.

== 2000s ==

=== 2000 ===

*March - Ninja Theory (initially known as Just Add Monsters Ltd), creators of the multi-BAFTA winning Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, were [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninja_Theory founded in Cambridge].

*28th April - Jagex, creators of one of the world's largest massively multiplayer online roleplay games, Runescape, are [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jagex founded in Cambridge].

*13th June - [https://www.totalwar.com/blog/17-years-total-war/ Creative Assembly releases Shogun: Total War], the first game in the long-running Total War series.

*November - Sony Computer Entertainment release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_2 PlayStation 2] in Europe.

*24th November - Timesplitters by Free Radical Design [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TimeSplitters_(video_game) is released in Europe] for the PlayStation 2.

=== 2001 ===

*4th January - [https://oldschoolrunescape.fandom.com/wiki/RuneScape_Classic Jagex release the original version of Runescape] (now known as Runescape Classic) for Windows PC.

*8th March - [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/a_tiga The official launch] of [http://tiga.org/ TIGA], The Independent Games Developers Assocation for the UK.

*30th March - Lionhead [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_%26_White_(video_game) release God-simulator Black & White] worldwide for Windows PC.

*30th April - Multiplayer first-person shooter specialists [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splash_Damage Splash Damage were founded in London].

*June - Nintendo's [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Game Boy Advance] is released in Europe.

*22nd October - Rockstar Games release [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_III Grand Theft Auto III].

=== 2002 ===

*The first [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MCV/Develop MCV/Develop awards] take place, celebrating the success of UK publishers, retail and distribution.

*14 March - Microsoft release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_(console) Xbox] console in Europe.

*May - The Nintendo [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches GameCube] is released in Europe.

*29th Oct 2002 - Rockstar Games releases [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto:_Vice_City Grand Theft Auto: Vice City].

*24th September - [https://news.microsoft.com/2002/09/24/microsoft-acquires-video-game-powerhouse-rare-ltd/ Microsoft acquires Twycross-based developer Rare Ltd] for $375m.

*18th November - Eurocom releases James Bond 007: Nightfire, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bond_007:_Nightfire#Reception achieving “Platinum” sales] in the UK.

*11th December - Sony's [http://www.worldwidestudios.net/london SCE London Studio] and Team Soho [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Getaway_(video_game) releases The Getaway] for the PlayStation 2. The game is especially notable for its realistic re-creation of large areas of London.

=== 2003 ===

*9th April - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_European_Game_Information Pan European Game Information] (PEGI) video game content rating system is launched. The PEGI system is now used in 39 countries. more detials on the number of games rated each year [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_European_Game_Information is available here].

*31st July - Derby-based [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/derbyshire/3112271.stm Core Design loses the rights to develop future Tomb Raider games], as parent company Eidos shifts development to California-based Crystal Dynamics.

*11th September - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_(software) Valve releases] the PC-based digital distribution platform Steam worldwide.

*3rd October - Nokia releases the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-Gage_(device) N-Gage], one of the first major attempts to combine a mobile phone and a handheld game system.

*Sumo Digital, a prolific developer of games across multiple platforms is is [https://www.sumo-digital.com/who-we-are/ founded in Sheffield]. The studio would grow to become one of the UK's largest developers, employing over 500 people across multiple sites.

=== 2004 ===

*February - The first [http://awards.bafta.org/award/2004/games British Academy Games Awards] takes place.

*21 May - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SingStar Sony London Studio releases SingStar] for the PlayStation 2. The series would go on to achieve over 17.5m units.

*14th September - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fable_(2004_video_game) Lionhead releases Fable worldwide], the first game in the successful Fable franchise.

*26th October - Rockstar Games releases [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto:_San_Andreas Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas].

*5th November - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_Manager_2005 Sports Interactive releases Football Manager 2005], the first of the popular football manager series to be released after splitting from the previous Championship Manger brand.

*13 December - [http://rocksteadyltd.com Rocksteady Studios], creators of the Batman Arkham franchise, is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocksteady_Studios founded in London].

=== 2005 ===

*March - Nintendo's [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches handheld DS console] is released in Europe.

*1st September - Sony Computer Entertainment [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_Portable releases the PlayStation Portable] handheld console across Europe.

*12th October - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rag_Doll_Kung_Fu Rag Doll Kung Fu] was the first third party game released on Steam. It was created predominantly by artist Mark Healey, while working for Lionhead Studio.

*18th October - Rebellion Developments releases the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sniper_Elite_(video_game) first game in the Sniper Elite series].

*2nd December - Microsoft release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360 Xbox 360] console in Europe.

*7th December - The [https://www.askaboutgames.com/ Ask About Games] website is [https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/98381/UKs_ELSPA_Launches_Askaboutgamescom.php launched by industry body ELSPA] (now known as Ukie), providing information to parents and carers about the video games age ratings system used in the UK.

=== 2006 ===

*4th January - [http://www.mediamolecule.com/ Media Molecule], creators of the LittleBigPlanet franchise, is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Molecule founded in Guildford], Surrey.

*November / December - The [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Nintendo Wii] is released in Europe.

=== 2007 ===

*23rd March - Sony Computer Entertainment release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3 PlayStation 3] in Europe.

*19th June - The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/6767623.stm bans Rockstar Games' Manhunt 2] across the UK. It would eventually be approved by the BBFC for [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhunt_2#BBFC release on 31st October 2008] with an 18 certificate.

*23rd June - Apple [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone launch the iPhone] worldwide.

*20th Septmeber - Sony Computer Entertainment [https://www.sie.com/en/corporate/release/2007/070920d.html acquires Evolution Studios and Bigbig Studios].

*26th September - Activision [https://investor.activision.com/news-releases/news-release-details/activision-acquires-uk-game-developer-bizarre-creations acquires Bizarre Creations], known for the Project Gotham Racing and Geometry Wars series.

*The Chinese Room, creators of Dear Esther and Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chinese_Roomis founded in Brighton].

=== 2008 ===

*February - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello_Games Hello Games is founded] in Guildford.

*27th October - LittleBigPlanet is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LittleBigPlanet released for the PlayStation 3] by UK developer [http://www.mediamolecule.com/ Media Molecule].

*28th October - The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EGX_(expo) first Eurogamer Expo], now known as [https://www.egx.net/egx EGX] and the largest single games event in the UK, takes place at the Truman Brewery in London, attended by 4,000 people.

*November - [https://www.playground-games.com/ Playground Games], developers of the Forza Horizon franchise, is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playground_Games founded in Leamington Spa], Warwickshire.

*November - The first Android-enabled smartphone, the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_Dream T-Mobile G1] (also known as the HTC Dream) is released in the UK.

=== 2009 ===
*2009 was when game profits in UK exceeded those from film for the first time (source?)

*June - The [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/parliamentary-group-for-games-industry-created all-party Parliamentary group for the computer and videogames industry] was founded, chaired by Bill Olner MP, with Lord Puttnam and John Whittingdale MP as vice-chairs. The group continues today as the [https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmallparty/190102/video-games-and-esports.htm APPG for Video Games and Esports].

*25th August - [http://rocksteadyltd.com/ Rocksteady Games] release the much acclaimed [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman:_Arkham_Asylum Batman: Arkham Asylum] worldwide.

== 2010s ==

=== 2010 ===

*26th February - The new £36.2m inner-city Derby ring road is renamed [https://goo.gl/maps/a7GHiGCrJWq Lara Croft Way] following [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/derbyshire/8538106.stm overwhelming support in a public vote].

*19th March - ELSPA [https://ukie.org.uk/node/193 announces its name change to Ukie] (the Association for UK Interactive Entertainment).

*4th November - [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12697975 Microsoft launches the Kinect], an infra-red camera for the Xbox 360 that can track players body movements. It becomes the fastest-selling consumer device to date, selling more than 8 million units in a 60 day period.

=== 2011 ===

*February / March - The [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Nintendo 3DS] is released in Europe.

=== 2012 ===

*20th February - Peter Molyneux [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/22Cans opens new game development studio 22Cans] in Guildford.

*22nd February - Sony Computer Entertianment [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_Vita releases the PlayStation Vita] handheld console across Europe.

*9th May - An Xbox 360 version of Minecraft is released, [https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Xbox_360_Edition#Release developed by 4J Studios].

*30th July - The PEGI age rating system [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19042908 becomes legally enforceable in the UK].

*22nd August - Sony Computer Entertainment [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-08-22-sony-closes-studio-liverpool officially closes SCE Studio Liverpool], founded in 1984 as Psygnosis and best known for the Wipeout series.

*November / December - The [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-02-24-a-complete-history-of-nintendo-console-launches Nintendo Wii U] is released in Europe.

=== 2013 ===

*25th June - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouya#History The Ouya] was released worldwide. The Android-based microconsole was a Kickstarter success, raising $8.5m, however underperforming post-release sales saw the unit [https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/07/so-long-ouya-razer-acquires-microconsoles-storefront-technical-team/ discontinued in 2015].

*17th September - Grand Theft Auto v is released by Rockstar Games and becomes the [http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2013/10/confirmed-grand-theft-auto-breaks-six-sales-world-records-51900 fasting-selling entertainment product in history], grossing over $1bn in three days. To date, it has sold over [https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/gta-v-100-million-sales-1203022310/ 100 million copies] and is considered the [https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/gta-v-100-million-sales-1203022310/ most profitable entertainment product] of all time.

*22nd November - Microsoft release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_One Xbox One] in Europe.

*29th November - Sony Interactive Entertainment release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_4 PlayStation 4] in Europe.

=== 2014 ===

*30th January - The Chancellor, George Osborne, [https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/announcements/launch-tax-reliefs-high-end-television-animation-video-games officially launches the video games tax relief (VGTR)].

*1st April - The Uk's [https://www.gov.uk/guidance/corporation-tax-creative-industry-tax-reliefs#video-games-tax-relief-vgtr video games tax relief] officially comes into effect.

=== 2015 ===

*5th April - HTC and Valve Corporation release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_Vive HTC Vive], a high-end virtual reality head-mounted display offering "room scale" tracking technology, allowing the user to move in 3D space and use motion-tracked handheld controllers to interact with the environment.

*27th November - Samsung release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Gear_VR Gear VR], their head-mounted visrtual reality display designed to incorporate Samsung Galaxy mobile phones.

=== 2016 ===

*22nd March - Sony [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2016-03-22-sony-confirms-closure-of-evolution-studio announces the closure of Evolution Studios]. However, the [http://blog.codemasters.com/community/04/codemasters-welcomes-the-team-from-evolution-studios/ Evolution Studios team would join Codemasters] less than a month later on 11th April, forming Codemasters EVO.

*28th March - Oculus release the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oculus_Rift Oculus Rift], one of the first major virtual reality head-mounted displays.

*9th August - [http://hellogames.org/ Hello Games] releases [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Man%27s_Sky No Man's Sky], featuring a procedurally-generated universe, comprising over 18 quintillion planets.

*27th September - Playground Games [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forza_Horizon_3 releases Forza Horizon 3] worldwide and would go on to sell over 2.5 million copies.

*13th October - Sony releases [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_VR PlayStation VR] (also known as PSVR), a virtual reality head-mounted display for the PlayStation 4.

=== 2017 ===

*12th January - [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-38598919 Sony closes Guerilla Cambridge].

*3rd March - The Nintendo Switch is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Switch released worldwide].

*4rd April - The inaugural [http://www.digitalschoolhouse.org.uk/articles/2017/04/team-veracity-win-inaugural-esports-tournament Digital Schoolhouse esports tournament] culminates with the Grand Final at Gfinity's arena in London, the first immersive careers education event of its kind.

*8th August - Ninja Theory release the multi-BAFTA winning [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellblade:_Senua%27s_Sacrifice Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice]. Most notably, the game featured a credible and well-received depiction of psychosis, constructed in collboration with neuroscientists, mental health specialists and people suffering from the condition.

=== 2018 ===

*January - UK video games trade magazines Develop and Esports Pro are [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MCV/Develop merged with sister trade magazine MCV]. The combined publication would eventually be rebranded to MCV/Develop in October 2019.

*2nd January - [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-01-02-sumo-digital-takes-over-ccp-newcastle-studio Sumo Digital acquires CCP Games' Newcastle studio] of 34 staff, developers of EVE Valkyrie after CCP indicates a move away from VR content.

*15th May - Hanger 13 [https://hangar13games.com/news/hangar-13-expands-to-brighton/ opens a new studio in Brighton].

*8th / 10th June - The Rocket League World Championship Finals [https://www.rocketleagueesports.com/news/the-rlcs-world-championship-returns-to-europe-/ take place in London at the Copper Box Arena].

*10th June - [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-06-10-microsoft-super-sizes-first-party-studio-system Microsoft announces the acquisition] of both Hellblade developer Ninja Theory and Forza series developer Playground Games at E3.

*15th August - [https://www.gamespot.com/articles/crackdown-3-dev-acquires-acclaimed-studio-behind-e/1100-6461160/ Sumo Digital acquires The Chinese Room], developers of the BAFTA-winning Everybody's Gone To The Rapture.

*15th August - [https://www.polygon.com/2018/8/15/17692384/thq-nordic-timesplitters-crytek THQ Nordic acquires Timesplitters series]

*8th September - London's [https://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/sep/05/was-that-a-reference-to-magritte-design-play-disrupt-review Victoria & Albert Museum opens its first video game exhibition] entitled Videogames: Design/Play/Disrupt.

*18th October - Rockstar Games release Red Dead Redemption 2 for the Playstation 4, and experiences the largest opening weekend of any product in the history of entertainment, making [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Dead_Redemption_2#Reception over $725 million in revenue in three days]. Within two weeks, it had shipped over 17 million copies, and increased to 23 million copies by February 2019.

*29th October - The UK Houses of Parliament, in partnership with the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Video Games, hosts the [https://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/10/mps-attend-first-ever-esports-parliamentary-event first ever parliamentary event on esports].

*8th December - Epic Games [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_Games_Store launches the Epic Games Store], a digital storefront for PC and Mac platforms.

*14th December - Game Workers Unite UK, a branch of the IWGB, [https://www.gwu-uk.org/2018/12/14/game-workers-of-the-uk-unite/ becomes a legal trade union] dedicated to representing game developers.

=== 2019 ===

*3rd January - The Entertainment Retailer's Association announces figures showing [https://eraltd.org/news-events/press-releases/2019/streaming-drives-entertainment-sales-94-higher-in-2018-to-sixth-consecutive-year-of-growth/ UK sales of games exceed the combined sales of music and film] for the first time.

*9th May - [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-05-09-sega-acquires-two-point-studios SEGA acquires Two Point Studios] the Farnham-based developer of Two Point Hospital.

*19th September - Apples flagship games subscription service, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Arcade Apple Arcade], is launched worldwide.

*19th September - SEGA enters the mini-console market with the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Genesis_Mini launch of the SEGA Mega Drive Mini].

*19th November - Google launch their cloud gaming service, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Stadia Stadia] worldwide.

== 2020s ==

=== 2020 ===

*4th February - Ukie and the University of Sheffield launch the [https://ukie.org.uk/UK-games-industry-census-2020 UK Games Industry Census] results, the most detailed assessment of diversity in the UK games industry workforce ever conducted.

*19th March - UK trade association Ukie [https://ukie.org.uk/news/2020/03/ukie-launches-ukiepedia launches Ukiepedia], a brand new repository of games industry facts, insight, resources and links.

*18th May - Sumo Group acquires Leamington Spa-based [https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/363065/Sumo_Group_acquires_UK_workforhire_studio_Lab42.php work-for-hire development studio Lab42] for an undisclosed fee.

=== 2021 ===

*18th February - Electronic Arts completes its [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-02-18-ea-completes-codemasters-acquisition-and-hopes-to-revolutionise-racing-games $1.2bn acquisition] of UK-based racing games specialist Codemasters after outbidding a previous offer from Take-Two.

List of Ukie Board Members Over Time

2021-10-12T16:15:24Z

UkieColm:

== 2021 ==
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Position on Board
!Job title
!Company
|-
|Dr Jo Twist OBE
|
|CEO
|Ukie
|-
|Stuart Dinsey
|Ukie Chair
|Chairman
|Curve Digital
|-
|Dave Gould
|Ukie Vice Chair
|Snr Director of Sales UK & Export
|Take 2 Interactive
|-
|Liz Fitzgerald
|Ukie Treasurer
|Director of Finance and Operations
|Sony UK
|-
|Nina Collins
|
|Production Manager
|Auroch Digital
|-
|Debbie Bestwick MBE
|
|CEO
|Team17
|-
|Katherine Bidwell
|
|Co-founder
|State of Play Games
|-
|Sean Brennan
|
|European Managing Director
|ZeniMaxBethesda
|-
|Helen Burnill
|
|Founder
|EMP
|-
|James Butcher
|
|Xbox UK and Ireland Category Director
|Microsoft
|-
|Adam Campbell
|
|Director of Product
|Azoomee
|-
|Mark Cox
|
|European Director of Brand
|Riot Games
|-
|Andy Davis
|
|Commercial Director
|Capcom Europe
|-
|Angela Dickson
|
|GM, UK and Ireland
|Activision Blizzard
|-
|Jonathan Edwards
|
|Head of Sales
|Warner Bros
|-
|Des Gayle
|
|Founder and Producer
|Altered Gene
|-
|Thomas Hegarty
|
|Production and Finance Director
|Roll7
|-
|Li Ma
|
|Director of UK and Ireland
|Tencent
|-
|Phil Mansell
|
|CEO
|Jagex
|-
|Paul Metcalfe
|
|eCommerce Director
|Nintendo
|-
|Ranjani Natarajan
|
|Senior Producer
|Robot Teddy
|-
|Harinder Sangha
|
|Operations Director
|Sumo Digital
|-
|Kirsty Rigden
|
|Operations Director
|FuturLab
|-
|Maria Sayans
|
|CEO
|ustwo games
|-
|Giselle Stewart
|
|Director, UK Corporate Affairs
|Ubisoft
|-
|Andy Tomlinson
|
|Director of Public Policy
|Electronic Arts
|-
|Tim Woodley
|
|Head of Publishing
|Hello Games
|}

== 2020 ==
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Position on Board
!Job title
!Company
|-
|Stuart Dinsey
|Ukie Chair
|Chairman
|Curve Digital
|-
|Dave Gould
|Ukie Vice Chair
|Snr Director of Sales UK & Export
|Take 2 Interactive
|-
|Liz Fitzgerald
|Ukie Treasurer
|Director of Finance and Operations
|Sony Entertainment UK
|-
|Dr Jo Twist OBE
|
|CEO
|Ukie
|-
|Ian Livingstone CBE
|
|Director
|Fusebox Games
|-
|Simon Barratt
|
|Cofounder
|Cooperative Innovations
|-
|Katherine Bidwell
|
|Co-founder
|State of Play Games
|-
|Andy Davis
|
|Commercial Director
|Capcom Europe
|-
|Des Gayle
|
|Founder and Producer
|Altered Gene
|-
|Miles Jacobson
|
|Studio Director
|Sports Interactive
|-
|Veronique Lallier
|
|European Managing Director
|Hi-Rez Studios
|-
|Phil Mansell
|
|CEO
|Jagex
|-
|Andy Payne OBE
|
|CEO & Founder
|Just Flight
|-
|Kirsty Rigden
|
|Development Director
|FuturLab
|-
|James Butcher
|
|Xbox UK and Ireland Category Director
|Microsoft
|-
|Helen Burnill
|
|Founder
|EMP Interactive
|-
|Richard Ball
|
|VP, Business and Legal Affairs
|Warner Bros
|-
|Angela Dickson
|
|GM, UK and Ireland
|Activision Blizzard
|-
|Nina Collins
|
|Partnership & Production Manager
|Auroch Digital
|-
|Thomas Hegarty
|
|Production and Finance Director
|Roll7
|-
|Samantha Ebelthite
|
|UK Country Manager
|Electronic Arts
|-
|Mark Cox
|
|European Director of Brand
|Riot Games
|-
|Paul Metcalfe
|
|eCommerce Director
|Nintendo
|-
|Sean Brennan
|
|European Managing Director
|ZeniMaxBethesda
|-
|Debbie Bestwick MBE
|
|CEO
|Team17
|-
|Giselle Stewart
|
|Director, UK Corporate Affairs
|Ubisoft
|}

== 2019 ==
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Position on Board
!Job title
!Company
|-
|Noirin Carmody
|Chair
|Co-Founder and COO
|Revolution Software
|-
|Ian Livingstone OBE
|Vice Chair
|Chairman
|Playmob
|-
|Dave Gould
|Treasurer
|Senior Director of Sales UK & Export
|Take 2 Interactive
|-
|Simon Barratt
|
|Director
|Barog Game Labs
|-
|Katharine Bidwell
|
|Co-Founder
|State Of Play Games
|-
|Neil Boyd
|
|European Anti-Piracy Counsel
|Nintendo Europe
|-
|Sean Brennan
|
|European Managing Director
|ZeniMax Bethesda
|-
|Helen Burnill
|
|Commercial Director
|Mediatonic
|-
|Shaun Campbell
|
|UK Country Manager
|Electronic Arts
|-
|John Clark
|
|EVP
|SEGA Europe
|-
|Rob Cooper
|
|MD
|Ubisoft
|-
|Andy Davis
|
|Commercial Director
|CE Europe
|-
|Stuart Disney
|
|Chairman
|Curve Digital
|-
|Harvey Eagle
|
|Director
|Microsoft
|-
|Liz Fitzgerald
|
|Finance & Ops Director
|Sony Entertainment
|-
|Des Gayle
|
|Founder & Producer
|Altered Gene
|-
|Miles Jacobson
|
|Studio Director
|Sports Interactive
|-
|Veronique Lallier
|
|MD
|Hi-Rez Studios
|-
|Phil Mansell
|
|CEO
|Jagex
|-
|Andy Payne OBE
|
|CEO
|AppyNation
|-
|Kirsty Rigden
|
|Operations Director
|FuturLab
|-
|Dr Jo Twist OBE
|
|CEO
|Ukie
|-
|Angela Dickson
|
|GM, UK & Ireland
|Activision Blizzard
|-
|Richard Ball
|
|VP, Business & Legal Affairs
|Warner Bros.
|}

== 2018 ==
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Position on Board
!Job title
!Company
|-
|Noirin Carmody
|Chair
|Co-Founder and COO
|Revolution Software
|-
|Ian Livingstone OBE
|Vice Chair
|Chairman
|Playmob
|-
|Dave Gould
|Treasurer
|Senior Director of Sales UK & Export
|Take 2 Interactive
|-
|Simon Barratt
|
|Director
|Barog Game Labs
|-
|Katharine Bidwell
|
|Co-Founder
|State Of Play Games
|-
|Neil Boyd
|
|European Anti-Piracy Counsel
|Nintendo Europe
|-
|Sean Brennan
|
|European Managing Director
|ZeniMax Bethesda
|-
|Helen Burnill
|
|Commercial Director
|Mediatonic
|-
|Shaun Campbell
|
|UK Country Manager
|Electronic Arts
|-
|John Clark
|
|EVP
|SEGA Europe
|-
|Rob Cooper
|
|MD
|Ubisoft
|-
|Spencer Crossley
|
|UK Sales & Marketing Director
|Warner Bros. Interactive
|-
|Andy Davis
|
|Commercial Director
|CE Europe
|-
|Stuart Disney
|
|Chairman
|Curve Digital
|-
|Harvey Eagle
|
|Director
|Microsoft
|-
|Veronique Lallier
|
|MD
|Hi-Rez Studios
|-
|Warwick Light
|
|VP
|Sony Interactive Entertainment
|-
|Phil Mansell
|
|CEO
|Jagex
|-
|Andy Payne OBE
|
|CEO
|AppyNation
|-
|Kirsty Rigden
|
|Operations Director
|FuturLab
|-
|Ella Romanos
|
|Director
|Rocket Lolly Games
|-
|Roy Stackhouse
|
|VP
|Activision Blizzard
|-
|Dr Jo Twist OBE
|
|CEO
|Ukie
|-
|Tim Woodley
|
|SVP Global Brand & Marketing
|505 Games
|-
|Miles Jacobson
|
|Studio Director
|Sports Interactive
|}

== 2017 ==
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Position on Board
!Job title
!Company
|-
|Noirin Carmody
|Chair
|Co-Founder and COO
|Revolution Software
|-
|Ian Livingstone OBE
|Vice Chair
|Chairman
|Playmob
|-
|Dave Gould
|Treasurer
|Senior Director of Sales UK & Export
|Take 2 Interactive
|-
|Katherine Bidwell
|
|Co-Founder
|State of Play Games
|-
|Neil Boyd
|
|European Anti-Piracy Counsel
|Nintendo Europe
|-
|Shaun Campbell
|
|UK Country Manager
|Electronic Arts
|-
|John Clark
|
|Senior Vice President, Commercial Publishing
|SEGA Europe
|-
|Rob Cooper
|
|Managing Director Northern Europe and Export Territories
|Ubisoft
|-
|Spencer Crossley
|
|UK Sales & Marketing Director
|Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
|-
|Stuart Disney
|
|Chairman
|Curve Digital
|-
|Harvey Eagle
|
|Xbox UK Marketing Director
|Microsoft
|-
|Miles Jacobson OBE
|
|Studio Director
|Sports Interactive
|-
|Veronique Lallier
|
|European Managing Director
|Hi-Rez Studios
|-
|Warwick Light
|
|UK Managing Director and Vice President
|Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
|-
|Phil Mansell
|
|CEO
|Jagex
|-
|Andy Payne OBE
|
|CEO
|AppyNation
|-
|Kirsty Rigden
|
|Operations Director
|FuturLab
|-
|Ella Romanos
|
|Director
|Rocket Lolly Games
|-
|Roy Stackhouse
|
|Vice President - UK, Ireland & Benelux
|Activision Blizzard
|-
|Dr Jo Twist OBE
|
|CEO
|Ukie
|-
|Tim Woodley
|
|SVP Global Brand & Marketing
|505 Games
|}

== 2016 ==
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Position on Board
!Job title
!Company
|-
|Noirin Carmody
|Chair
|Co-Founder and COO
|Revolution Software
|-
|Ian Livingstone OBE
|Vice Chair
|Chairman
|Playmob
|-
|Andy Payne OBE
|Treasurer
|CEO
|AppyNation
|-
|Simon Barratt
|
|Director
|Barog Game Labs
|-
|Katherine Bidwell
|
|Co-Founder
|State of Play Games
|-
|Neil Boyd
|
|European Anti-Piracy Counsel
|Nintendo Europe
|-
|Shaun Campbell
|
|UK Country Manager
|Electronic Arts
|-
|John Clark
|
|Senior Vice President Commercial Publishing
|SEGA Europe
|-
|Rob Cooper
|
|Managing Director Northern Europe and Export Territories
|Ubisoft
|-
|Spencer Crossley
|
|UK Sales & Marketing Director
|Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
|-
|Stuart Disney
|
|Chairman
|Curve Digital
|-
|Dave Gould
|
|Senior Director of Sales UK & Export
|Take 2 Interactive
|-
|Jonathan Grimes
|
|Regional Director - Retail Sales and Marketing
|Microsoft
|-
|Miles Jacobson OBE
|
|Studio Director
|Sports Interactive
|-
|Warwick Light
|
|UK Managing Director and Vice President
|Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
|-
|Rob Miller
|
|Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary
|King
|-
|Kirsty Rigden
|
|Operations Director
|FuturLab
|-
|Ella Romanos
|
|Commercial Director
|Strike Gamelabs
|-
|Helena Santos
|
|Lead Programmer
|Modern Dream
|-
|Roy Stackhouse
|
|Vice President - UK, Ireland & Benelux
|Activision Blizzard
|-
|Dr Jo Twist OBE
|
|CEO
|Ukie
|}

== 2015 ==
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Position on Board
!Job title
!Company
|-
|Andy Payne OBE
|Chair
|MD
|Mastertronic
|-
|Ian Livingstone OBE
|Vice Chair
|Vice Chair
|Playmob
|-
|Shaun Campbell
|
|UK Country Manager
|Electronic Arts
|-
|Neil Boyd
|
|European Anti-Piracy Counsel
|Nintendo Europe
|-
|Stuart Disney
|
|Chairman
|Curve Digital
|-
|James Brooksby
|
|CEO
|Born Ready Games
|-
|Noirin Carmody
|
|Owner and COO
|Revolution Software
|-
|John Clark
|
|Vice President Commercial Publishing
|SEGA Europe
|-
|Rob Cooper
|
|Managing Director Northern Europe and Export Territories
|Ubisoft
|-
|Spencer Crossley
|
|UK Sales & Marketing Director
|Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
|-
|Fergal Gara
|
|VP and MD UK & Ireland
|Sony Computer Entertainment
|-
|Jonathan Grimes
|
|Regional Director - Retail Sales and Marketing
|Microsoft
|-
|Geoff Heath OBE
|
|
|Mediatonic
|-
|Miles Jacobson OBE
|
|Studio Director
|Sports Interactive
|-
|Rob Miller
|
|Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary
|King
|-
|Ella Romanos
|
|Commercial Director
|Strike Gamelabs
|-
|Helana Santos
|
|Co-Founder
|Modern Dream
|-
|Roy Stackhouse
|
|Vice President - UK & Ireland, Benelux
|Activision Blizzard
|-
|Tom Stone
|
|Managing Director
|TT Games Publishing
|-
|Jo Twist
|
|CEO
|Ukie
|}

== 2014 ==
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Position on Board
!Job title
!Company
|-
|Andy Payne OBE
|Chairman
|MD
|Mastertronic, AppyNation, Gambitious
|-
|Ian Livingstone OBE
|
|Vice Chairman
|Playmob
|-
|Simon Barratt
|
|Managing Director & Owner
|Four Door Lemon
|-
|Neil Boyd
|
|European Anti-Piracy Counsel
|Nintendo Europe
|-
|James Brooksby
|
|CEO
|Born Ready Games
|-
|Noirin Carmody
|
|Owner and COO
|Revolution Software
|-
|John Clark
|
|Senior Vice President Commercial Publishing
|SEGA Europe
|-
|Rob Cooper
|
|Managing Director Northern Europe and Export Territories
|Ubisoft
|-
|Spencer Crossley
|
|UK Sales & Marketing Director
|Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
|-
|Fergal Gara
|
|VP and MD UK & Ireland
|Sony Computer Entertainment
|-
|Jonathan Grimes
|
|Regional Director - Retail Sales and Marketing
|Microsoft
|-
|Geoff Heath OBE
|
|
|Mediatonic
|-
|Miles Jacobson OBE
|
|Studio Director
|Sports Interactive
|-
|Ella Romanos
|
|Commercial Director
|Strike Gamelabs
|-
|Keith Ramsdale
|
|Vice President EU Major Markets
|Electronic Arts
|-
|Roy Stackhouse
|
|General Manager UK & Ireland
|Activision Blizzard
|-
|Tom Stone
|
|Managing Director
|TT Games Publishing
|-
|Alice Taylor
|
|CEO & Founder
|MakieLab
|-
|Jo Twist
|
|CEO
|Ukie
|-
|Paul Wedgwood
|
|CEO
|Splash Damage
|}

== 2013 ==

{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Position on Board
!Job title
!Company
|-
|Andy Payne OBE
|Chairman
|MD
|Mastertronic
|-
|Ian Livingstone OBE
|Vice Chairman
|Life President
|Eidos
|-
|Neil Boyd
|
|Senior European Anti-Piracy Counsel
|Nintendo Europe
|-
|Noirin Carmody
|
|Owner and COO
|Revolution Software
|-
|John Clark
|
|Vice President, Digital Distribution (PC)
|SEGA Europe
|-
|Rob Cooper
|
|Managing Director Northern Europe and Export Territories
|Ubisoft
|-
|Spencer Crossley
|
|UK Sales & Marketing Director
|Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
|-
|Fergal Gara
|
|VP and MD UK & Ireland
|Sony Computer Entertainment
|-
|Jonathan Grimes
|
|Regional Director - Retail Sales and Marketing
|Microsoft
|-
|Geoff Heath OBE
|
|
|Mediatonic
|-
|Miles Jacobson OBE
|
|Studio Director
|Sports Interactive
|-
|Keith Ramsdale
|
|Vice President & General Manager, Northern Europe
|Electronic Arts
|-
|Alice Taylor
|
|CEO and Founder
|MakeLab
|-
|Matt Spencer
|
|Vice President EMEA & ANZ Sales
|Take 2 Interactive Software
|-
|Jo Twist
|
|CEO
|Ukie
|-
|Paul Wedgwood
|
|CEO
|Splash Damage
|}

== 2012 ==

{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Position on Board
!Job title
!Company
|-
|Andy Payne OBE
|Chairman
|MD
|Mastertronic, AppyNation, Gambitious
|-
|Ian Livingstone OBE
|Vice Chairman
|Life President
|Eidos
|-
|Matt Caroll
|Treasurer
|Commercial Director, Games
|The Walt Disney Company EMEA
|-
|Andy Barker
|
|Director of Consumer Services
|SCEE
|-
|John Clark
|
|Vice President, Digital Distribution (PC)
|SEGA Europe
|-
|Rob Cooper
|
|Managing Director
|Ubisoft
|-
|Spencer Crossley
|
|Sales & Marketing Director - Computer Video & Digital Games, UK & Eire
|Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment
|-
|Martin Defries
|
|Managing Director & COO
|Rising Star Games
|-
|Jonathan Grimes
|
|Regional Director - Retail Sales and Marketing
|Microsoft
|-
|Geoff Heath OBE
|
|CEO
|4mm Games
|-
|Peter Hepworth
|
|Managing Director, UK & Ireland
|Activision Blizzard
|-
|Keith Ramsdale
|
|Vice President & General Manager, Northern Europe
|Electronic Arts
|-
|Sarah Rogers
|
|European Sales and Marketing Director
|NC Soft
|-
|Matt Spencer
|
|Vice President EMEA & ANZ Sales
|Take 2 Interactive Software
|-

Stats About Ukie

2021-10-12T15:55:06Z

UkieColm: /* Membership Over Time */

== Overview ==

Ukie is the trade association for the UK’s video game and interactive entertainment industry, which exists to support, grow and promote the UK interactive entertainment industry by fostering the right economic, cultural, political and social environment needed for games businesses to thrive. Ultimately, Ukie aims to make the UK the best place in the world to make, sell and play games.

Founded in 1989 (under the name Elspa), Ukie is strictly a not-for-profit, funded by the industry, primarily via the membership fee and governed by a board of directors appointed or elected from member companies.

== Annual Reviews ==

*[https://ukie.org.uk/annual-review-2021 Annual Review 2021]
*[https://ukie.org.uk/resources/ukie-annual-review-2020 Annual Review 2020]
*[https://ukie.org.uk/resources/ukie-annual-review-2019 Annual Review 2019]
*[https://ukie.org.uk/resources/ukie-annual-review-2018 Annual Review 2018]
*[https://ukie.org.uk/resources/ukie-annual-review-2017 Annual Review 2017]
*[https://ukie.org.uk/resources/ukie-annual-review-2016 Annual Review 2016]
*[https://ukie.org.uk/resources/ukie-annual-review-2015 Annual Review 2015]
*[https://ukie.org.uk/resources/ukie-annual-review-2014 Annual Review 2014]
*[http://ukie.org.uk/sites/default/files/Ukie%20annual%20review%202013.pdf Annual Review 2013]
*[http://ukie.org.uk/sites/default/files/Ukie-annual-review-2012.pdf Annual Review 2012]

== Membership Over Time ==

{| class="wikitable"
! Year
! Number of Members
|-
|2021
|526
|-
|2020
|496
|-
|2019
|466
|-
|2018
|410
|-
|2017
|360
|-
|2016
|305
|-
|2015
|264
|-
|2014
|229
|-
|2013
|181
|-
|2012
|136
|-
|2011
|90
|-
|2010
|42
|}

== Board Members Over Time ==

[[List of Ukie Board Members Over Time]]

List of Ukie Board Members Over Time

2021-10-12T15:43:19Z

UkieColm: /* 2020 */

== 2020 ==
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Position on Board
!Job title
!Company
|-
|Stuart Dinsey
|Ukie Chair
|Chairman
|Curve Digital
|-
|Dave Gould
|Ukie Vice Chair
|Snr Director of Sales UK & Export
|Take 2 Interactive
|-
|Liz Fitzgerald
|Ukie Treasurer
|Director of Finance and Operations
|Sony Entertainment UK
|-
|Dr Jo Twist OBE
|
|CEO
|Ukie
|-
|Ian Livingstone CBE
|
|Director
|Fusebox Games
|-
|Simon Barratt
|
|Cofounder
|Cooperative Innovations
|-
|Katherine Bidwell
|
|Co-founder
|State of Play Games
|-
|Andy Davis
|
|Commercial Director
|Capcom Europe
|-
|Des Gayle
|
|Founder and Producer
|Altered Gene
|-
|Miles Jacobson
|
|Studio Director
|Sports Interactive
|-
|Veronique Lallier
|
|European Managing Director
|Hi-Rez Studios
|-
|Phil Mansell
|
|CEO
|Jagex
|-
|Andy Payne OBE
|
|CEO & Founder
|Just Flight
|-
|Kirsty Rigden
|
|Development Director
|FuturLab
|-
|James Butcher
|
|Xbox UK and Ireland Category Director
|Microsoft
|-
|Helen Burnill
|
|Founder
|EMP Interactive
|-
|Richard Ball
|
|VP, Business and Legal Affairs
|Warner Bros
|-
|Angela Dickson
|
|GM, UK and Ireland
|Activision Blizzard
|-
|Nina Collins
|
|Partnership & Production Manager
|Auroch Digital
|-
|Thomas Hegarty
|
|Production and Finance Director
|Roll7
|-
|Samantha Ebelthite
|
|UK Country Manager
|Electronic Arts
|-
|Mark Cox
|
|European Director of Brand
|Riot Games
|-
|Paul Metcalfe
|
|eCommerce Director
|Nintendo
|-
|Sean Brennan
|
|European Managing Director
|ZeniMaxBethesda
|-
|Debbie Bestwick MBE
|
|CEO
|Team17
|-
|Giselle Stewart
|
|Director, UK Corporate Affairs
|Ubisoft
|}

== 2019 ==
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Position on Board
!Job title
!Company
|-
|Noirin Carmody
|Chair
|Co-Founder and COO
|Revolution Software
|-
|Ian Livingstone OBE
|Vice Chair
|Chairman
|Playmob
|-
|Dave Gould
|Treasurer
|Senior Director of Sales UK & Export
|Take 2 Interactive
|-
|Simon Barratt
|
|Director
|Barog Game Labs
|-
|Katharine Bidwell
|
|Co-Founder
|State Of Play Games
|-
|Neil Boyd
|
|European Anti-Piracy Counsel
|Nintendo Europe
|-
|Sean Brennan
|
|European Managing Director
|ZeniMax Bethesda
|-
|Helen Burnill
|
|Commercial Director
|Mediatonic
|-
|Shaun Campbell
|
|UK Country Manager
|Electronic Arts
|-
|John Clark
|
|EVP
|SEGA Europe
|-
|Rob Cooper
|
|MD
|Ubisoft
|-
|Andy Davis
|
|Commercial Director
|CE Europe
|-
|Stuart Disney
|
|Chairman
|Curve Digital
|-
|Harvey Eagle
|
|Director
|Microsoft
|-
|Liz Fitzgerald
|
|Finance & Ops Director
|Sony Entertainment
|-
|Des Gayle
|
|Founder & Producer
|Altered Gene
|-
|Miles Jacobson
|
|Studio Director
|Sports Interactive
|-
|Veronique Lallier
|
|MD
|Hi-Rez Studios
|-
|Phil Mansell
|
|CEO
|Jagex
|-
|Andy Payne OBE
|
|CEO
|AppyNation
|-
|Kirsty Rigden
|
|Operations Director
|FuturLab
|-
|Dr Jo Twist OBE
|
|CEO
|Ukie
|-
|Angela Dickson
|
|GM, UK & Ireland
|Activision Blizzard
|-
|Richard Ball
|
|VP, Business & Legal Affairs
|Warner Bros.
|}

== 2018 ==
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Position on Board
!Job title
!Company
|-
|Noirin Carmody
|Chair
|Co-Founder and COO
|Revolution Software
|-
|Ian Livingstone OBE
|Vice Chair
|Chairman
|Playmob
|-
|Dave Gould
|Treasurer
|Senior Director of Sales UK & Export
|Take 2 Interactive
|-
|Simon Barratt
|
|Director
|Barog Game Labs
|-
|Katharine Bidwell
|
|Co-Founder
|State Of Play Games
|-
|Neil Boyd
|
|European Anti-Piracy Counsel
|Nintendo Europe
|-
|Sean Brennan
|
|European Managing Director
|ZeniMax Bethesda
|-
|Helen Burnill
|
|Commercial Director
|Mediatonic
|-
|Shaun Campbell
|
|UK Country Manager
|Electronic Arts
|-
|John Clark
|
|EVP
|SEGA Europe
|-
|Rob Cooper
|
|MD
|Ubisoft
|-
|Spencer Crossley
|
|UK Sales & Marketing Director
|Warner Bros. Interactive
|-
|Andy Davis
|
|Commercial Director
|CE Europe
|-
|Stuart Disney
|
|Chairman
|Curve Digital
|-
|Harvey Eagle
|
|Director
|Microsoft
|-
|Veronique Lallier
|
|MD
|Hi-Rez Studios
|-
|Warwick Light
|
|VP
|Sony Interactive Entertainment
|-
|Phil Mansell
|
|CEO
|Jagex
|-
|Andy Payne OBE
|
|CEO
|AppyNation
|-
|Kirsty Rigden
|
|Operations Director
|FuturLab
|-
|Ella Romanos
|
|Director
|Rocket Lolly Games
|-
|Roy Stackhouse
|
|VP
|Activision Blizzard
|-
|Dr Jo Twist OBE
|
|CEO
|Ukie
|-
|Tim Woodley
|
|SVP Global Brand & Marketing
|505 Games
|-
|Miles Jacobson
|
|Studio Director
|Sports Interactive
|}

== 2017 ==
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Position on Board
!Job title
!Company
|-
|Noirin Carmody
|Chair
|Co-Founder and COO
|Revolution Software
|-
|Ian Livingstone OBE
|Vice Chair
|Chairman
|Playmob
|-
|Dave Gould
|Treasurer
|Senior Director of Sales UK & Export
|Take 2 Interactive
|-
|Katherine Bidwell
|
|Co-Founder
|State of Play Games
|-
|Neil Boyd
|
|European Anti-Piracy Counsel
|Nintendo Europe
|-
|Shaun Campbell
|
|UK Country Manager
|Electronic Arts
|-
|John Clark
|
|Senior Vice President, Commercial Publishing
|SEGA Europe
|-
|Rob Cooper
|
|Managing Director Northern Europe and Export Territories
|Ubisoft
|-
|Spencer Crossley
|
|UK Sales & Marketing Director
|Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
|-
|Stuart Disney
|
|Chairman
|Curve Digital
|-
|Harvey Eagle
|
|Xbox UK Marketing Director
|Microsoft
|-
|Miles Jacobson OBE
|
|Studio Director
|Sports Interactive
|-
|Veronique Lallier
|
|European Managing Director
|Hi-Rez Studios
|-
|Warwick Light
|
|UK Managing Director and Vice President
|Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
|-
|Phil Mansell
|
|CEO
|Jagex
|-
|Andy Payne OBE
|
|CEO
|AppyNation
|-
|Kirsty Rigden
|
|Operations Director
|FuturLab
|-
|Ella Romanos
|
|Director
|Rocket Lolly Games
|-
|Roy Stackhouse
|
|Vice President - UK, Ireland & Benelux
|Activision Blizzard
|-
|Dr Jo Twist OBE
|
|CEO
|Ukie
|-
|Tim Woodley
|
|SVP Global Brand & Marketing
|505 Games
|}

== 2016 ==
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Position on Board
!Job title
!Company
|-
|Noirin Carmody
|Chair
|Co-Founder and COO
|Revolution Software
|-
|Ian Livingstone OBE
|Vice Chair
|Chairman
|Playmob
|-
|Andy Payne OBE
|Treasurer
|CEO
|AppyNation
|-
|Simon Barratt
|
|Director
|Barog Game Labs
|-
|Katherine Bidwell
|
|Co-Founder
|State of Play Games
|-
|Neil Boyd
|
|European Anti-Piracy Counsel
|Nintendo Europe
|-
|Shaun Campbell
|
|UK Country Manager
|Electronic Arts
|-
|John Clark
|
|Senior Vice President Commercial Publishing
|SEGA Europe
|-
|Rob Cooper
|
|Managing Director Northern Europe and Export Territories
|Ubisoft
|-
|Spencer Crossley
|
|UK Sales & Marketing Director
|Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
|-
|Stuart Disney
|
|Chairman
|Curve Digital
|-
|Dave Gould
|
|Senior Director of Sales UK & Export
|Take 2 Interactive
|-
|Jonathan Grimes
|
|Regional Director - Retail Sales and Marketing
|Microsoft
|-
|Miles Jacobson OBE
|
|Studio Director
|Sports Interactive
|-
|Warwick Light
|
|UK Managing Director and Vice President
|Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
|-
|Rob Miller
|
|Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary
|King
|-
|Kirsty Rigden
|
|Operations Director
|FuturLab
|-
|Ella Romanos
|
|Commercial Director
|Strike Gamelabs
|-
|Helena Santos
|
|Lead Programmer
|Modern Dream
|-
|Roy Stackhouse
|
|Vice President - UK, Ireland & Benelux
|Activision Blizzard
|-
|Dr Jo Twist OBE
|
|CEO
|Ukie
|}

== 2015 ==
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Position on Board
!Job title
!Company
|-
|Andy Payne OBE
|Chair
|MD
|Mastertronic
|-
|Ian Livingstone OBE
|Vice Chair
|Vice Chair
|Playmob
|-
|Shaun Campbell
|
|UK Country Manager
|Electronic Arts
|-
|Neil Boyd
|
|European Anti-Piracy Counsel
|Nintendo Europe
|-
|Stuart Disney
|
|Chairman
|Curve Digital
|-
|James Brooksby
|
|CEO
|Born Ready Games
|-
|Noirin Carmody
|
|Owner and COO
|Revolution Software
|-
|John Clark
|
|Vice President Commercial Publishing
|SEGA Europe
|-
|Rob Cooper
|
|Managing Director Northern Europe and Export Territories
|Ubisoft
|-
|Spencer Crossley
|
|UK Sales & Marketing Director
|Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
|-
|Fergal Gara
|
|VP and MD UK & Ireland
|Sony Computer Entertainment
|-
|Jonathan Grimes
|
|Regional Director - Retail Sales and Marketing
|Microsoft
|-
|Geoff Heath OBE
|
|
|Mediatonic
|-
|Miles Jacobson OBE
|
|Studio Director
|Sports Interactive
|-
|Rob Miller
|
|Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary
|King
|-
|Ella Romanos
|
|Commercial Director
|Strike Gamelabs
|-
|Helana Santos
|
|Co-Founder
|Modern Dream
|-
|Roy Stackhouse
|
|Vice President - UK & Ireland, Benelux
|Activision Blizzard
|-
|Tom Stone
|
|Managing Director
|TT Games Publishing
|-
|Jo Twist
|
|CEO
|Ukie
|}

== 2014 ==
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Position on Board
!Job title
!Company
|-
|Andy Payne OBE
|Chairman
|MD
|Mastertronic, AppyNation, Gambitious
|-
|Ian Livingstone OBE
|
|Vice Chairman
|Playmob
|-
|Simon Barratt
|
|Managing Director & Owner
|Four Door Lemon
|-
|Neil Boyd
|
|European Anti-Piracy Counsel
|Nintendo Europe
|-
|James Brooksby
|
|CEO
|Born Ready Games
|-
|Noirin Carmody
|
|Owner and COO
|Revolution Software
|-
|John Clark
|
|Senior Vice President Commercial Publishing
|SEGA Europe
|-
|Rob Cooper
|
|Managing Director Northern Europe and Export Territories
|Ubisoft
|-
|Spencer Crossley
|
|UK Sales & Marketing Director
|Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
|-
|Fergal Gara
|
|VP and MD UK & Ireland
|Sony Computer Entertainment
|-
|Jonathan Grimes
|
|Regional Director - Retail Sales and Marketing
|Microsoft
|-
|Geoff Heath OBE
|
|
|Mediatonic
|-
|Miles Jacobson OBE
|
|Studio Director
|Sports Interactive
|-
|Ella Romanos
|
|Commercial Director
|Strike Gamelabs
|-
|Keith Ramsdale
|
|Vice President EU Major Markets
|Electronic Arts
|-
|Roy Stackhouse
|
|General Manager UK & Ireland
|Activision Blizzard
|-
|Tom Stone
|
|Managing Director
|TT Games Publishing
|-
|Alice Taylor
|
|CEO & Founder
|MakieLab
|-
|Jo Twist
|
|CEO
|Ukie
|-
|Paul Wedgwood
|
|CEO
|Splash Damage
|}

== 2013 ==

{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Position on Board
!Job title
!Company
|-
|Andy Payne OBE
|Chairman
|MD
|Mastertronic
|-
|Ian Livingstone OBE
|Vice Chairman
|Life President
|Eidos
|-
|Neil Boyd
|
|Senior European Anti-Piracy Counsel
|Nintendo Europe
|-
|Noirin Carmody
|
|Owner and COO
|Revolution Software
|-
|John Clark
|
|Vice President, Digital Distribution (PC)
|SEGA Europe
|-
|Rob Cooper
|
|Managing Director Northern Europe and Export Territories
|Ubisoft
|-
|Spencer Crossley
|
|UK Sales & Marketing Director
|Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
|-
|Fergal Gara
|
|VP and MD UK & Ireland
|Sony Computer Entertainment
|-
|Jonathan Grimes
|
|Regional Director - Retail Sales and Marketing
|Microsoft
|-
|Geoff Heath OBE
|
|
|Mediatonic
|-
|Miles Jacobson OBE
|
|Studio Director
|Sports Interactive
|-
|Keith Ramsdale
|
|Vice President & General Manager, Northern Europe
|Electronic Arts
|-
|Alice Taylor
|
|CEO and Founder
|MakeLab
|-
|Matt Spencer
|
|Vice President EMEA & ANZ Sales
|Take 2 Interactive Software
|-
|Jo Twist
|
|CEO
|Ukie
|-
|Paul Wedgwood
|
|CEO
|Splash Damage
|}

== 2012 ==

{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Position on Board
!Job title
!Company
|-
|Andy Payne OBE
|Chairman
|MD
|Mastertronic, AppyNation, Gambitious
|-
|Ian Livingstone OBE
|Vice Chairman
|Life President
|Eidos
|-
|Matt Caroll
|Treasurer
|Commercial Director, Games
|The Walt Disney Company EMEA
|-
|Andy Barker
|
|Director of Consumer Services
|SCEE
|-
|John Clark
|
|Vice President, Digital Distribution (PC)
|SEGA Europe
|-
|Rob Cooper
|
|Managing Director
|Ubisoft
|-
|Spencer Crossley
|
|Sales & Marketing Director - Computer Video & Digital Games, UK & Eire
|Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment
|-
|Martin Defries
|
|Managing Director & COO
|Rising Star Games
|-
|Jonathan Grimes
|
|Regional Director - Retail Sales and Marketing
|Microsoft
|-
|Geoff Heath OBE
|
|CEO
|4mm Games
|-
|Peter Hepworth
|
|Managing Director, UK & Ireland
|Activision Blizzard
|-
|Keith Ramsdale
|
|Vice President & General Manager, Northern Europe
|Electronic Arts
|-
|Sarah Rogers
|
|European Sales and Marketing Director
|NC Soft
|-
|Matt Spencer
|
|Vice President EMEA & ANZ Sales
|Take 2 Interactive Software
|-

List of Ukie Board Members Over Time

2021-10-12T15:42:15Z

UkieColm:

== 2020 ==
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Position on Board
!Job title
!Company
|-
|Stuart Dinsey
|Ukie Chair
|Chairman
|Curve Digital
|-
|Dave Gould
|Ukie Vice Chair
|Snr Director of Sales UK & Export
|Take 2 Interactive
|-
|Liz Fitzgerald
|Ukie Treasurer
|Director of Finance and Operations
|Sony Entertainment UK
|-
|Dr Jo Twist OBE
|
|CEO
|Ukie
|-
|Ian Livingstone CBE
|
|Director
|Fusebox Games
|-
|Simon Barratt
|
|Cofounder
|Cooperative Innovations
|-
|Katherine Bidwell
|
|Co-founder
|State of Play Games
|-
|Andy Davis
|
|Commercial Director
|Capcom Europe
|-
|Des Gayle
|
|Founder and Producer
|Altered Gene
|-
|Miles Jacobson
|
|Studio Director
|Sports Interactive
|-
|Veronique Lallier
|
|European Managing Director
|Hi-Rez Studios
|-
|Phil Mansell
|
|CEO
|Jagex
|-
|Andy Payne OBE
|
|CEO & Founder
|Just Flight
|-
|Kirsty Rigden
|
|Development Director
|FuturLab
|-
|James Butcher
|
|Xbox UK and Ireland Category Director
|Microsoft
|-
|Helen Burnill
|
|Founder
|EMP Interactive
|-
|Richard Ball
|
|VP, Business and Legal Affairs
|Warner Bros
|-
|Angela Dickson
|
|GM, UK and Ireland
|Activision Blizzard
|-
|Nina Collins
|
|Partnership & Production Manager
|Auroch Digital
|-
|Thomas Hegarty
|
|Production and Finance Director
|Roll7
|-
|Samantha Ebelthite
|
|UK Country Manager
|Electronic Arts
|-
|Mark Cox
|
|European Director of Brand
|Riot Games
|-
|Paul Metcalfe
|
|eCommerce Director
|Nintendo
|-
|Sean Brennan
|
|European Managing Director
|ZeniMaxBethesda
|Debbie Bestwick MBE
|
|CEO
|Team17
|Giselle Stewart
|
|Director, UK Corporate Affairs
|Ubisoft
|}

== 2019 ==
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Position on Board
!Job title
!Company
|-
|Noirin Carmody
|Chair
|Co-Founder and COO
|Revolution Software
|-
|Ian Livingstone OBE
|Vice Chair
|Chairman
|Playmob
|-
|Dave Gould
|Treasurer
|Senior Director of Sales UK & Export
|Take 2 Interactive
|-
|Simon Barratt
|
|Director
|Barog Game Labs
|-
|Katharine Bidwell
|
|Co-Founder
|State Of Play Games
|-
|Neil Boyd
|
|European Anti-Piracy Counsel
|Nintendo Europe
|-
|Sean Brennan
|
|European Managing Director
|ZeniMax Bethesda
|-
|Helen Burnill
|
|Commercial Director
|Mediatonic
|-
|Shaun Campbell
|
|UK Country Manager
|Electronic Arts
|-
|John Clark
|
|EVP
|SEGA Europe
|-
|Rob Cooper
|
|MD
|Ubisoft
|-
|Andy Davis
|
|Commercial Director
|CE Europe
|-
|Stuart Disney
|
|Chairman
|Curve Digital
|-
|Harvey Eagle
|
|Director
|Microsoft
|-
|Liz Fitzgerald
|
|Finance & Ops Director
|Sony Entertainment
|-
|Des Gayle
|
|Founder & Producer
|Altered Gene
|-
|Miles Jacobson
|
|Studio Director
|Sports Interactive
|-
|Veronique Lallier
|
|MD
|Hi-Rez Studios
|-
|Phil Mansell
|
|CEO
|Jagex
|-
|Andy Payne OBE
|
|CEO
|AppyNation
|-
|Kirsty Rigden
|
|Operations Director
|FuturLab
|-
|Dr Jo Twist OBE
|
|CEO
|Ukie
|-
|Angela Dickson
|
|GM, UK & Ireland
|Activision Blizzard
|-
|Richard Ball
|
|VP, Business & Legal Affairs
|Warner Bros.
|}

== 2018 ==
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Position on Board
!Job title
!Company
|-
|Noirin Carmody
|Chair
|Co-Founder and COO
|Revolution Software
|-
|Ian Livingstone OBE
|Vice Chair
|Chairman
|Playmob
|-
|Dave Gould
|Treasurer
|Senior Director of Sales UK & Export
|Take 2 Interactive
|-
|Simon Barratt
|
|Director
|Barog Game Labs
|-
|Katharine Bidwell
|
|Co-Founder
|State Of Play Games
|-
|Neil Boyd
|
|European Anti-Piracy Counsel
|Nintendo Europe
|-
|Sean Brennan
|
|European Managing Director
|ZeniMax Bethesda
|-
|Helen Burnill
|
|Commercial Director
|Mediatonic
|-
|Shaun Campbell
|
|UK Country Manager
|Electronic Arts
|-
|John Clark
|
|EVP
|SEGA Europe
|-
|Rob Cooper
|
|MD
|Ubisoft
|-
|Spencer Crossley
|
|UK Sales & Marketing Director
|Warner Bros. Interactive
|-
|Andy Davis
|
|Commercial Director
|CE Europe
|-
|Stuart Disney
|
|Chairman
|Curve Digital
|-
|Harvey Eagle
|
|Director
|Microsoft
|-
|Veronique Lallier
|
|MD
|Hi-Rez Studios
|-
|Warwick Light
|
|VP
|Sony Interactive Entertainment
|-
|Phil Mansell
|
|CEO
|Jagex
|-
|Andy Payne OBE
|
|CEO
|AppyNation
|-
|Kirsty Rigden
|
|Operations Director
|FuturLab
|-
|Ella Romanos
|
|Director
|Rocket Lolly Games
|-
|Roy Stackhouse
|
|VP
|Activision Blizzard
|-
|Dr Jo Twist OBE
|
|CEO
|Ukie
|-
|Tim Woodley
|
|SVP Global Brand & Marketing
|505 Games
|-
|Miles Jacobson
|
|Studio Director
|Sports Interactive
|}

== 2017 ==
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Position on Board
!Job title
!Company
|-
|Noirin Carmody
|Chair
|Co-Founder and COO
|Revolution Software
|-
|Ian Livingstone OBE
|Vice Chair
|Chairman
|Playmob
|-
|Dave Gould
|Treasurer
|Senior Director of Sales UK & Export
|Take 2 Interactive
|-
|Katherine Bidwell
|
|Co-Founder
|State of Play Games
|-
|Neil Boyd
|
|European Anti-Piracy Counsel
|Nintendo Europe
|-
|Shaun Campbell
|
|UK Country Manager
|Electronic Arts
|-
|John Clark
|
|Senior Vice President, Commercial Publishing
|SEGA Europe
|-
|Rob Cooper
|
|Managing Director Northern Europe and Export Territories
|Ubisoft
|-
|Spencer Crossley
|
|UK Sales & Marketing Director
|Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
|-
|Stuart Disney
|
|Chairman
|Curve Digital
|-
|Harvey Eagle
|
|Xbox UK Marketing Director
|Microsoft
|-
|Miles Jacobson OBE
|
|Studio Director
|Sports Interactive
|-
|Veronique Lallier
|
|European Managing Director
|Hi-Rez Studios
|-
|Warwick Light
|
|UK Managing Director and Vice President
|Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
|-
|Phil Mansell
|
|CEO
|Jagex
|-
|Andy Payne OBE
|
|CEO
|AppyNation
|-
|Kirsty Rigden
|
|Operations Director
|FuturLab
|-
|Ella Romanos
|
|Director
|Rocket Lolly Games
|-
|Roy Stackhouse
|
|Vice President - UK, Ireland & Benelux
|Activision Blizzard
|-
|Dr Jo Twist OBE
|
|CEO
|Ukie
|-
|Tim Woodley
|
|SVP Global Brand & Marketing
|505 Games
|}

== 2016 ==
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Position on Board
!Job title
!Company
|-
|Noirin Carmody
|Chair
|Co-Founder and COO
|Revolution Software
|-
|Ian Livingstone OBE
|Vice Chair
|Chairman
|Playmob
|-
|Andy Payne OBE
|Treasurer
|CEO
|AppyNation
|-
|Simon Barratt
|
|Director
|Barog Game Labs
|-
|Katherine Bidwell
|
|Co-Founder
|State of Play Games
|-
|Neil Boyd
|
|European Anti-Piracy Counsel
|Nintendo Europe
|-
|Shaun Campbell
|
|UK Country Manager
|Electronic Arts
|-
|John Clark
|
|Senior Vice President Commercial Publishing
|SEGA Europe
|-
|Rob Cooper
|
|Managing Director Northern Europe and Export Territories
|Ubisoft
|-
|Spencer Crossley
|
|UK Sales & Marketing Director
|Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
|-
|Stuart Disney
|
|Chairman
|Curve Digital
|-
|Dave Gould
|
|Senior Director of Sales UK & Export
|Take 2 Interactive
|-
|Jonathan Grimes
|
|Regional Director - Retail Sales and Marketing
|Microsoft
|-
|Miles Jacobson OBE
|
|Studio Director
|Sports Interactive
|-
|Warwick Light
|
|UK Managing Director and Vice President
|Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
|-
|Rob Miller
|
|Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary
|King
|-
|Kirsty Rigden
|
|Operations Director
|FuturLab
|-
|Ella Romanos
|
|Commercial Director
|Strike Gamelabs
|-
|Helena Santos
|
|Lead Programmer
|Modern Dream
|-
|Roy Stackhouse
|
|Vice President - UK, Ireland & Benelux
|Activision Blizzard
|-
|Dr Jo Twist OBE
|
|CEO
|Ukie
|}

== 2015 ==
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Position on Board
!Job title
!Company
|-
|Andy Payne OBE
|Chair
|MD
|Mastertronic
|-
|Ian Livingstone OBE
|Vice Chair
|Vice Chair
|Playmob
|-
|Shaun Campbell
|
|UK Country Manager
|Electronic Arts
|-
|Neil Boyd
|
|European Anti-Piracy Counsel
|Nintendo Europe
|-
|Stuart Disney
|
|Chairman
|Curve Digital
|-
|James Brooksby
|
|CEO
|Born Ready Games
|-
|Noirin Carmody
|
|Owner and COO
|Revolution Software
|-
|John Clark
|
|Vice President Commercial Publishing
|SEGA Europe
|-
|Rob Cooper
|
|Managing Director Northern Europe and Export Territories
|Ubisoft
|-
|Spencer Crossley
|
|UK Sales & Marketing Director
|Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
|-
|Fergal Gara
|
|VP and MD UK & Ireland
|Sony Computer Entertainment
|-
|Jonathan Grimes
|
|Regional Director - Retail Sales and Marketing
|Microsoft
|-
|Geoff Heath OBE
|
|
|Mediatonic
|-
|Miles Jacobson OBE
|
|Studio Director
|Sports Interactive
|-
|Rob Miller
|
|Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary
|King
|-
|Ella Romanos
|
|Commercial Director
|Strike Gamelabs
|-
|Helana Santos
|
|Co-Founder
|Modern Dream
|-
|Roy Stackhouse
|
|Vice President - UK & Ireland, Benelux
|Activision Blizzard
|-
|Tom Stone
|
|Managing Director
|TT Games Publishing
|-
|Jo Twist
|
|CEO
|Ukie
|}

== 2014 ==
{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Position on Board
!Job title
!Company
|-
|Andy Payne OBE
|Chairman
|MD
|Mastertronic, AppyNation, Gambitious
|-
|Ian Livingstone OBE
|
|Vice Chairman
|Playmob
|-
|Simon Barratt
|
|Managing Director & Owner
|Four Door Lemon
|-
|Neil Boyd
|
|European Anti-Piracy Counsel
|Nintendo Europe
|-
|James Brooksby
|
|CEO
|Born Ready Games
|-
|Noirin Carmody
|
|Owner and COO
|Revolution Software
|-
|John Clark
|
|Senior Vice President Commercial Publishing
|SEGA Europe
|-
|Rob Cooper
|
|Managing Director Northern Europe and Export Territories
|Ubisoft
|-
|Spencer Crossley
|
|UK Sales & Marketing Director
|Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
|-
|Fergal Gara
|
|VP and MD UK & Ireland
|Sony Computer Entertainment
|-
|Jonathan Grimes
|
|Regional Director - Retail Sales and Marketing
|Microsoft
|-
|Geoff Heath OBE
|
|
|Mediatonic
|-
|Miles Jacobson OBE
|
|Studio Director
|Sports Interactive
|-
|Ella Romanos
|
|Commercial Director
|Strike Gamelabs
|-
|Keith Ramsdale
|
|Vice President EU Major Markets
|Electronic Arts
|-
|Roy Stackhouse
|
|General Manager UK & Ireland
|Activision Blizzard
|-
|Tom Stone
|
|Managing Director
|TT Games Publishing
|-
|Alice Taylor
|
|CEO & Founder
|MakieLab
|-
|Jo Twist
|
|CEO
|Ukie
|-
|Paul Wedgwood
|
|CEO
|Splash Damage
|}

== 2013 ==

{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Position on Board
!Job title
!Company
|-
|Andy Payne OBE
|Chairman
|MD
|Mastertronic
|-
|Ian Livingstone OBE
|Vice Chairman
|Life President
|Eidos
|-
|Neil Boyd
|
|Senior European Anti-Piracy Counsel
|Nintendo Europe
|-
|Noirin Carmody
|
|Owner and COO
|Revolution Software
|-
|John Clark
|
|Vice President, Digital Distribution (PC)
|SEGA Europe
|-
|Rob Cooper
|
|Managing Director Northern Europe and Export Territories
|Ubisoft
|-
|Spencer Crossley
|
|UK Sales & Marketing Director
|Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
|-
|Fergal Gara
|
|VP and MD UK & Ireland
|Sony Computer Entertainment
|-
|Jonathan Grimes
|
|Regional Director - Retail Sales and Marketing
|Microsoft
|-
|Geoff Heath OBE
|
|
|Mediatonic
|-
|Miles Jacobson OBE
|
|Studio Director
|Sports Interactive
|-
|Keith Ramsdale
|
|Vice President & General Manager, Northern Europe
|Electronic Arts
|-
|Alice Taylor
|
|CEO and Founder
|MakeLab
|-
|Matt Spencer
|
|Vice President EMEA & ANZ Sales
|Take 2 Interactive Software
|-
|Jo Twist
|
|CEO
|Ukie
|-
|Paul Wedgwood
|
|CEO
|Splash Damage
|}

== 2012 ==

{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Position on Board
!Job title
!Company
|-
|Andy Payne OBE
|Chairman
|MD
|Mastertronic, AppyNation, Gambitious
|-
|Ian Livingstone OBE
|Vice Chairman
|Life President
|Eidos
|-
|Matt Caroll
|Treasurer
|Commercial Director, Games
|The Walt Disney Company EMEA
|-
|Andy Barker
|
|Director of Consumer Services
|SCEE
|-
|John Clark
|
|Vice President, Digital Distribution (PC)
|SEGA Europe
|-
|Rob Cooper
|
|Managing Director
|Ubisoft
|-
|Spencer Crossley
|
|Sales & Marketing Director - Computer Video & Digital Games, UK & Eire
|Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment
|-
|Martin Defries
|
|Managing Director & COO
|Rising Star Games
|-
|Jonathan Grimes
|
|Regional Director - Retail Sales and Marketing
|Microsoft
|-
|Geoff Heath OBE
|
|CEO
|4mm Games
|-
|Peter Hepworth
|
|Managing Director, UK & Ireland
|Activision Blizzard
|-
|Keith Ramsdale
|
|Vice President & General Manager, Northern Europe
|Electronic Arts
|-
|Sarah Rogers
|
|European Sales and Marketing Director
|NC Soft
|-
|Matt Spencer
|
|Vice President EMEA & ANZ Sales
|Take 2 Interactive Software
|-

Job market and economic contribution

2021-10-12T12:08:52Z

UkieColm: /* Gross Value Added */

== Gross Value Added ==

{| class="wikitable"
!Sector
!2010
!2011
!2012
!2013
!2014
!2015
!2016
!2017
!2018
!2019
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Computer Games
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.40
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.68
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.53
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.44
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.40
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.40
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.96
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.32*
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.67
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.91
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Creative Industries
|style="text-align:right;" | 69.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 72.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 76.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 81.0
|style="text-align:right;" | 84.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 93.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 98.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 102.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 107.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 115.9
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Digital Sector
|style="text-align:right;" | 103.0
|style="text-align:right;" | 108.4
|style="text-align:right;" | 111.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 113.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 115.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 118.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 129.7
|style="text-align:right;" | 134.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 139.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 150.6
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | UK Total
|style="text-align:right;" | 1446
|style="text-align:right;" | 1482
|style="text-align:right;" | 1530
|style="text-align:right;" | 1589
|style="text-align:right;" | 1661
|style="text-align:right;" | 1712
|style="text-align:right;" | 1777
|style="text-align:right;" | 1844
|style="text-align:right;" | 1910
|style="text-align:right;" | 1970
|}
''Table showing GVA by current prices in £bn for the period 2010-2019 across multiple DCMS sectors and subsectors'' ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021) <br \>
<nowiki>*</nowiki>The leap in computer games GVA between 2016 and 2017 is likely due to improvement in games companies assigning themselves correct SIC codes following [https://www.nesta.org.uk/press-release/ukie-and-nesta-team-up-to-put-uk-games-industry-on-the-map/ Ukie's campaign to achieve this], rather than owing purely to an increase in GVA.

== 2020 Stats ==

*According to DCMS's Sector Economic Estimates, GVA for the whole of the creative industries was a record £113.6bn in 2019, up 5.6% on the total from the previous year. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*Video game development and publishing also contribute to the digital sector, which saw a record total GVA of 147.5bn in 2019, up 6.1% on 2018. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*Video games themselves contributed a record £2.91bn to the UK economy in 2019, though this figure does not account for inflation. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*The video games industry employs 27,000 people, 16,000 (59%) of whom are aged 16-39, with the remaining 11,000 people (41%) aged 40 and over. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2019-employment DCMS], Apr 2020)

== 2018 Stats ==

*The creative industries contributed a record £101.5bn in GVA to the UK economy in 2017, and in crease of 7.1% on the previous year. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2017-gva DCMS], Nov 2018)

*Overall in 2016, the UK games industry provided 47,620 FTE jobs and contibuted £2.87bn in GVA to the UK economy. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*The UK games industry directly employs 20,430 FTEs in development, publishing and retail roles, which contibute £1.52bn in direct GVA to the economy. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

{| class="wikitable"
|'''Subsector'''
|'''Employment (FTEs)'''
|'''GVA (£m)'''
|-
|Publishing
|2,300
|526.6
|-
|Digital Retail
|310
|31.7
|-
|Physical Retail
|3,980
|132.0
|-
|'''Total'''
|'''20,430'''
|'''1.52'''
|}

*The economic impact of the growing UK Esports sector was also assessed for the first time and was shown to have supported 470 FTE jobs and contributed £18.4m in GVA in 2016. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*In 2016, the UK games industry spent £1.25bn on game development. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*In the period 2015-2017, there was at least £1.75bn of inward investment in the UK games industry. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*The VGTR supports 9,240 FTE jobs across the UK games industry, including 4,320 directly in development roles (31% of the total UK development workforce). ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*VGTR games represented £389.9m of UK development spend, 31% of the total development spend. Overall, projects supported by the VGTR contibuted£525m in GVA to the UK economy and £158m in tax revenue. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*68% of VGTR-supported games would not be made in the UK, or at all, without the relief in place. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*For every £1 the Government invested into the games sector via VGTR, an additional £4 in GVA was generated for the UK economy. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*Of all the screen sector tax reliefs, the games sector was shown to have the highest rate of productivity, where each employee generated an average of £83,800 in GVA for the economy, significantly above the national industrial average of £62,100. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*There are 2,277 active video game companies in the UK, as of October 2018. ([https://gamesmap.uk UK Games Map], Oct 2018)

*In November 2018 there were 5.7m professional developers in Europe, up by 200,000 on 2017. This compares to the 4.4m in the US, which has that stayed flat year on year. The UK is home to 830,500 professional developers. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*London is home to 357,900 professional developers, making it the largest hub of professional developers in Europe and considerably ahead of second-place Paris at 268,600. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*THE UK remains the No.1 European destination for international movers in the tech ecosystem, accounting for 20.9% of all international movers. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*44% of founders and employees of private tech start-ups in the UK and Ireland are migrants, the highest percentage of any European region. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 100 highest grossing games of 2017 list featured 15 games made or partly made in the UK, including two games in the top “platinum tier”, one in the gold tier and four in silver. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 92 games by peak simultaneous players featured 14 games made or partly made in the UK (15.2%), including Rockstar’s ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ in the top "over 100k simultaneous players" tier and six games from the UK (or 40%) in the second "over 50k players" tier. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 10 highest grossing VR games featured 11 games made in the UK, including one game partly made in the UK in the top “platinum” tier, one UK-made game in the gold tier and four in silver. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

== 2017 Stats ==

*83% of UK games businesses predict growth in FY2017/18, up from 79% in the previous year. 82% of games companies are also looking to expand their workforce in the same period. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2017/11/ukie-member-survey-prospects-exports-satisfaction Ukie], Nov 2017)

*The UK has been ranked as third best country in the world for the ability to attract, retain, train and educate skilled workers, according to the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (INSEAD, Jan 2017, [https://www.insead.edu/global-indices/gtci LINK] and [http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/uk-ranks-third-in-global-talent-competitiveness-ranking LINK])

*London, Birmingham and Cardiff act as talent magnets, helping the UK attract more highly-skilled workers. Cardiff is the 11th best city worldwide at attracting, growing and retaining talent, with London listed 16th and Birmingham 17th. (INSEAD, Jan 2017, [https://www.insead.edu/global-indices/gtci LINK] and [http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/uk-ranks-third-in-global-talent-competitiveness-ranking LINK])

*According to Creative Assembly, their game ‘Halo Wars 2’ contained 1,023,574 lines of code in 146,605 blocks. Their game ‘Alien: Isolation’ contained 691,685 lines of code in 159,050 blocks. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

*Creative Assembly employed 133 people in their art teams in 2017, 2.3 times larger than in 2012. The ratio of women employed has increased by 5.7 times in the same period. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

*Environment Artists are the largest group of specialists in the Creative Assembly art team, representing 23% of the workforce. Character Artists (15%), Animators (14%) and Concept Artists (12%) are large parts of the overall team. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-art Creative Assembly], 2017)

*In terms of time spent across the three main art areas , 51.6% of time is spent on environment art, 28% on character art and 20% on concept art. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

== 2016 Stats ==

*European games industry professionals rate the UK as the place in Europe where both the best games are made today and the best games will be made in five year’s time. ([http://registration.gdceurope.com/GDCEurope-StateOfGame?_mc=blog_x_gdceu_wp_aud_gdceu_x_x-sotieu GDC], Aug 2016)

*The UK’s creative industries are now worth a record £84.1 billion to the UK economy. The figures show the sector growing at almost twice the rate of the wider UK economy - generating £9.6million per hour. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/news/creative-industries-worth-almost-10-million-an-hour-to-economy Gov.co.uk], Jan 2016)

== 2015 Stats ==

*In 2013, the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) supported 12,100 FTEs of direct employment. This is split into 9,400 FTEs in development, 900 in publishing and 1,800 in retail. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*In 2013, the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) contributed £755m in direct GVA. This is split into £639.1m in development, £63.3m in publishing and £53m in retail. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*In 2013, taking into account the total economic contribution (including multiplier and spillover effects) the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) supported 23,900 FTEs of employment, generated £1.4bn in GVA and contributed £429m to the Exchequer. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*When looking at regional distribution of employment in 2013: for development most FTEs are in London (27%), the South East (21%), the East of England (10%) and West Midlands (10%). For publishing most FTEs are in the South East (32%), London (31%), the East of England (18%) and West Midlands (7%). ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

Job market and economic contribution

2021-10-12T12:08:20Z

UkieColm: /* Gross Value Added */

== Gross Value Added ==

{| class="wikitable"
!Sector
!2010
!2011
!2012
!2013
!2014
!2015
!2016
!2017
!2018
!2019
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Computer Games
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.40
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.68
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.53
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.44
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.40
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.40
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.96
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.32*
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.67
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.91
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Creative Industries
|style="text-align:right;" | 69.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 72.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 76.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 81.0
|style="text-align:right;" | 84.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 93.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 98.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 102.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 107.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 115.9
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Digital Sector
|style="text-align:right;" | 103.0
|style="text-align:right;" | 108.4
|style="text-align:right;" | 111.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 113.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 115.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 118.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 129.7
|style="text-align:right;" | 134.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 139.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 150.6
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | UK Total
|style="text-align:right;" | 1446
|style="text-align:right;" | 1482
|style="text-align:right;" | 1530
|style="text-align:right;" | 1589
|style="text-align:right;" | 1661
|style="text-align:right;" | 1712
|style="text-align:right;" | 1777
|style="text-align:right;" | 1844
|style="text-align:right;" | 1910
|style="text-align:right;" | 1970
|}
''Table showing GVA by current prices in £bn for the period 2010-2019 across multiple DCMS sectors and subsectors'' ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021) <br \>
<nowiki>*</nowiki>The leap in GVA between 2016 and 2017 is likely due to improvement in games companies assigning themselves correct SIC codes following [https://www.nesta.org.uk/press-release/ukie-and-nesta-team-up-to-put-uk-games-industry-on-the-map/ Ukie's campaign to achieve this], rather than owing purely to an increase in GVA.

== 2020 Stats ==

*According to DCMS's Sector Economic Estimates, GVA for the whole of the creative industries was a record £113.6bn in 2019, up 5.6% on the total from the previous year. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*Video game development and publishing also contribute to the digital sector, which saw a record total GVA of 147.5bn in 2019, up 6.1% on 2018. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*Video games themselves contributed a record £2.91bn to the UK economy in 2019, though this figure does not account for inflation. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*The video games industry employs 27,000 people, 16,000 (59%) of whom are aged 16-39, with the remaining 11,000 people (41%) aged 40 and over. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2019-employment DCMS], Apr 2020)

== 2018 Stats ==

*The creative industries contributed a record £101.5bn in GVA to the UK economy in 2017, and in crease of 7.1% on the previous year. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2017-gva DCMS], Nov 2018)

*Overall in 2016, the UK games industry provided 47,620 FTE jobs and contibuted £2.87bn in GVA to the UK economy. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*The UK games industry directly employs 20,430 FTEs in development, publishing and retail roles, which contibute £1.52bn in direct GVA to the economy. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

{| class="wikitable"
|'''Subsector'''
|'''Employment (FTEs)'''
|'''GVA (£m)'''
|-
|Publishing
|2,300
|526.6
|-
|Digital Retail
|310
|31.7
|-
|Physical Retail
|3,980
|132.0
|-
|'''Total'''
|'''20,430'''
|'''1.52'''
|}

*The economic impact of the growing UK Esports sector was also assessed for the first time and was shown to have supported 470 FTE jobs and contributed £18.4m in GVA in 2016. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*In 2016, the UK games industry spent £1.25bn on game development. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*In the period 2015-2017, there was at least £1.75bn of inward investment in the UK games industry. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*The VGTR supports 9,240 FTE jobs across the UK games industry, including 4,320 directly in development roles (31% of the total UK development workforce). ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*VGTR games represented £389.9m of UK development spend, 31% of the total development spend. Overall, projects supported by the VGTR contibuted£525m in GVA to the UK economy and £158m in tax revenue. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*68% of VGTR-supported games would not be made in the UK, or at all, without the relief in place. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*For every £1 the Government invested into the games sector via VGTR, an additional £4 in GVA was generated for the UK economy. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*Of all the screen sector tax reliefs, the games sector was shown to have the highest rate of productivity, where each employee generated an average of £83,800 in GVA for the economy, significantly above the national industrial average of £62,100. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*There are 2,277 active video game companies in the UK, as of October 2018. ([https://gamesmap.uk UK Games Map], Oct 2018)

*In November 2018 there were 5.7m professional developers in Europe, up by 200,000 on 2017. This compares to the 4.4m in the US, which has that stayed flat year on year. The UK is home to 830,500 professional developers. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*London is home to 357,900 professional developers, making it the largest hub of professional developers in Europe and considerably ahead of second-place Paris at 268,600. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*THE UK remains the No.1 European destination for international movers in the tech ecosystem, accounting for 20.9% of all international movers. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*44% of founders and employees of private tech start-ups in the UK and Ireland are migrants, the highest percentage of any European region. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 100 highest grossing games of 2017 list featured 15 games made or partly made in the UK, including two games in the top “platinum tier”, one in the gold tier and four in silver. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 92 games by peak simultaneous players featured 14 games made or partly made in the UK (15.2%), including Rockstar’s ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ in the top "over 100k simultaneous players" tier and six games from the UK (or 40%) in the second "over 50k players" tier. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 10 highest grossing VR games featured 11 games made in the UK, including one game partly made in the UK in the top “platinum” tier, one UK-made game in the gold tier and four in silver. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

== 2017 Stats ==

*83% of UK games businesses predict growth in FY2017/18, up from 79% in the previous year. 82% of games companies are also looking to expand their workforce in the same period. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2017/11/ukie-member-survey-prospects-exports-satisfaction Ukie], Nov 2017)

*The UK has been ranked as third best country in the world for the ability to attract, retain, train and educate skilled workers, according to the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (INSEAD, Jan 2017, [https://www.insead.edu/global-indices/gtci LINK] and [http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/uk-ranks-third-in-global-talent-competitiveness-ranking LINK])

*London, Birmingham and Cardiff act as talent magnets, helping the UK attract more highly-skilled workers. Cardiff is the 11th best city worldwide at attracting, growing and retaining talent, with London listed 16th and Birmingham 17th. (INSEAD, Jan 2017, [https://www.insead.edu/global-indices/gtci LINK] and [http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/uk-ranks-third-in-global-talent-competitiveness-ranking LINK])

*According to Creative Assembly, their game ‘Halo Wars 2’ contained 1,023,574 lines of code in 146,605 blocks. Their game ‘Alien: Isolation’ contained 691,685 lines of code in 159,050 blocks. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

*Creative Assembly employed 133 people in their art teams in 2017, 2.3 times larger than in 2012. The ratio of women employed has increased by 5.7 times in the same period. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

*Environment Artists are the largest group of specialists in the Creative Assembly art team, representing 23% of the workforce. Character Artists (15%), Animators (14%) and Concept Artists (12%) are large parts of the overall team. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-art Creative Assembly], 2017)

*In terms of time spent across the three main art areas , 51.6% of time is spent on environment art, 28% on character art and 20% on concept art. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

== 2016 Stats ==

*European games industry professionals rate the UK as the place in Europe where both the best games are made today and the best games will be made in five year’s time. ([http://registration.gdceurope.com/GDCEurope-StateOfGame?_mc=blog_x_gdceu_wp_aud_gdceu_x_x-sotieu GDC], Aug 2016)

*The UK’s creative industries are now worth a record £84.1 billion to the UK economy. The figures show the sector growing at almost twice the rate of the wider UK economy - generating £9.6million per hour. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/news/creative-industries-worth-almost-10-million-an-hour-to-economy Gov.co.uk], Jan 2016)

== 2015 Stats ==

*In 2013, the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) supported 12,100 FTEs of direct employment. This is split into 9,400 FTEs in development, 900 in publishing and 1,800 in retail. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*In 2013, the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) contributed £755m in direct GVA. This is split into £639.1m in development, £63.3m in publishing and £53m in retail. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*In 2013, taking into account the total economic contribution (including multiplier and spillover effects) the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) supported 23,900 FTEs of employment, generated £1.4bn in GVA and contributed £429m to the Exchequer. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*When looking at regional distribution of employment in 2013: for development most FTEs are in London (27%), the South East (21%), the East of England (10%) and West Midlands (10%). For publishing most FTEs are in the South East (32%), London (31%), the East of England (18%) and West Midlands (7%). ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

Job market and economic contribution

2021-10-12T12:07:56Z

UkieColm: /* Gross Value Added */

== Gross Value Added ==

{| class="wikitable"
!Sector
!2010
!2011
!2012
!2013
!2014
!2015
!2016
!2017
!2018
!2019
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Computer Games
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.40
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.68
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.53
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.44
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.40
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.40
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.96
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.32*
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.67
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.91
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Creative Industries
|style="text-align:right;" | 69.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 72.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 76.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 81.0
|style="text-align:right;" | 84.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 93.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 98.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 102.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 107.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 115.9
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Digital Sector
|style="text-align:right;" | 103.0
|style="text-align:right;" | 108.4
|style="text-align:right;" | 111.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 113.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 115.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 118.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 129.7
|style="text-align:right;" | 134.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 139.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 150.6
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | UK Total
|style="text-align:right;" | 1446
|style="text-align:right;" | 1482
|style="text-align:right;" | 1530
|style="text-align:right;" | 1589
|style="text-align:right;" | 1661
|style="text-align:right;" | 1712
|style="text-align:right;" | 1777
|style="text-align:right;" | 1844
|style="text-align:right;" | 1910
|style="text-align:right;" | 1970
|}
''Table showing GVA by current prices in £bn for the period 2010-2019 across multiple DCMS sectors and subsectors'' ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)
<nowiki>*</nowiki>The leap in GVA between 2016 and 2017 is likely due to improvement in games companies assigning themselves correct SIC codes following [https://www.nesta.org.uk/press-release/ukie-and-nesta-team-up-to-put-uk-games-industry-on-the-map/ Ukie's campaign to achieve this], rather than owing purely to an increase in GVA.

== 2020 Stats ==

*According to DCMS's Sector Economic Estimates, GVA for the whole of the creative industries was a record £113.6bn in 2019, up 5.6% on the total from the previous year. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*Video game development and publishing also contribute to the digital sector, which saw a record total GVA of 147.5bn in 2019, up 6.1% on 2018. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*Video games themselves contributed a record £2.91bn to the UK economy in 2019, though this figure does not account for inflation. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*The video games industry employs 27,000 people, 16,000 (59%) of whom are aged 16-39, with the remaining 11,000 people (41%) aged 40 and over. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2019-employment DCMS], Apr 2020)

== 2018 Stats ==

*The creative industries contributed a record £101.5bn in GVA to the UK economy in 2017, and in crease of 7.1% on the previous year. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2017-gva DCMS], Nov 2018)

*Overall in 2016, the UK games industry provided 47,620 FTE jobs and contibuted £2.87bn in GVA to the UK economy. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*The UK games industry directly employs 20,430 FTEs in development, publishing and retail roles, which contibute £1.52bn in direct GVA to the economy. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

{| class="wikitable"
|'''Subsector'''
|'''Employment (FTEs)'''
|'''GVA (£m)'''
|-
|Publishing
|2,300
|526.6
|-
|Digital Retail
|310
|31.7
|-
|Physical Retail
|3,980
|132.0
|-
|'''Total'''
|'''20,430'''
|'''1.52'''
|}

*The economic impact of the growing UK Esports sector was also assessed for the first time and was shown to have supported 470 FTE jobs and contributed £18.4m in GVA in 2016. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*In 2016, the UK games industry spent £1.25bn on game development. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*In the period 2015-2017, there was at least £1.75bn of inward investment in the UK games industry. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*The VGTR supports 9,240 FTE jobs across the UK games industry, including 4,320 directly in development roles (31% of the total UK development workforce). ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*VGTR games represented £389.9m of UK development spend, 31% of the total development spend. Overall, projects supported by the VGTR contibuted£525m in GVA to the UK economy and £158m in tax revenue. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*68% of VGTR-supported games would not be made in the UK, or at all, without the relief in place. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*For every £1 the Government invested into the games sector via VGTR, an additional £4 in GVA was generated for the UK economy. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*Of all the screen sector tax reliefs, the games sector was shown to have the highest rate of productivity, where each employee generated an average of £83,800 in GVA for the economy, significantly above the national industrial average of £62,100. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*There are 2,277 active video game companies in the UK, as of October 2018. ([https://gamesmap.uk UK Games Map], Oct 2018)

*In November 2018 there were 5.7m professional developers in Europe, up by 200,000 on 2017. This compares to the 4.4m in the US, which has that stayed flat year on year. The UK is home to 830,500 professional developers. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*London is home to 357,900 professional developers, making it the largest hub of professional developers in Europe and considerably ahead of second-place Paris at 268,600. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*THE UK remains the No.1 European destination for international movers in the tech ecosystem, accounting for 20.9% of all international movers. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*44% of founders and employees of private tech start-ups in the UK and Ireland are migrants, the highest percentage of any European region. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 100 highest grossing games of 2017 list featured 15 games made or partly made in the UK, including two games in the top “platinum tier”, one in the gold tier and four in silver. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 92 games by peak simultaneous players featured 14 games made or partly made in the UK (15.2%), including Rockstar’s ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ in the top "over 100k simultaneous players" tier and six games from the UK (or 40%) in the second "over 50k players" tier. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 10 highest grossing VR games featured 11 games made in the UK, including one game partly made in the UK in the top “platinum” tier, one UK-made game in the gold tier and four in silver. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

== 2017 Stats ==

*83% of UK games businesses predict growth in FY2017/18, up from 79% in the previous year. 82% of games companies are also looking to expand their workforce in the same period. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2017/11/ukie-member-survey-prospects-exports-satisfaction Ukie], Nov 2017)

*The UK has been ranked as third best country in the world for the ability to attract, retain, train and educate skilled workers, according to the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (INSEAD, Jan 2017, [https://www.insead.edu/global-indices/gtci LINK] and [http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/uk-ranks-third-in-global-talent-competitiveness-ranking LINK])

*London, Birmingham and Cardiff act as talent magnets, helping the UK attract more highly-skilled workers. Cardiff is the 11th best city worldwide at attracting, growing and retaining talent, with London listed 16th and Birmingham 17th. (INSEAD, Jan 2017, [https://www.insead.edu/global-indices/gtci LINK] and [http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/uk-ranks-third-in-global-talent-competitiveness-ranking LINK])

*According to Creative Assembly, their game ‘Halo Wars 2’ contained 1,023,574 lines of code in 146,605 blocks. Their game ‘Alien: Isolation’ contained 691,685 lines of code in 159,050 blocks. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

*Creative Assembly employed 133 people in their art teams in 2017, 2.3 times larger than in 2012. The ratio of women employed has increased by 5.7 times in the same period. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

*Environment Artists are the largest group of specialists in the Creative Assembly art team, representing 23% of the workforce. Character Artists (15%), Animators (14%) and Concept Artists (12%) are large parts of the overall team. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-art Creative Assembly], 2017)

*In terms of time spent across the three main art areas , 51.6% of time is spent on environment art, 28% on character art and 20% on concept art. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

== 2016 Stats ==

*European games industry professionals rate the UK as the place in Europe where both the best games are made today and the best games will be made in five year’s time. ([http://registration.gdceurope.com/GDCEurope-StateOfGame?_mc=blog_x_gdceu_wp_aud_gdceu_x_x-sotieu GDC], Aug 2016)

*The UK’s creative industries are now worth a record £84.1 billion to the UK economy. The figures show the sector growing at almost twice the rate of the wider UK economy - generating £9.6million per hour. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/news/creative-industries-worth-almost-10-million-an-hour-to-economy Gov.co.uk], Jan 2016)

== 2015 Stats ==

*In 2013, the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) supported 12,100 FTEs of direct employment. This is split into 9,400 FTEs in development, 900 in publishing and 1,800 in retail. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*In 2013, the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) contributed £755m in direct GVA. This is split into £639.1m in development, £63.3m in publishing and £53m in retail. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*In 2013, taking into account the total economic contribution (including multiplier and spillover effects) the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) supported 23,900 FTEs of employment, generated £1.4bn in GVA and contributed £429m to the Exchequer. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*When looking at regional distribution of employment in 2013: for development most FTEs are in London (27%), the South East (21%), the East of England (10%) and West Midlands (10%). For publishing most FTEs are in the South East (32%), London (31%), the East of England (18%) and West Midlands (7%). ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

Job market and economic contribution

2021-10-12T12:06:57Z

UkieColm: /* 2020 Stats */

== Gross Value Added ==

{| class="wikitable"
!Sector
!2010
!2011
!2012
!2013
!2014
!2015
!2016
!2017
!2018
!2019
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Computer Games
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.40
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.68
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.53
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.44
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.40
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.40
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.96
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.32*
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.67
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.91
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Creative Industries
|style="text-align:right;" | 69.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 72.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 76.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 81.0
|style="text-align:right;" | 84.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 93.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 98.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 102.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 107.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 115.9
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Digital Sector
|style="text-align:right;" | 103.0
|style="text-align:right;" | 108.4
|style="text-align:right;" | 111.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 113.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 115.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 118.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 129.7
|style="text-align:right;" | 134.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 139.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 150.6
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | UK Total
|style="text-align:right;" | 1446
|style="text-align:right;" | 1482
|style="text-align:right;" | 1530
|style="text-align:right;" | 1589
|style="text-align:right;" | 1661
|style="text-align:right;" | 1712
|style="text-align:right;" | 1777
|style="text-align:right;" | 1844
|style="text-align:right;" | 1910
|style="text-align:right;" | 1970
|}
''Table showing GVA by current prices in £bn for the period 2010-2019 across multiple DCMS sectors and subsectors'' ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)
*The leap in GVA between 2016 and 2017 is likely due to improvement in games companies assigning themselves correct SIC codes following [https://www.nesta.org.uk/press-release/ukie-and-nesta-team-up-to-put-uk-games-industry-on-the-map/ Ukie's campaign to achieve this], rather than owing purely to an increase in GVA.

== 2020 Stats ==

*According to DCMS's Sector Economic Estimates, GVA for the whole of the creative industries was a record £113.6bn in 2019, up 5.6% on the total from the previous year. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*Video game development and publishing also contribute to the digital sector, which saw a record total GVA of 147.5bn in 2019, up 6.1% on 2018. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*Video games themselves contributed a record £2.91bn to the UK economy in 2019, though this figure does not account for inflation. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*The video games industry employs 27,000 people, 16,000 (59%) of whom are aged 16-39, with the remaining 11,000 people (41%) aged 40 and over. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2019-employment DCMS], Apr 2020)

== 2018 Stats ==

*The creative industries contributed a record £101.5bn in GVA to the UK economy in 2017, and in crease of 7.1% on the previous year. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2017-gva DCMS], Nov 2018)

*Overall in 2016, the UK games industry provided 47,620 FTE jobs and contibuted £2.87bn in GVA to the UK economy. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*The UK games industry directly employs 20,430 FTEs in development, publishing and retail roles, which contibute £1.52bn in direct GVA to the economy. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

{| class="wikitable"
|'''Subsector'''
|'''Employment (FTEs)'''
|'''GVA (£m)'''
|-
|Publishing
|2,300
|526.6
|-
|Digital Retail
|310
|31.7
|-
|Physical Retail
|3,980
|132.0
|-
|'''Total'''
|'''20,430'''
|'''1.52'''
|}

*The economic impact of the growing UK Esports sector was also assessed for the first time and was shown to have supported 470 FTE jobs and contributed £18.4m in GVA in 2016. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*In 2016, the UK games industry spent £1.25bn on game development. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*In the period 2015-2017, there was at least £1.75bn of inward investment in the UK games industry. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*The VGTR supports 9,240 FTE jobs across the UK games industry, including 4,320 directly in development roles (31% of the total UK development workforce). ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*VGTR games represented £389.9m of UK development spend, 31% of the total development spend. Overall, projects supported by the VGTR contibuted£525m in GVA to the UK economy and £158m in tax revenue. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*68% of VGTR-supported games would not be made in the UK, or at all, without the relief in place. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*For every £1 the Government invested into the games sector via VGTR, an additional £4 in GVA was generated for the UK economy. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*Of all the screen sector tax reliefs, the games sector was shown to have the highest rate of productivity, where each employee generated an average of £83,800 in GVA for the economy, significantly above the national industrial average of £62,100. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*There are 2,277 active video game companies in the UK, as of October 2018. ([https://gamesmap.uk UK Games Map], Oct 2018)

*In November 2018 there were 5.7m professional developers in Europe, up by 200,000 on 2017. This compares to the 4.4m in the US, which has that stayed flat year on year. The UK is home to 830,500 professional developers. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*London is home to 357,900 professional developers, making it the largest hub of professional developers in Europe and considerably ahead of second-place Paris at 268,600. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*THE UK remains the No.1 European destination for international movers in the tech ecosystem, accounting for 20.9% of all international movers. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*44% of founders and employees of private tech start-ups in the UK and Ireland are migrants, the highest percentage of any European region. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 100 highest grossing games of 2017 list featured 15 games made or partly made in the UK, including two games in the top “platinum tier”, one in the gold tier and four in silver. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 92 games by peak simultaneous players featured 14 games made or partly made in the UK (15.2%), including Rockstar’s ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ in the top "over 100k simultaneous players" tier and six games from the UK (or 40%) in the second "over 50k players" tier. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 10 highest grossing VR games featured 11 games made in the UK, including one game partly made in the UK in the top “platinum” tier, one UK-made game in the gold tier and four in silver. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

== 2017 Stats ==

*83% of UK games businesses predict growth in FY2017/18, up from 79% in the previous year. 82% of games companies are also looking to expand their workforce in the same period. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2017/11/ukie-member-survey-prospects-exports-satisfaction Ukie], Nov 2017)

*The UK has been ranked as third best country in the world for the ability to attract, retain, train and educate skilled workers, according to the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (INSEAD, Jan 2017, [https://www.insead.edu/global-indices/gtci LINK] and [http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/uk-ranks-third-in-global-talent-competitiveness-ranking LINK])

*London, Birmingham and Cardiff act as talent magnets, helping the UK attract more highly-skilled workers. Cardiff is the 11th best city worldwide at attracting, growing and retaining talent, with London listed 16th and Birmingham 17th. (INSEAD, Jan 2017, [https://www.insead.edu/global-indices/gtci LINK] and [http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/uk-ranks-third-in-global-talent-competitiveness-ranking LINK])

*According to Creative Assembly, their game ‘Halo Wars 2’ contained 1,023,574 lines of code in 146,605 blocks. Their game ‘Alien: Isolation’ contained 691,685 lines of code in 159,050 blocks. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

*Creative Assembly employed 133 people in their art teams in 2017, 2.3 times larger than in 2012. The ratio of women employed has increased by 5.7 times in the same period. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

*Environment Artists are the largest group of specialists in the Creative Assembly art team, representing 23% of the workforce. Character Artists (15%), Animators (14%) and Concept Artists (12%) are large parts of the overall team. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-art Creative Assembly], 2017)

*In terms of time spent across the three main art areas , 51.6% of time is spent on environment art, 28% on character art and 20% on concept art. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

== 2016 Stats ==

*European games industry professionals rate the UK as the place in Europe where both the best games are made today and the best games will be made in five year’s time. ([http://registration.gdceurope.com/GDCEurope-StateOfGame?_mc=blog_x_gdceu_wp_aud_gdceu_x_x-sotieu GDC], Aug 2016)

*The UK’s creative industries are now worth a record £84.1 billion to the UK economy. The figures show the sector growing at almost twice the rate of the wider UK economy - generating £9.6million per hour. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/news/creative-industries-worth-almost-10-million-an-hour-to-economy Gov.co.uk], Jan 2016)

== 2015 Stats ==

*In 2013, the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) supported 12,100 FTEs of direct employment. This is split into 9,400 FTEs in development, 900 in publishing and 1,800 in retail. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*In 2013, the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) contributed £755m in direct GVA. This is split into £639.1m in development, £63.3m in publishing and £53m in retail. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*In 2013, taking into account the total economic contribution (including multiplier and spillover effects) the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) supported 23,900 FTEs of employment, generated £1.4bn in GVA and contributed £429m to the Exchequer. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*When looking at regional distribution of employment in 2013: for development most FTEs are in London (27%), the South East (21%), the East of England (10%) and West Midlands (10%). For publishing most FTEs are in the South East (32%), London (31%), the East of England (18%) and West Midlands (7%). ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

Job market and economic contribution

2021-10-12T12:06:21Z

UkieColm: /* Gross Value Added */

== Gross Value Added ==

{| class="wikitable"
!Sector
!2010
!2011
!2012
!2013
!2014
!2015
!2016
!2017
!2018
!2019
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Computer Games
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.40
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.68
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.53
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.44
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.40
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.40
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.96
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.32*
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.67
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.91
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Creative Industries
|style="text-align:right;" | 69.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 72.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 76.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 81.0
|style="text-align:right;" | 84.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 93.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 98.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 102.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 107.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 115.9
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Digital Sector
|style="text-align:right;" | 103.0
|style="text-align:right;" | 108.4
|style="text-align:right;" | 111.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 113.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 115.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 118.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 129.7
|style="text-align:right;" | 134.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 139.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 150.6
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | UK Total
|style="text-align:right;" | 1446
|style="text-align:right;" | 1482
|style="text-align:right;" | 1530
|style="text-align:right;" | 1589
|style="text-align:right;" | 1661
|style="text-align:right;" | 1712
|style="text-align:right;" | 1777
|style="text-align:right;" | 1844
|style="text-align:right;" | 1910
|style="text-align:right;" | 1970
|}
''Table showing GVA by current prices in £bn for the period 2010-2019 across multiple DCMS sectors and subsectors'' ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)
*The leap in GVA between 2016 and 2017 is likely due to improvement in games companies assigning themselves correct SIC codes following [https://www.nesta.org.uk/press-release/ukie-and-nesta-team-up-to-put-uk-games-industry-on-the-map/ Ukie's campaign to achieve this], rather than owing purely to an increase in GVA.

== 2020 Stats ==

*According to DCMS's Sector Economic Estimates, GVA for the whole of the creative industries was a record £113.6bn in 2019, up 5.6% on the total from the previous year. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*Video game development and publishing also contribute to the digital sector, which saw a record total GVA of 147.5bn in 2019, up 6.1% on 2018. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*Video games themselves contributed a record £2.91bn to the UK economy in 2019, though this figure does not account for inflation. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*The video games industry employs 27,000 people, 16,000 (59%) of whom are aged 16-39, with the remaining 11,000 people (41%) aged 40 and over. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2019-employment DCMS] Apr 2020)

== 2018 Stats ==

*The creative industries contributed a record £101.5bn in GVA to the UK economy in 2017, and in crease of 7.1% on the previous year. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2017-gva DCMS], Nov 2018)

*Overall in 2016, the UK games industry provided 47,620 FTE jobs and contibuted £2.87bn in GVA to the UK economy. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*The UK games industry directly employs 20,430 FTEs in development, publishing and retail roles, which contibute £1.52bn in direct GVA to the economy. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

{| class="wikitable"
|'''Subsector'''
|'''Employment (FTEs)'''
|'''GVA (£m)'''
|-
|Publishing
|2,300
|526.6
|-
|Digital Retail
|310
|31.7
|-
|Physical Retail
|3,980
|132.0
|-
|'''Total'''
|'''20,430'''
|'''1.52'''
|}

*The economic impact of the growing UK Esports sector was also assessed for the first time and was shown to have supported 470 FTE jobs and contributed £18.4m in GVA in 2016. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*In 2016, the UK games industry spent £1.25bn on game development. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*In the period 2015-2017, there was at least £1.75bn of inward investment in the UK games industry. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*The VGTR supports 9,240 FTE jobs across the UK games industry, including 4,320 directly in development roles (31% of the total UK development workforce). ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*VGTR games represented £389.9m of UK development spend, 31% of the total development spend. Overall, projects supported by the VGTR contibuted£525m in GVA to the UK economy and £158m in tax revenue. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*68% of VGTR-supported games would not be made in the UK, or at all, without the relief in place. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*For every £1 the Government invested into the games sector via VGTR, an additional £4 in GVA was generated for the UK economy. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*Of all the screen sector tax reliefs, the games sector was shown to have the highest rate of productivity, where each employee generated an average of £83,800 in GVA for the economy, significantly above the national industrial average of £62,100. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*There are 2,277 active video game companies in the UK, as of October 2018. ([https://gamesmap.uk UK Games Map], Oct 2018)

*In November 2018 there were 5.7m professional developers in Europe, up by 200,000 on 2017. This compares to the 4.4m in the US, which has that stayed flat year on year. The UK is home to 830,500 professional developers. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*London is home to 357,900 professional developers, making it the largest hub of professional developers in Europe and considerably ahead of second-place Paris at 268,600. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*THE UK remains the No.1 European destination for international movers in the tech ecosystem, accounting for 20.9% of all international movers. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*44% of founders and employees of private tech start-ups in the UK and Ireland are migrants, the highest percentage of any European region. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 100 highest grossing games of 2017 list featured 15 games made or partly made in the UK, including two games in the top “platinum tier”, one in the gold tier and four in silver. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 92 games by peak simultaneous players featured 14 games made or partly made in the UK (15.2%), including Rockstar’s ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ in the top "over 100k simultaneous players" tier and six games from the UK (or 40%) in the second "over 50k players" tier. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 10 highest grossing VR games featured 11 games made in the UK, including one game partly made in the UK in the top “platinum” tier, one UK-made game in the gold tier and four in silver. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

== 2017 Stats ==

*83% of UK games businesses predict growth in FY2017/18, up from 79% in the previous year. 82% of games companies are also looking to expand their workforce in the same period. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2017/11/ukie-member-survey-prospects-exports-satisfaction Ukie], Nov 2017)

*The UK has been ranked as third best country in the world for the ability to attract, retain, train and educate skilled workers, according to the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (INSEAD, Jan 2017, [https://www.insead.edu/global-indices/gtci LINK] and [http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/uk-ranks-third-in-global-talent-competitiveness-ranking LINK])

*London, Birmingham and Cardiff act as talent magnets, helping the UK attract more highly-skilled workers. Cardiff is the 11th best city worldwide at attracting, growing and retaining talent, with London listed 16th and Birmingham 17th. (INSEAD, Jan 2017, [https://www.insead.edu/global-indices/gtci LINK] and [http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/uk-ranks-third-in-global-talent-competitiveness-ranking LINK])

*According to Creative Assembly, their game ‘Halo Wars 2’ contained 1,023,574 lines of code in 146,605 blocks. Their game ‘Alien: Isolation’ contained 691,685 lines of code in 159,050 blocks. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

*Creative Assembly employed 133 people in their art teams in 2017, 2.3 times larger than in 2012. The ratio of women employed has increased by 5.7 times in the same period. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

*Environment Artists are the largest group of specialists in the Creative Assembly art team, representing 23% of the workforce. Character Artists (15%), Animators (14%) and Concept Artists (12%) are large parts of the overall team. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-art Creative Assembly], 2017)

*In terms of time spent across the three main art areas , 51.6% of time is spent on environment art, 28% on character art and 20% on concept art. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

== 2016 Stats ==

*European games industry professionals rate the UK as the place in Europe where both the best games are made today and the best games will be made in five year’s time. ([http://registration.gdceurope.com/GDCEurope-StateOfGame?_mc=blog_x_gdceu_wp_aud_gdceu_x_x-sotieu GDC], Aug 2016)

*The UK’s creative industries are now worth a record £84.1 billion to the UK economy. The figures show the sector growing at almost twice the rate of the wider UK economy - generating £9.6million per hour. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/news/creative-industries-worth-almost-10-million-an-hour-to-economy Gov.co.uk], Jan 2016)

== 2015 Stats ==

*In 2013, the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) supported 12,100 FTEs of direct employment. This is split into 9,400 FTEs in development, 900 in publishing and 1,800 in retail. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*In 2013, the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) contributed £755m in direct GVA. This is split into £639.1m in development, £63.3m in publishing and £53m in retail. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*In 2013, taking into account the total economic contribution (including multiplier and spillover effects) the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) supported 23,900 FTEs of employment, generated £1.4bn in GVA and contributed £429m to the Exchequer. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*When looking at regional distribution of employment in 2013: for development most FTEs are in London (27%), the South East (21%), the East of England (10%) and West Midlands (10%). For publishing most FTEs are in the South East (32%), London (31%), the East of England (18%) and West Midlands (7%). ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

Job market and economic contribution

2021-10-12T12:01:47Z

UkieColm: /* Gross Value Added */

== Gross Value Added ==

{| class="wikitable"
!Sector
!2010
!2011
!2012
!2013
!2014
!2015
!2016
!2017
!2018
!2019
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Computer Games
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.40
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.68
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.53
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.44
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.40
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.40
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.96
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.32
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.67
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.91
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Creative Industries
|style="text-align:right;" | 69.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 72.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 76.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 81.0
|style="text-align:right;" | 84.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 93.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 98.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 102.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 107.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 115.9
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Digital Sector
|style="text-align:right;" | 103.0
|style="text-align:right;" | 108.4
|style="text-align:right;" | 111.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 113.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 115.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 118.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 129.7
|style="text-align:right;" | 134.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 139.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 150.6
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | UK Total
|style="text-align:right;" | 1446
|style="text-align:right;" | 1482
|style="text-align:right;" | 1530
|style="text-align:right;" | 1589
|style="text-align:right;" | 1661
|style="text-align:right;" | 1712
|style="text-align:right;" | 1777
|style="text-align:right;" | 1844
|style="text-align:right;" | 1910
|style="text-align:right;" | 1970
|}
''Table showing GVA by current prices in £bn for the period 2010-2019 across multiple DCMS sectors and subsectors'' ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

== 2020 Stats ==

*According to DCMS's Sector Economic Estimates, GVA for the whole of the creative industries was a record £113.6bn in 2019, up 5.6% on the total from the previous year. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*Video game development and publishing also contribute to the digital sector, which saw a record total GVA of 147.5bn in 2019, up 6.1% on 2018. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*Video games themselves contributed a record £2.91bn to the UK economy in 2019, though this figure does not account for inflation. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*The video games industry employs 27,000 people, 16,000 (59%) of whom are aged 16-39, with the remaining 11,000 people (41%) aged 40 and over. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2019-employment DCMS] Apr 2020)

== 2018 Stats ==

*The creative industries contributed a record £101.5bn in GVA to the UK economy in 2017, and in crease of 7.1% on the previous year. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2017-gva DCMS], Nov 2018)

*Overall in 2016, the UK games industry provided 47,620 FTE jobs and contibuted £2.87bn in GVA to the UK economy. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*The UK games industry directly employs 20,430 FTEs in development, publishing and retail roles, which contibute £1.52bn in direct GVA to the economy. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

{| class="wikitable"
|'''Subsector'''
|'''Employment (FTEs)'''
|'''GVA (£m)'''
|-
|Publishing
|2,300
|526.6
|-
|Digital Retail
|310
|31.7
|-
|Physical Retail
|3,980
|132.0
|-
|'''Total'''
|'''20,430'''
|'''1.52'''
|}

*The economic impact of the growing UK Esports sector was also assessed for the first time and was shown to have supported 470 FTE jobs and contributed £18.4m in GVA in 2016. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*In 2016, the UK games industry spent £1.25bn on game development. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*In the period 2015-2017, there was at least £1.75bn of inward investment in the UK games industry. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*The VGTR supports 9,240 FTE jobs across the UK games industry, including 4,320 directly in development roles (31% of the total UK development workforce). ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*VGTR games represented £389.9m of UK development spend, 31% of the total development spend. Overall, projects supported by the VGTR contibuted£525m in GVA to the UK economy and £158m in tax revenue. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*68% of VGTR-supported games would not be made in the UK, or at all, without the relief in place. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*For every £1 the Government invested into the games sector via VGTR, an additional £4 in GVA was generated for the UK economy. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*Of all the screen sector tax reliefs, the games sector was shown to have the highest rate of productivity, where each employee generated an average of £83,800 in GVA for the economy, significantly above the national industrial average of £62,100. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*There are 2,277 active video game companies in the UK, as of October 2018. ([https://gamesmap.uk UK Games Map], Oct 2018)

*In November 2018 there were 5.7m professional developers in Europe, up by 200,000 on 2017. This compares to the 4.4m in the US, which has that stayed flat year on year. The UK is home to 830,500 professional developers. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*London is home to 357,900 professional developers, making it the largest hub of professional developers in Europe and considerably ahead of second-place Paris at 268,600. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*THE UK remains the No.1 European destination for international movers in the tech ecosystem, accounting for 20.9% of all international movers. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*44% of founders and employees of private tech start-ups in the UK and Ireland are migrants, the highest percentage of any European region. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 100 highest grossing games of 2017 list featured 15 games made or partly made in the UK, including two games in the top “platinum tier”, one in the gold tier and four in silver. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 92 games by peak simultaneous players featured 14 games made or partly made in the UK (15.2%), including Rockstar’s ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ in the top "over 100k simultaneous players" tier and six games from the UK (or 40%) in the second "over 50k players" tier. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 10 highest grossing VR games featured 11 games made in the UK, including one game partly made in the UK in the top “platinum” tier, one UK-made game in the gold tier and four in silver. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

== 2017 Stats ==

*83% of UK games businesses predict growth in FY2017/18, up from 79% in the previous year. 82% of games companies are also looking to expand their workforce in the same period. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2017/11/ukie-member-survey-prospects-exports-satisfaction Ukie], Nov 2017)

*The UK has been ranked as third best country in the world for the ability to attract, retain, train and educate skilled workers, according to the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (INSEAD, Jan 2017, [https://www.insead.edu/global-indices/gtci LINK] and [http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/uk-ranks-third-in-global-talent-competitiveness-ranking LINK])

*London, Birmingham and Cardiff act as talent magnets, helping the UK attract more highly-skilled workers. Cardiff is the 11th best city worldwide at attracting, growing and retaining talent, with London listed 16th and Birmingham 17th. (INSEAD, Jan 2017, [https://www.insead.edu/global-indices/gtci LINK] and [http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/uk-ranks-third-in-global-talent-competitiveness-ranking LINK])

*According to Creative Assembly, their game ‘Halo Wars 2’ contained 1,023,574 lines of code in 146,605 blocks. Their game ‘Alien: Isolation’ contained 691,685 lines of code in 159,050 blocks. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

*Creative Assembly employed 133 people in their art teams in 2017, 2.3 times larger than in 2012. The ratio of women employed has increased by 5.7 times in the same period. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

*Environment Artists are the largest group of specialists in the Creative Assembly art team, representing 23% of the workforce. Character Artists (15%), Animators (14%) and Concept Artists (12%) are large parts of the overall team. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-art Creative Assembly], 2017)

*In terms of time spent across the three main art areas , 51.6% of time is spent on environment art, 28% on character art and 20% on concept art. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

== 2016 Stats ==

*European games industry professionals rate the UK as the place in Europe where both the best games are made today and the best games will be made in five year’s time. ([http://registration.gdceurope.com/GDCEurope-StateOfGame?_mc=blog_x_gdceu_wp_aud_gdceu_x_x-sotieu GDC], Aug 2016)

*The UK’s creative industries are now worth a record £84.1 billion to the UK economy. The figures show the sector growing at almost twice the rate of the wider UK economy - generating £9.6million per hour. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/news/creative-industries-worth-almost-10-million-an-hour-to-economy Gov.co.uk], Jan 2016)

== 2015 Stats ==

*In 2013, the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) supported 12,100 FTEs of direct employment. This is split into 9,400 FTEs in development, 900 in publishing and 1,800 in retail. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*In 2013, the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) contributed £755m in direct GVA. This is split into £639.1m in development, £63.3m in publishing and £53m in retail. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*In 2013, taking into account the total economic contribution (including multiplier and spillover effects) the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) supported 23,900 FTEs of employment, generated £1.4bn in GVA and contributed £429m to the Exchequer. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*When looking at regional distribution of employment in 2013: for development most FTEs are in London (27%), the South East (21%), the East of England (10%) and West Midlands (10%). For publishing most FTEs are in the South East (32%), London (31%), the East of England (18%) and West Midlands (7%). ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

Job market and economic contribution

2021-10-12T11:59:11Z

UkieColm: /* Gross Value Added */

== Gross Value Added ==

{| class="wikitable"
!Sector
!2010
!2011
!2012
!2013
!2014
!2015
!2016
!2017
!2018
!2019
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Computer Games
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.40
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.68
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.53
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.44
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.40
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.40
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.96
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.32
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.67
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.91
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Creative Industries
|style="text-align:right;" | 69.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 72.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 76.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 81.0
|style="text-align:right;" | 84.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 93.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 98.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 102.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 107.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 115.9
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Digital Sector
|style="text-align:right;" | 103.0
|style="text-align:right;" | 108.4
|style="text-align:right;" | 111.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 113.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 115.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 118.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 129.7
|style="text-align:right;" | 134.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 139.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 150.6
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | UK Total
|style="text-align:right;" | 1446
|style="text-align:right;" | 1482
|style="text-align:right;" | 1530
|style="text-align:right;" | 1589
|style="text-align:right;" | 1661
|style="text-align:right;" | 1712
|style="text-align:right;" | 1777
|style="text-align:right;" | 1844
|style="text-align:right;" | 1910
|style="text-align:right;" | 1970
|}
''Table showing GVA by current prices in £bn for the period 2010-2019 across multiple DCMS sectors and subsectors ''([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

== 2020 Stats ==

*According to DCMS's Sector Economic Estimates, GVA for the whole of the creative industries was a record £113.6bn in 2019, up 5.6% on the total from the previous year. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*Video game development and publishing also contribute to the digital sector, which saw a record total GVA of 147.5bn in 2019, up 6.1% on 2018. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*Video games themselves contributed a record £2.91bn to the UK economy in 2019, though this figure does not account for inflation. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*The video games industry employs 27,000 people, 16,000 (59%) of whom are aged 16-39, with the remaining 11,000 people (41%) aged 40 and over. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2019-employment DCMS] Apr 2020)

== 2018 Stats ==

*The creative industries contributed a record £101.5bn in GVA to the UK economy in 2017, and in crease of 7.1% on the previous year. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2017-gva DCMS], Nov 2018)

*Overall in 2016, the UK games industry provided 47,620 FTE jobs and contibuted £2.87bn in GVA to the UK economy. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*The UK games industry directly employs 20,430 FTEs in development, publishing and retail roles, which contibute £1.52bn in direct GVA to the economy. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

{| class="wikitable"
|'''Subsector'''
|'''Employment (FTEs)'''
|'''GVA (£m)'''
|-
|Publishing
|2,300
|526.6
|-
|Digital Retail
|310
|31.7
|-
|Physical Retail
|3,980
|132.0
|-
|'''Total'''
|'''20,430'''
|'''1.52'''
|}

*The economic impact of the growing UK Esports sector was also assessed for the first time and was shown to have supported 470 FTE jobs and contributed £18.4m in GVA in 2016. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*In 2016, the UK games industry spent £1.25bn on game development. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*In the period 2015-2017, there was at least £1.75bn of inward investment in the UK games industry. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*The VGTR supports 9,240 FTE jobs across the UK games industry, including 4,320 directly in development roles (31% of the total UK development workforce). ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*VGTR games represented £389.9m of UK development spend, 31% of the total development spend. Overall, projects supported by the VGTR contibuted£525m in GVA to the UK economy and £158m in tax revenue. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*68% of VGTR-supported games would not be made in the UK, or at all, without the relief in place. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*For every £1 the Government invested into the games sector via VGTR, an additional £4 in GVA was generated for the UK economy. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*Of all the screen sector tax reliefs, the games sector was shown to have the highest rate of productivity, where each employee generated an average of £83,800 in GVA for the economy, significantly above the national industrial average of £62,100. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*There are 2,277 active video game companies in the UK, as of October 2018. ([https://gamesmap.uk UK Games Map], Oct 2018)

*In November 2018 there were 5.7m professional developers in Europe, up by 200,000 on 2017. This compares to the 4.4m in the US, which has that stayed flat year on year. The UK is home to 830,500 professional developers. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*London is home to 357,900 professional developers, making it the largest hub of professional developers in Europe and considerably ahead of second-place Paris at 268,600. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*THE UK remains the No.1 European destination for international movers in the tech ecosystem, accounting for 20.9% of all international movers. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*44% of founders and employees of private tech start-ups in the UK and Ireland are migrants, the highest percentage of any European region. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 100 highest grossing games of 2017 list featured 15 games made or partly made in the UK, including two games in the top “platinum tier”, one in the gold tier and four in silver. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 92 games by peak simultaneous players featured 14 games made or partly made in the UK (15.2%), including Rockstar’s ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ in the top "over 100k simultaneous players" tier and six games from the UK (or 40%) in the second "over 50k players" tier. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 10 highest grossing VR games featured 11 games made in the UK, including one game partly made in the UK in the top “platinum” tier, one UK-made game in the gold tier and four in silver. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

== 2017 Stats ==

*83% of UK games businesses predict growth in FY2017/18, up from 79% in the previous year. 82% of games companies are also looking to expand their workforce in the same period. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2017/11/ukie-member-survey-prospects-exports-satisfaction Ukie], Nov 2017)

*The UK has been ranked as third best country in the world for the ability to attract, retain, train and educate skilled workers, according to the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (INSEAD, Jan 2017, [https://www.insead.edu/global-indices/gtci LINK] and [http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/uk-ranks-third-in-global-talent-competitiveness-ranking LINK])

*London, Birmingham and Cardiff act as talent magnets, helping the UK attract more highly-skilled workers. Cardiff is the 11th best city worldwide at attracting, growing and retaining talent, with London listed 16th and Birmingham 17th. (INSEAD, Jan 2017, [https://www.insead.edu/global-indices/gtci LINK] and [http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/uk-ranks-third-in-global-talent-competitiveness-ranking LINK])

*According to Creative Assembly, their game ‘Halo Wars 2’ contained 1,023,574 lines of code in 146,605 blocks. Their game ‘Alien: Isolation’ contained 691,685 lines of code in 159,050 blocks. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

*Creative Assembly employed 133 people in their art teams in 2017, 2.3 times larger than in 2012. The ratio of women employed has increased by 5.7 times in the same period. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

*Environment Artists are the largest group of specialists in the Creative Assembly art team, representing 23% of the workforce. Character Artists (15%), Animators (14%) and Concept Artists (12%) are large parts of the overall team. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-art Creative Assembly], 2017)

*In terms of time spent across the three main art areas , 51.6% of time is spent on environment art, 28% on character art and 20% on concept art. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

== 2016 Stats ==

*European games industry professionals rate the UK as the place in Europe where both the best games are made today and the best games will be made in five year’s time. ([http://registration.gdceurope.com/GDCEurope-StateOfGame?_mc=blog_x_gdceu_wp_aud_gdceu_x_x-sotieu GDC], Aug 2016)

*The UK’s creative industries are now worth a record £84.1 billion to the UK economy. The figures show the sector growing at almost twice the rate of the wider UK economy - generating £9.6million per hour. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/news/creative-industries-worth-almost-10-million-an-hour-to-economy Gov.co.uk], Jan 2016)

== 2015 Stats ==

*In 2013, the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) supported 12,100 FTEs of direct employment. This is split into 9,400 FTEs in development, 900 in publishing and 1,800 in retail. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*In 2013, the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) contributed £755m in direct GVA. This is split into £639.1m in development, £63.3m in publishing and £53m in retail. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*In 2013, taking into account the total economic contribution (including multiplier and spillover effects) the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) supported 23,900 FTEs of employment, generated £1.4bn in GVA and contributed £429m to the Exchequer. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*When looking at regional distribution of employment in 2013: for development most FTEs are in London (27%), the South East (21%), the East of England (10%) and West Midlands (10%). For publishing most FTEs are in the South East (32%), London (31%), the East of England (18%) and West Midlands (7%). ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

Job market and economic contribution

2021-10-12T11:58:38Z

UkieColm: /* Gross Value Added */

== Gross Value Added ==

{| class="wikitable"
!Sector
!2010
!2011
!2012
!2013
!2014
!2015
!2016
!2017
!2018
!2019
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Computer Games
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.40
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.68
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.53
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.44
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.40
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.40
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.96
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.32
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.67
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.91
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Creative Industries
|style="text-align:right;" | 69.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 72.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 76.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 81.0
|style="text-align:right;" | 84.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 93.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 98.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 102.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 107.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 115.9
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Digital Sector
|style="text-align:right;" | 103.0
|style="text-align:right;" | 108.4
|style="text-align:right;" | 111.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 113.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 115.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 118.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 129.7
|style="text-align:right;" | 134.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 139.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 150.6
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | UK Total
|style="text-align:right;" | 1446
|style="text-align:right;" | 1482
|style="text-align:right;" | 1530
|style="text-align:right;" | 1589
|style="text-align:right;" | 1661
|style="text-align:right;" | 1712
|style="text-align:right;" | 1777
|style="text-align:right;" | 1844
|style="text-align:right;" | 1910
|style="text-align:right;" | 1970
|}
''Table showing GVA by current prices in £bn for the period 2010-2019 across multiple DCMS sectors and subsectors'' ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

== 2020 Stats ==

*According to DCMS's Sector Economic Estimates, GVA for the whole of the creative industries was a record £113.6bn in 2019, up 5.6% on the total from the previous year. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*Video game development and publishing also contribute to the digital sector, which saw a record total GVA of 147.5bn in 2019, up 6.1% on 2018. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*Video games themselves contributed a record £2.91bn to the UK economy in 2019, though this figure does not account for inflation. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*The video games industry employs 27,000 people, 16,000 (59%) of whom are aged 16-39, with the remaining 11,000 people (41%) aged 40 and over. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2019-employment DCMS] Apr 2020)

== 2018 Stats ==

*The creative industries contributed a record £101.5bn in GVA to the UK economy in 2017, and in crease of 7.1% on the previous year. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2017-gva DCMS], Nov 2018)

*Overall in 2016, the UK games industry provided 47,620 FTE jobs and contibuted £2.87bn in GVA to the UK economy. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*The UK games industry directly employs 20,430 FTEs in development, publishing and retail roles, which contibute £1.52bn in direct GVA to the economy. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

{| class="wikitable"
|'''Subsector'''
|'''Employment (FTEs)'''
|'''GVA (£m)'''
|-
|Publishing
|2,300
|526.6
|-
|Digital Retail
|310
|31.7
|-
|Physical Retail
|3,980
|132.0
|-
|'''Total'''
|'''20,430'''
|'''1.52'''
|}

*The economic impact of the growing UK Esports sector was also assessed for the first time and was shown to have supported 470 FTE jobs and contributed £18.4m in GVA in 2016. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*In 2016, the UK games industry spent £1.25bn on game development. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*In the period 2015-2017, there was at least £1.75bn of inward investment in the UK games industry. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*The VGTR supports 9,240 FTE jobs across the UK games industry, including 4,320 directly in development roles (31% of the total UK development workforce). ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*VGTR games represented £389.9m of UK development spend, 31% of the total development spend. Overall, projects supported by the VGTR contibuted£525m in GVA to the UK economy and £158m in tax revenue. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*68% of VGTR-supported games would not be made in the UK, or at all, without the relief in place. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*For every £1 the Government invested into the games sector via VGTR, an additional £4 in GVA was generated for the UK economy. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*Of all the screen sector tax reliefs, the games sector was shown to have the highest rate of productivity, where each employee generated an average of £83,800 in GVA for the economy, significantly above the national industrial average of £62,100. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*There are 2,277 active video game companies in the UK, as of October 2018. ([https://gamesmap.uk UK Games Map], Oct 2018)

*In November 2018 there were 5.7m professional developers in Europe, up by 200,000 on 2017. This compares to the 4.4m in the US, which has that stayed flat year on year. The UK is home to 830,500 professional developers. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*London is home to 357,900 professional developers, making it the largest hub of professional developers in Europe and considerably ahead of second-place Paris at 268,600. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*THE UK remains the No.1 European destination for international movers in the tech ecosystem, accounting for 20.9% of all international movers. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*44% of founders and employees of private tech start-ups in the UK and Ireland are migrants, the highest percentage of any European region. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 100 highest grossing games of 2017 list featured 15 games made or partly made in the UK, including two games in the top “platinum tier”, one in the gold tier and four in silver. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 92 games by peak simultaneous players featured 14 games made or partly made in the UK (15.2%), including Rockstar’s ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ in the top "over 100k simultaneous players" tier and six games from the UK (or 40%) in the second "over 50k players" tier. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 10 highest grossing VR games featured 11 games made in the UK, including one game partly made in the UK in the top “platinum” tier, one UK-made game in the gold tier and four in silver. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

== 2017 Stats ==

*83% of UK games businesses predict growth in FY2017/18, up from 79% in the previous year. 82% of games companies are also looking to expand their workforce in the same period. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2017/11/ukie-member-survey-prospects-exports-satisfaction Ukie], Nov 2017)

*The UK has been ranked as third best country in the world for the ability to attract, retain, train and educate skilled workers, according to the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (INSEAD, Jan 2017, [https://www.insead.edu/global-indices/gtci LINK] and [http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/uk-ranks-third-in-global-talent-competitiveness-ranking LINK])

*London, Birmingham and Cardiff act as talent magnets, helping the UK attract more highly-skilled workers. Cardiff is the 11th best city worldwide at attracting, growing and retaining talent, with London listed 16th and Birmingham 17th. (INSEAD, Jan 2017, [https://www.insead.edu/global-indices/gtci LINK] and [http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/uk-ranks-third-in-global-talent-competitiveness-ranking LINK])

*According to Creative Assembly, their game ‘Halo Wars 2’ contained 1,023,574 lines of code in 146,605 blocks. Their game ‘Alien: Isolation’ contained 691,685 lines of code in 159,050 blocks. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

*Creative Assembly employed 133 people in their art teams in 2017, 2.3 times larger than in 2012. The ratio of women employed has increased by 5.7 times in the same period. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

*Environment Artists are the largest group of specialists in the Creative Assembly art team, representing 23% of the workforce. Character Artists (15%), Animators (14%) and Concept Artists (12%) are large parts of the overall team. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-art Creative Assembly], 2017)

*In terms of time spent across the three main art areas , 51.6% of time is spent on environment art, 28% on character art and 20% on concept art. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

== 2016 Stats ==

*European games industry professionals rate the UK as the place in Europe where both the best games are made today and the best games will be made in five year’s time. ([http://registration.gdceurope.com/GDCEurope-StateOfGame?_mc=blog_x_gdceu_wp_aud_gdceu_x_x-sotieu GDC], Aug 2016)

*The UK’s creative industries are now worth a record £84.1 billion to the UK economy. The figures show the sector growing at almost twice the rate of the wider UK economy - generating £9.6million per hour. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/news/creative-industries-worth-almost-10-million-an-hour-to-economy Gov.co.uk], Jan 2016)

== 2015 Stats ==

*In 2013, the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) supported 12,100 FTEs of direct employment. This is split into 9,400 FTEs in development, 900 in publishing and 1,800 in retail. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*In 2013, the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) contributed £755m in direct GVA. This is split into £639.1m in development, £63.3m in publishing and £53m in retail. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*In 2013, taking into account the total economic contribution (including multiplier and spillover effects) the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) supported 23,900 FTEs of employment, generated £1.4bn in GVA and contributed £429m to the Exchequer. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*When looking at regional distribution of employment in 2013: for development most FTEs are in London (27%), the South East (21%), the East of England (10%) and West Midlands (10%). For publishing most FTEs are in the South East (32%), London (31%), the East of England (18%) and West Midlands (7%). ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

Job market and economic contribution

2021-10-12T11:58:10Z

UkieColm: Added stats based on DCMS Sectors Economic estimages 2019

== Gross Value Added ==

{| class="wikitable"
!Sector
!2010
!2011
!2012
!2013
!2014
!2015
!2016
!2017
!2018
!2019
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Computer Games
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.40
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.68
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.53
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.44
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.40
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.40
|style="text-align:right;" | 0.96
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.32
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.67
|style="text-align:right;" | 2.91
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Creative Industries
|style="text-align:right;" | 69.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 72.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 76.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 81.0
|style="text-align:right;" | 84.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 93.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 98.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 102.8
|style="text-align:right;" | 107.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 115.9
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | Digital Sector
|style="text-align:right;" | 103.0
|style="text-align:right;" | 108.4
|style="text-align:right;" | 111.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 113.6
|style="text-align:right;" | 115.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 118.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 129.7
|style="text-align:right;" | 134.3
|style="text-align:right;" | 139.1
|style="text-align:right;" | 150.6
|-
|style="text-align:left;" | UK Total
|style="text-align:right;" | 1446
|style="text-align:right;" | 1482
|style="text-align:right;" | 1530
|style="text-align:right;" | 1589
|style="text-align:right;" | 1661
|style="text-align:right;" | 1712
|style="text-align:right;" | 1777
|style="text-align:right;" | 1844
|style="text-align:right;" | 1910
|style="text-align:right;" | 1970
|}
''Table showing GVA by current prices in £bn for the period 2010-2019 across multiple DCMS sectors and subsectors'' ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

== 2020 Stats ==

*According to DCMS's Sector Economic Estimates, GVA for the whole of the creative industries was a record £113.6bn in 2019, up 5.6% on the total from the previous year. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*Video game development and publishing also contribute to the digital sector, which saw a record total GVA of 147.5bn in 2019, up 6.1% on 2018. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*Video games themselves contributed a record £2.91bn to the UK economy in 2019, though this figure does not account for inflation. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-economic-estimates-2019-gross-value-added DCMS], Feb 2021)

*The video games industry employs 27,000 people, 16,000 (59%) of whom are aged 16-39, with the remaining 11,000 people (41%) aged 40 and over. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2019-employment DCMS] Apr 2020)

== 2018 Stats ==

*The creative industries contributed a record £101.5bn in GVA to the UK economy in 2017, and in crease of 7.1% on the previous year. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/dcms-sectors-economic-estimates-2017-gva DCMS], Nov 2018)

*Overall in 2016, the UK games industry provided 47,620 FTE jobs and contibuted £2.87bn in GVA to the UK economy. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*The UK games industry directly employs 20,430 FTEs in development, publishing and retail roles, which contibute £1.52bn in direct GVA to the economy. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

{| class="wikitable"
|'''Subsector'''
|'''Employment (FTEs)'''
|'''GVA (£m)'''
|-
|Publishing
|2,300
|526.6
|-
|Digital Retail
|310
|31.7
|-
|Physical Retail
|3,980
|132.0
|-
|'''Total'''
|'''20,430'''
|'''1.52'''
|}

*The economic impact of the growing UK Esports sector was also assessed for the first time and was shown to have supported 470 FTE jobs and contributed £18.4m in GVA in 2016. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*In 2016, the UK games industry spent £1.25bn on game development. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*In the period 2015-2017, there was at least £1.75bn of inward investment in the UK games industry. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*The VGTR supports 9,240 FTE jobs across the UK games industry, including 4,320 directly in development roles (31% of the total UK development workforce). ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*VGTR games represented £389.9m of UK development spend, 31% of the total development spend. Overall, projects supported by the VGTR contibuted£525m in GVA to the UK economy and £158m in tax revenue. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*68% of VGTR-supported games would not be made in the UK, or at all, without the relief in place. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*For every £1 the Government invested into the games sector via VGTR, an additional £4 in GVA was generated for the UK economy. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*Of all the screen sector tax reliefs, the games sector was shown to have the highest rate of productivity, where each employee generated an average of £83,800 in GVA for the economy, significantly above the national industrial average of £62,100. ([https://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/reports/uk-film-economy Olsberg SPI / BFI], Oct 2018)

*There are 2,277 active video game companies in the UK, as of October 2018. ([https://gamesmap.uk UK Games Map], Oct 2018)

*In November 2018 there were 5.7m professional developers in Europe, up by 200,000 on 2017. This compares to the 4.4m in the US, which has that stayed flat year on year. The UK is home to 830,500 professional developers. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*London is home to 357,900 professional developers, making it the largest hub of professional developers in Europe and considerably ahead of second-place Paris at 268,600. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*THE UK remains the No.1 European destination for international movers in the tech ecosystem, accounting for 20.9% of all international movers. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*44% of founders and employees of private tech start-ups in the UK and Ireland are migrants, the highest percentage of any European region. ([https://2018.stateofeuropeantech.com/ Atomico], Dec 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 100 highest grossing games of 2017 list featured 15 games made or partly made in the UK, including two games in the top “platinum tier”, one in the gold tier and four in silver. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 92 games by peak simultaneous players featured 14 games made or partly made in the UK (15.2%), including Rockstar’s ‘Grand Theft Auto V’ in the top "over 100k simultaneous players" tier and six games from the UK (or 40%) in the second "over 50k players" tier. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

*Valve’s Steam platforms top 10 highest grossing VR games featured 11 games made in the UK, including one game partly made in the UK in the top “platinum” tier, one UK-made game in the gold tier and four in silver. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2018/01/strong-showing-uk-made-games-steams-biggest-games-2017 Steam / Ukie], Jan 2018)

== 2017 Stats ==

*83% of UK games businesses predict growth in FY2017/18, up from 79% in the previous year. 82% of games companies are also looking to expand their workforce in the same period. ([http://ukie.org.uk/news/2017/11/ukie-member-survey-prospects-exports-satisfaction Ukie], Nov 2017)

*The UK has been ranked as third best country in the world for the ability to attract, retain, train and educate skilled workers, according to the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (INSEAD, Jan 2017, [https://www.insead.edu/global-indices/gtci LINK] and [http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/uk-ranks-third-in-global-talent-competitiveness-ranking LINK])

*London, Birmingham and Cardiff act as talent magnets, helping the UK attract more highly-skilled workers. Cardiff is the 11th best city worldwide at attracting, growing and retaining talent, with London listed 16th and Birmingham 17th. (INSEAD, Jan 2017, [https://www.insead.edu/global-indices/gtci LINK] and [http://www.onrec.com/news/news-archive/uk-ranks-third-in-global-talent-competitiveness-ranking LINK])

*According to Creative Assembly, their game ‘Halo Wars 2’ contained 1,023,574 lines of code in 146,605 blocks. Their game ‘Alien: Isolation’ contained 691,685 lines of code in 159,050 blocks. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

*Creative Assembly employed 133 people in their art teams in 2017, 2.3 times larger than in 2012. The ratio of women employed has increased by 5.7 times in the same period. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

*Environment Artists are the largest group of specialists in the Creative Assembly art team, representing 23% of the workforce. Character Artists (15%), Animators (14%) and Concept Artists (12%) are large parts of the overall team. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-art Creative Assembly], 2017)

*In terms of time spent across the three main art areas , 51.6% of time is spent on environment art, 28% on character art and 20% on concept art. ([https://www.creative-assembly.com/blog/creative-chronicles-programming Creative Assembly], 2017)

== 2016 Stats ==

*European games industry professionals rate the UK as the place in Europe where both the best games are made today and the best games will be made in five year’s time. ([http://registration.gdceurope.com/GDCEurope-StateOfGame?_mc=blog_x_gdceu_wp_aud_gdceu_x_x-sotieu GDC], Aug 2016)

*The UK’s creative industries are now worth a record £84.1 billion to the UK economy. The figures show the sector growing at almost twice the rate of the wider UK economy - generating £9.6million per hour. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/news/creative-industries-worth-almost-10-million-an-hour-to-economy Gov.co.uk], Jan 2016)

== 2015 Stats ==

*In 2013, the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) supported 12,100 FTEs of direct employment. This is split into 9,400 FTEs in development, 900 in publishing and 1,800 in retail. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*In 2013, the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) contributed £755m in direct GVA. This is split into £639.1m in development, £63.3m in publishing and £53m in retail. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*In 2013, taking into account the total economic contribution (including multiplier and spillover effects) the core UK video games sector (video games made wholly or partially in the UK) supported 23,900 FTEs of employment, generated £1.4bn in GVA and contributed £429m to the Exchequer. ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

*When looking at regional distribution of employment in 2013: for development most FTEs are in London (27%), the South East (21%), the East of England (10%) and West Midlands (10%). For publishing most FTEs are in the South East (32%), London (31%), the East of England (18%) and West Midlands (7%). ([http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-reports/reports/uk-film-economy/economic-contribution-uks-film-sectors BFI], Feb 2015)

Main Page

2021-09-03T14:20:47Z

UkieColm: /* UK Industry */

[[File:Ukiepedia-logo.png|thumb|300px|Ukiepedia, powered by [http://ukie.org.uk/ Ukie]]]

Welcome to '''Ukiepedia''', a shared industry resource collating facts, stats and other useful information about the UK and global games industry.

If you have any ideas or suggestions for anything else we could add to Ukiepedia, please submit it via the [https://forms.gle/RS3QyztCfMrsBJGt6 Ukiepedia Submission Form].
__FORCETOC__

== COVID-19 ==

Due to the current Coronavirus situation, Ukiepedia is temporarily collating a range of games industry relevant resources, support and other content in relation to the outbreak. We will endeavour to keep these as up to date as possible, but please continue to refer to official sources for the latest information.

*[[Coronavirus Resources]]

== UK Industry ==

*'''[[UK Video Games Market]]'''
**[[Ukie UK Consumer Games Market Valuation|Ukie UK Consumer Market Valuations]]
**[[UK Games Charts]]
*'''UK Industry'''
**[[Job market and economic contribution]]
***[[Video Game Tax Relief (VGTR)]]
***[[BFI_Screen_Business|BFI Screen Business Report (2018)]]
***[[Regional Economic Impacts of the UK Games Industry]]
**[[Geography of the UK industry]]
**[[UK Investment]]
**[[UK Crowdfunding]]
**[[UK Games Fund]]
**[[Exports and Imports]]
**[[Qualified workforce]]

*[[PEGI Age Ratings]]
*[[Notable Dates in UK Games Industry History]]
**[[UK Honours in the Games Industry]]

*[[Stats About Ukie]]

== Global Industry ==

*'''[[Global Video Games Market]]'''
**[[Mobile market]]
**[[Acquisition and Investment]]
**[[Esports]]
**[[Game video content]]
**[[Virtual reality]]
**[[Global Game Sales]]

*[[Global Games Development Incentives]]

== Demographics & Diversity ==

*[[Industry Diversity]]
**[[UK Games Industry Census 2020]]
**[[Games Industry Careers & Salary Reports]]
*[[Player Diversity & Demographics]]
**[[GameTrack Quarterly Digests]]
*[[Diversity & Inclusion Initiatives & Resources]]

== Education & Skills ==

*[[Digital Schoolhouse]]
*[[Computing Education Research and Resources]]
*[[Age Ratings & Parental Controls]]
*[[Game-related Teaching & Homeschooling Resources]]
*[[Careers in the Games Industry]]

== International Markets ==

*[[North America]]
**[[North_America#USA|USA]]
**[[North_America#Canda|Canada]]
*[[Latin America]]
*[[Europe]]
**[[Europe#France|France]]
**[[Europe#Germany|Germany]]
**[[Europe#Italy|Italy]]
**[[Europe#Poland|Poland]]
**[[Europe#Serbia|Serbia]]
**[[Europe#Spain|Spain]]
**[[Europe#Sweden|Sweden]]
**[[Europe#Turkey|Turkey]]
**[[Europe#Eastern Europe|Eastern Europe]]
*[[Asia]]
**[[Asia#China|China]]
**[[Asia#India|India]]
**[[Asia#Japan|Japan]]
**[[Asia#South Korea|South Korea]]
**[[Asia#Southeast Asia|Southeast Asia]]
*[[Australia]]

== Other Helpful Resources ==

*[[List of Industry Data Providers|Industry Data Providers]]

*[[List of Industry Media & News Outlets|Industry Media & News Outlets]]

*[[List of UK and International Trade Associations|UK and International Trade Associations]]

*[[List of UK Game Development Meetups & Groups|UK Game Development Meetups & Groups]]

*[[Glossary of Games Terminology]]

*[[Indie Developer Resources]]

*[[Accessibility]]

*[[Remote Working Resources]]

*[[Video Game Music]]

*[[Cybersecurity Resources]]

== About This Wiki & How To Get Involved==

Ukiepedia is maintained and moderated by the Ukie team.

If you're interested in contributing to Ukiepedia, you can either submit ideas and suggestions via the [https://forms.gle/RS3QyztCfMrsBJGt6 Ukiepedia Submission Form], or contact [[user:UkieLuke|Luke Hebblethwaite]] at [mailto:luke@ukie.org.uk luke@ukie.org.uk] or [https://twitter.com/ukieluke @ukieluke].

UK Games Fund

2021-09-03T14:19:39Z

UkieColm: Created page with "== About == The [https://ukgamesfund.com/ UK Games Fund] is an early stage development fund administered by [https://ukgtf.org/ UK Games Talent and Finance CIC], backed by th..."

Esports

2021-09-01T16:23:48Z

UkieColm: /* Audience */

[[File:NewzooEsportsAudienceGlobalMar2021.png|thumb|750px|Esports global audience, 2021. Esports enthusiasts are defined as those who watch esports more than once per month. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/viewership-engagement-continues-to-skyrocket-across-games-and-esports-the-global-live-streaming-audience-will-pass-700-million-this-year/ Newzoo])]]
== Background ==

=== Origins ===

In 1980 an [https://britishesports.org/news/a-brief-history-of-esports-and-video-games/ Atari Space Invaders tournament with around 10,000 entrants] attempting to record the high score, spawned the idea of competitive gaming on a scale similar to sports events.

The release of [https://britishesports.org/news/a-brief-history-of-esports-and-video-games/ multiplayer console games such as Street Fighter II, Doom, Quake and Starcraft in the 1990s] drove further interest in competitive gaming and the creation of more games tournaments.

With the introduction of [https://britishesports.org/news/a-brief-history-of-esports-and-video-games/ online services such as Xbox Live in the early 2000s], console owners were able to play cooperatively or against each other online in popular titles including Halo and Call of Duty.

=== Growth in Popularity ===

Advances in [https://britishesports.org/news/a-brief-history-of-esports-and-video-games/ broadband internet and the rise of video content and new online services and the founding of organisations such as ESL through the 2000s and 2010s] generated further interest in esports. During this period, [https://ukie-wiki.azurewebsites.net/index.php/Glossary_of_Games_Terminology#M MOBA games (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena)] League of Legends and Dota 2 became some of the most popular competitive games. First-person-shooters such as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overwatch_League Overwatch] and [https://pro.eslgaming.com/r6/proleague/ Rainbow Six Siege], sports games such as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_eWorld_Cup FIFA] and battle royale games such as [https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/jul/30/fortnite-world-cup-esports Fortnite] also have major esports tournaments offering millions of dollars in prize money.

== Largest Prize Pools ==

The [https://dotesports.com/general/news/biggest-prize-pools-esports-14605 largest prize pools at unique international esports tournament series] as of August 2021 are as follows. Note that only the highest ever prize pool of a given tournament series appears here. The 10 highest prize pools of all time are reproduced below.

{| class="wikitable"
!Rank
!Year
!Game
!Tournament Series
!Prize Pool
|-
|1
|2019
|''Dota 2''
|The International 9
|$34.3m
|-
|2
|2019
|''Fortnite''
|''Fortnite'' World Cup Finals
|$30.4m
|-
|3
|2021
|''Player Unknown's Battlegrounds''
|''PUBG'' Global Invitational.S
|$7.1m
|-
|4
|2018
|''League of Legends''
|''League of Legends'' World Championship
|$6.4m
|-
|5
|2020
|''Honor of Kings''
|''Honor of Kings'' World Champion Cup
|$4.6m
|-
|6
|2020
|''Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)''
|''Call of Duty'' League Championship
|$4.6m
|-
|7
|2018
|''Fortnite''
|''Fortnite'' Fall Skirmish Series - Clubs Standings
|$4m
|-
|8
|2019
|''Player Unknown's Battlegrounds''
|''PUBG'' Global Championship
|$4m
|-
|9
|2019
|''Overwatch''
|''Overwatch'' League - Playoffs
|$3.5m
|-
|10
|2015
|''Dota 2''
|''Dota 2'' Asia Championship
|$3m
|-
|}

The following table shows the largest prize pools for any single event in esports history. ([https://dotesports.com/general/news/biggest-prize-pools-esports-14605 Dot Esports])

{| class="wikitable"
!Rank
!Year
!Game
!Tournament
!Prize Pool
|-
|1
|2019
|''Dota 2''
|The International 9
|$34.3m
|-
|2
|2019
|''Fortnite''
|''Fortnite'' World Cup Finals
|$30.4m
|-
|3
|2018
|''Dota 2''
|The International 8
|$25.5m
|-
|4
|2017
|''Dota 2''
|The International 7
|$24.7m
|-
|5
|2016
|''Dota 2''
|The International 6
|$20.7m
|-
|6
|2015
|''Dota 2''
|The International 5
|$18.4m
|-
|7
|2014
|''Dota 2''
|The International 4
|$10.9m
|-
|8
|2021
|''Player Unknown's Battlegrounds''
|''PUBG'' Global Invitational.S
|$7.1m
|-
|9
|2018
|''League of Legends''
|''League of Legends'' World Championship
|$6.4m
|-
|10
|2017
|''League of Legends''
|''League of Legends'' World Championship
|$4.9m
|-
|}

== 2021 Stats ==

=== Market ===

*Global esports revenues are expected to reach $1.084bn in 2021, up 14.5% from 2020. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/viewership-engagement-continues-to-skyrocket-across-games-and-esports-the-global-live-streaming-audience-will-pass-700-million-this-year/ Newzoo], Mar 2021)
**This figure comprises
***Sponsorships: $641.0m (59%)
***Media Rights: $192.6m (18%)
***Publisher Fees: $126.6m (12%)
***Merchandise & Tickets: $66.6m (13.8%)
***Digital: $32.3m (3%)
***Streaming: $25.1m (2%)
**Western Europs is the 3rd largest region for esports revenues at $205.8m, behind North America with $243.0m and China with $360.1m.

=== Audience ===

*The global esports audience is expected to grow to 474.0m people in 2021, up 8.7% on 2020, while the expected broader live-streaming audience is expected to reach 728.8m. The pandemic accelerated growth in livestreaming audiences. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/viewership-engagement-continues-to-skyrocket-across-games-and-esports-the-global-live-streaming-audience-will-pass-700-million-this-year/ Newzoo], Mar 2021)
**240.0m (51%) people are occasional viewers, with a further 234.0m (49%) esports enthusiasts, defined as those watching professional esports content at least once a month.
**China is expected to be home to the most esports enthusiasts in 2021 with 92.8m viewers, ahead of the USA and Brazil.
**The global average revenue per esports enthusiast is estimated to be $4.63 in 2021, up 2.8% from 2020's $4.40, but down 4.7% from 2019's $4.86 potentially owing to the lack of live events during the pandemic. This figure is expected to rise to $5.25 in 2022 with the restoration of the calendar of live events.

== 2020 Stats ==

*The global esports market will generate revenues of $1,059.3m in 2020, a small revision on the previous estimate of $1,100.1 due to coronoavirus impacts, according to data from Newzoo. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoo-coronavirus-impact-on-the-esports-market-business-revenues/ Newzoo], Apr 2020)
**This downward revision is not related decreased demand (the audience is not smaller) or decreased supply (the number of events organizers want to put on is not fewer). Rather, due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, many events have been postponed, canceled, or moved to online formats.
**Within this analysis, esports merchandise revenues in 2020 were revised to $106.5m (from $121.7m), media rights to $176.2 (from $185.4m) and sponsorships to $614.9m (from $636.9m). However, team streaming revenues were revised upwards to $19.9m (from $18.2m) and global publisher fees to $120.2 million.

*By 2023, global esports revenues are expected to reach $1,598.2m, an upwards revision from previous estimates of $1,556.7m. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoo-coronavirus-impact-on-the-esports-market-business-revenues/ Newzoo], Apr 2020)

== 2019 Stats ==

*In 2019, it is expected that the global esports market will surpass the billion-dollar mark for revenue for the first time - growing +26.7% year-on-year to reach $1.1billion. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)
**North America will generate $409.1 million of this amount, while China will account for $210.3 million, overtaking Western Europe as the second-largest region in terms of revenues.
**By 2022, it is estimated global esports revenues will reach $1.79bn, a CAGR of 22.3% from 2017.

*In 2019, $897.2 million in revenues, or 82% of the total market, will come from brand investments (media rights, advertising, and sponsorship). This will increase to $1.5 billion by 2022, making up 87% of total esports revenues. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)
**In 2019, esports revenues breakdown as follows:
***Sponsorship - $456.7m (+34.3% yoy)
***Media Rights - $251.3m (+41.8% yoy)
***Advertising - $189.2m (+14.8% yoy)
***Merchandise & Tickets - $103.7m (+22.4% yoy)
***Game Publisher Fees - $95.2m (+3.0% yoy)

*The global esports audience will grow to 453.8 million worldwide in 2019, a year-on-year growth of +15%. This will comprise of 201.2 million 'esports enthusiasts' (who view more than once a month), and 252.6 million 'occasional viewers (those who view less than once a month). ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)
**China will have the most 'esports enthusiasts' in 2019 with 75.0 million, followed by the U.S. and Brazil. South Korea will have the highest share of 'esports enthusiasts' relative to its online population in 2019 with 12%.
**By 2022, the global esports audience is predicted to reach 645 million people, with 297 million 'esports enthusiasts'.

*The global average revenue per 'esports enthusiast' will be $5.45 this year, up +8.9% from $5.00 in 2018. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)

*In 2018, there were 737 major events. Together, they generated for $54.7 million in ticket revenues, down from $58.9 million in 2017. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)

*The total prize money in 2018 reached $150.8 million, a significant increase from 2017’s $112.1 million. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)

*The League of Legends World Championship was 2018’s biggest tournament by live viewership hours on Twitch, with 53.8 million hours. It also produced $1.9 million in ticket revenues. The Overwatch League was the most-watched league by live viewership hours on Twitch, generating 79.5 million hours. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)

*335 million people watch esports in Europe, an increase of 36% since 2016, with revenues anticipated to reach $346m in 2018. ([https://www.isfe.eu/isfe-key-facts/ ISFE], May 2019)

*In 2018/19, 6.2% of UK adults reported having watched a professionally organised computer or video game tournament in the last year and 1.1% had played in a professionally organised computer or video game tournament in that period. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/taking-part-201819-statistical-release DCMS Taking Part Survey], Dec 2019)

== 2018 Stats ==

*The global esports market is set to grow 20.6% year-on-year, from $620m in 2017 to US$1.6bn by 2022. ([https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/industries/tmt/media/outlook/segment-findings.html PwC], Jun 2018)

*The UK’s second fastest growing entertainment and media sector is esports, growing 21% year on year to reach £48m in revenue by 2022. ([http://www.cityam.com/287043/uks-entertainment-and-media-sector-forecast-grow-gbp76bn PwC / City AM] / [https://www.digitaltveurope.com/2018/06/07/pwc-vr-the-fastest-growing-segment-of-uk-media-sector/ digitsaltveurope.com], Jun 2018)

*Esports generated $756m in revenue and attracted 258M unique viewers in 2017, with the sector set to worth £1,138bn in 2018. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*According to Superdata, the $756m esport market in 2017 was split 70% sponsorship and ads, 11% prize pools, 10% amateur tournaments and 9% merchandise and ticket sales. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*The most popular esport games by viewership in 2017 were League of Legends (157m), PlayerUknknown’s Battlegrounds(102m) and Hearthstone (83m). ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*The largest prize pool event held in the UK to date was ESL One Birmingham, with a prize pool of $1 million, held at Arena Birmingham in May 2018. ([https://www.eslgaming.com/press/esl-one-dota-2-major-comes-birmingham ESL], May 2018)

== 2017 Stats ==

*191m people will watch esports at least once a month in 2017, with a further 194m watching less regularly (total: 385m). ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/esports-franchises-70-watch-only-one-game-and-42-dont-play/ Newzoo], May 2017)

*In 2017, Europe will reach an esports audience size of 77m people and will account for 32% of global esports economy revenues. ([https://resources.newzoo.com/hubfs/Reports/Newzoo_EsportsBAR_An_Overview_of_Esports_in_Europe_v1.pdf Newzoo], Dec 2017)

*The largest esports event in Europe in 2017 was ESL’s ‘Intel Extreme Masters Season XI’, in Katowice, Poland with an attendance of 173,000. The largest event by hours of streamed via Twitch was PGL’s 2017 Kiev Major, with 23.3m hours watched. ([https://resources.newzoo.com/hubfs/Reports/Newzoo_EsportsBAR_An_Overview_of_Esports_in_Europe_v1.pdf Newzoo], Dec 2017)

*By September 2017, there have been 90 disclosed eSports funding deals globally worth $1.2B, already ahead of full-year figures in 2015 (which saw 84 deals totaling $942M). At the current run rate, deals are projected to hit a new record of 136 deals totaling $1.9B — representing a 64% uptick in deals and a 23% increase in funding from 2016. ([https://www.cbinsights.com/research/esports-funding-trends/ CBInsights], Sept 2017)

*At a quarterly level, Q2’17 saw 35 deals, beating the previous quarterly record of 31 deals in Q3’16 and Q1’17. Q3’16 holds the quarterly record for funding, with $934M invested — meaning the quarter singlehandedly accounted for 62% of the full year’s funding. ([https://www.cbinsights.com/research/esports-funding-trends/ CBInsights], Sept 2017)

*Esports content reaches consumers that don’t necessarily play the games. 23% of the fanbase of the top 3 esports franchises in North American and Western Europe don’t play the game they watch. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/esports-franchises-70-watch-only-one-game-and-42-dont-play/ Newzoo], May 2017)

*The UK esports market will see a 27.6% CAGR, reaching £8m in consumer ticket sales by 2021. Digital advertising in esports will increase by 46.2% CAGR to £12m by 2021. ([https://www.pwc.co.uk/industries/entertainment-media/insights/entertainment-media-outlook.html PWC], June 2017)

== 2016 Stats ==

*The global esports market was worth $0.9bn in 2016 and will grow to $1.4bn by 2019. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ SuperData], Dec 2016)

*US male millennials are just as likely to watch esports (22%) as baseball or hockey. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/why-brands-and-esports-are-entering-esports/ Newzoo], Oct 2016)

*US Esports Enthusiasts will watch esports in preference of traditional sports, with 76% stating that esports viewing is taking away hours they used to spend watching sports. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/why-brands-and-esports-are-entering-esports/ Newzoo], Oct 2016)

*Total global esport revenue will reach $892.8m in 2016, up to $1.1bn in 2018. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/spring-2016-esports-report/ Superdata], May 2016)

*Although Asia still leads at $328m (37%), North America and Europe are up to $275 (31%) and $269m (30%) respectively. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/spring-2016-esports-report/ Superdata], May 2016)

*The largest prize pool held in the UK to date was the $765,000 ECS Season One final, held at Wembley SSE Arena in June 2016 and organised by UK-based FaceIT and Twitch. ([https://www.csgoleague.com/esports-championship-series-finals-to-take-place-at-the-sse-arena-wembley-in-london-june-25-26-tickets-available-now-for-purchase/ ECS], May 2016)

*The UK esports audience will reach 6.5 million in 2016, with 3.1 million people watching more than once a month. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/uk-esports-audience-2016/ Newzoo], Aug 2016)

*The UK esports audience skews 69% male, 31% female. The 21-35 age group represents 63% of the market. Women most likely to watch esports when aged between 21-35 (making up 21% of the overall market, compared to the 42% share for men of the same age). ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/uk-esports-audience-2016/ Newzoo], Aug 2016)

*UK esports fans are far more likely to participate in physical team sports (65%) than the general online population (21%) and are more likely to subscribe to Spotify (48% vs 14%). ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/uk-esports-audience-2016/ Newzoo], Aug 2016)

*35% (18.3m) of UK adults are aware of eSports, split as 48% of males and 23% of females aware. Esports has greater awareness among younger demogrpahics, with 64% of 18-24y/o and 59% of 25-34y/o aware. ([https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/r/53/UK eSports report - Just a game.pdf YouGov], Sept 2017)

*Of the 7% (3.6m) of the UK population has watched esports, the gender split is more evenly split at 55% male and 45% female. 22% of viewers watch more than once a month and 7% more than once a week. ([https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/r/53/UK eSports report - Just a game.pdf YouGov], Sept 2017)

*UK football clubs including Manchester City and West Ham have signed professional esports players. (BBC [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-36734518 #1] and [http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36231379 #2])

*Viewership for esports has grown to 188m in 2015, with more than a third of American esports fans choosing tournaments to watch based on their favorite teams and players. ([http://superdata-research.myshopify.com/products/esports-market-brief-2015 Superdata], Jan 2016)

*The $748m of global revenues were broken down into 77% ($578.6m) from indirect sources like sponsorship and advertising and 23% ($168.9m) from direct sources, such as esports betting and fantasy sites (7%, $55.8m), prize pools (7%, $53.8m), amateur and micro tournaments (4%, $27.7m), merchandise (2%, $17m) and ticket sales (2%, $15.9m). ([http://superdata-research.myshopify.com/products/esports-market-brief-2015 Superdata], Jan 2016)

*2015 also saw the expansion of esports into the mobile platform. For instance Hearthstone’s revenues and monthly active users have really grown since its launch on smartphones in April 2015: the monthly active users grew by +140% then. Another example is the mobile-only MOBA Vainglory, which was specifically created to be an esport. ([http://superdata-research.myshopify.com/products/esports-market-brief-2015 Superdata], Jan 2016)

*According to Newzoo’s quarterly Global esports Market Awareness report, eSports awareness will reach 1bn consumers in 2016, up 36% compared to 2015. From the 16 countries studied, the average awareness of esports among gamers increased from 53.7% in 2015 to 65.7% in 2016. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/global-esports-awareness-exceeds-1-billion-as-new-initiatives-launched/ Newzoo], May 2016)

*The global esports audience will grow to 292 million people in 2016, 148m of which are “enthusiasts”, playing or viewing more than once a month. In 2015, esports “enthusiasts” were split 69% male and 54% aged 21-35yo. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/global-esports-awareness-exceeds-1-billion-as-new-initiatives-launched/ Newzoo], May 2016)

*Esports revenues (from media rights, merchandise & tickets, online advertising, brand partnerships and additional game publisher investment) are set to grow to $463m in 2016, a 43% increase from 2015, and eclipse $1bn by 2019, a 40.7% CAGR from 2014’s $194m. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/free-esports-report-the-esports-audience/ Newzoo], Mar 2016)

*Esports fans are an attractive audience for marketers, with an average income of $69k and over half comprised of Millennials (51%). ([http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2016/mobile-esports-and-vr-expand-and-increase-gaming-engagement.html Nielsen], Apr 2016)

*21.3% of all hours watched on Twitch from July to December 2015 was esports content, totalling 475.5 million hours of esports watched across all esports franchises. MOBAs account for 58% of the esports viewing and a further 27% for shooters. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/esports-drives-21-3-of-twitch-viewership/ Newzoo], Apr 2016)

== 2015 Stats ==

*The prize pools for 2015 should be worth $42m, and it appears that the growing prize pools attract more viewers. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/esports-brief/ Superdata], May 2015)

*Looking at esports audience gender: 87% is male, 13% female (could be linked to the fact only 2 of the Top 200 esports players are female). ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/esports-brief/ Superdata], May 2015)

*The average size of a transaction on esports merchandise (apparel, headphones, mice and mousepads) is $42.30 in key western markets. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/esports-brief/ Superdata], May 2015)

*US viewers buy 3 full games per month, and have an average $200 monthly budget for games (44% spent on full game, 24% on in-game purchases and 32% on peripheral devices). ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/esports-brief/ Superdata], May 2015)

Esports

2021-09-01T16:22:50Z

UkieColm:

[[File:NewzooEsportsAudienceGlobalMar2021.png|thumb|750px|Esports global audience, 2021. Esports enthusiasts are defined as those who watch esports more than once per month. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/viewership-engagement-continues-to-skyrocket-across-games-and-esports-the-global-live-streaming-audience-will-pass-700-million-this-year/ Newzoo])]]
== Background ==

=== Origins ===

In 1980 an [https://britishesports.org/news/a-brief-history-of-esports-and-video-games/ Atari Space Invaders tournament with around 10,000 entrants] attempting to record the high score, spawned the idea of competitive gaming on a scale similar to sports events.

The release of [https://britishesports.org/news/a-brief-history-of-esports-and-video-games/ multiplayer console games such as Street Fighter II, Doom, Quake and Starcraft in the 1990s] drove further interest in competitive gaming and the creation of more games tournaments.

With the introduction of [https://britishesports.org/news/a-brief-history-of-esports-and-video-games/ online services such as Xbox Live in the early 2000s], console owners were able to play cooperatively or against each other online in popular titles including Halo and Call of Duty.

=== Growth in Popularity ===

Advances in [https://britishesports.org/news/a-brief-history-of-esports-and-video-games/ broadband internet and the rise of video content and new online services and the founding of organisations such as ESL through the 2000s and 2010s] generated further interest in esports. During this period, [https://ukie-wiki.azurewebsites.net/index.php/Glossary_of_Games_Terminology#M MOBA games (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena)] League of Legends and Dota 2 became some of the most popular competitive games. First-person-shooters such as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overwatch_League Overwatch] and [https://pro.eslgaming.com/r6/proleague/ Rainbow Six Siege], sports games such as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_eWorld_Cup FIFA] and battle royale games such as [https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/jul/30/fortnite-world-cup-esports Fortnite] also have major esports tournaments offering millions of dollars in prize money.

== Largest Prize Pools ==

The [https://dotesports.com/general/news/biggest-prize-pools-esports-14605 largest prize pools at unique international esports tournament series] as of August 2021 are as follows. Note that only the highest ever prize pool of a given tournament series appears here. The 10 highest prize pools of all time are reproduced below.

{| class="wikitable"
!Rank
!Year
!Game
!Tournament Series
!Prize Pool
|-
|1
|2019
|''Dota 2''
|The International 9
|$34.3m
|-
|2
|2019
|''Fortnite''
|''Fortnite'' World Cup Finals
|$30.4m
|-
|3
|2021
|''Player Unknown's Battlegrounds''
|''PUBG'' Global Invitational.S
|$7.1m
|-
|4
|2018
|''League of Legends''
|''League of Legends'' World Championship
|$6.4m
|-
|5
|2020
|''Honor of Kings''
|''Honor of Kings'' World Champion Cup
|$4.6m
|-
|6
|2020
|''Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)''
|''Call of Duty'' League Championship
|$4.6m
|-
|7
|2018
|''Fortnite''
|''Fortnite'' Fall Skirmish Series - Clubs Standings
|$4m
|-
|8
|2019
|''Player Unknown's Battlegrounds''
|''PUBG'' Global Championship
|$4m
|-
|9
|2019
|''Overwatch''
|''Overwatch'' League - Playoffs
|$3.5m
|-
|10
|2015
|''Dota 2''
|''Dota 2'' Asia Championship
|$3m
|-
|}

The following table shows the largest prize pools for any single event in esports history. ([https://dotesports.com/general/news/biggest-prize-pools-esports-14605 Dot Esports])

{| class="wikitable"
!Rank
!Year
!Game
!Tournament
!Prize Pool
|-
|1
|2019
|''Dota 2''
|The International 9
|$34.3m
|-
|2
|2019
|''Fortnite''
|''Fortnite'' World Cup Finals
|$30.4m
|-
|3
|2018
|''Dota 2''
|The International 8
|$25.5m
|-
|4
|2017
|''Dota 2''
|The International 7
|$24.7m
|-
|5
|2016
|''Dota 2''
|The International 6
|$20.7m
|-
|6
|2015
|''Dota 2''
|The International 5
|$18.4m
|-
|7
|2014
|''Dota 2''
|The International 4
|$10.9m
|-
|8
|2021
|''Player Unknown's Battlegrounds''
|''PUBG'' Global Invitational.S
|$7.1m
|-
|9
|2018
|''League of Legends''
|''League of Legends'' World Championship
|$6.4m
|-
|10
|2017
|''League of Legends''
|''League of Legends'' World Championship
|$4.9m
|-
|}

== 2021 Stats ==

=== Market ===

*Global esports revenues are expected to reach $1.084bn in 2021, up 14.5% from 2020. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/viewership-engagement-continues-to-skyrocket-across-games-and-esports-the-global-live-streaming-audience-will-pass-700-million-this-year/ Newzoo], Mar 2021)
**This figure comprises
***Sponsorships: $641.0m (59%)
***Media Rights: $192.6m (18%)
***Publisher Fees: $126.6m (12%)
***Merchandise & Tickets: $66.6m (13.8%)
***Digital: $32.3m (3%)
***Streaming: $25.1m (2%)
**Western Europs is the 3rd largest region for esports revenues at $205.8m, behind North America with $243.0m and China with $360.1m.

=== Audience ===

*The global esports audience is expected to grow to 474.0m people in 2021, up 8.7% on 2020, while the expected broader live-streaming audience is expected to reach 728.8m. The pandemic accelerated growth in livestreaming audiences. (([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/viewership-engagement-continues-to-skyrocket-across-games-and-esports-the-global-live-streaming-audience-will-pass-700-million-this-year/ Newzoo], Mar 2021)
**240.0m (51%) people are occasional viewers, with a further 234.0m (49%) esports enthusiasts, defined as those watching professional esports content at least once a month.
**China is expected to be home to the most esports enthusiasts in 2021 with 92.8m viewers, ahead of the USA and Brazil.
**The global average revenue per esports enthusiast is estimated to be $4.63 in 2021, up 2.8% from 2020's $4.40, but down 4.7% from 2019's $4.86 potentially owing to the lack of live events during the pandemic. This figure is expected to rise to $5.25 in 2022 with the restoration of the calendar of live events.

== 2020 Stats ==

*The global esports market will generate revenues of $1,059.3m in 2020, a small revision on the previous estimate of $1,100.1 due to coronoavirus impacts, according to data from Newzoo. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoo-coronavirus-impact-on-the-esports-market-business-revenues/ Newzoo], Apr 2020)
**This downward revision is not related decreased demand (the audience is not smaller) or decreased supply (the number of events organizers want to put on is not fewer). Rather, due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, many events have been postponed, canceled, or moved to online formats.
**Within this analysis, esports merchandise revenues in 2020 were revised to $106.5m (from $121.7m), media rights to $176.2 (from $185.4m) and sponsorships to $614.9m (from $636.9m). However, team streaming revenues were revised upwards to $19.9m (from $18.2m) and global publisher fees to $120.2 million.

*By 2023, global esports revenues are expected to reach $1,598.2m, an upwards revision from previous estimates of $1,556.7m. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoo-coronavirus-impact-on-the-esports-market-business-revenues/ Newzoo], Apr 2020)

== 2019 Stats ==

*In 2019, it is expected that the global esports market will surpass the billion-dollar mark for revenue for the first time - growing +26.7% year-on-year to reach $1.1billion. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)
**North America will generate $409.1 million of this amount, while China will account for $210.3 million, overtaking Western Europe as the second-largest region in terms of revenues.
**By 2022, it is estimated global esports revenues will reach $1.79bn, a CAGR of 22.3% from 2017.

*In 2019, $897.2 million in revenues, or 82% of the total market, will come from brand investments (media rights, advertising, and sponsorship). This will increase to $1.5 billion by 2022, making up 87% of total esports revenues. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)
**In 2019, esports revenues breakdown as follows:
***Sponsorship - $456.7m (+34.3% yoy)
***Media Rights - $251.3m (+41.8% yoy)
***Advertising - $189.2m (+14.8% yoy)
***Merchandise & Tickets - $103.7m (+22.4% yoy)
***Game Publisher Fees - $95.2m (+3.0% yoy)

*The global esports audience will grow to 453.8 million worldwide in 2019, a year-on-year growth of +15%. This will comprise of 201.2 million 'esports enthusiasts' (who view more than once a month), and 252.6 million 'occasional viewers (those who view less than once a month). ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)
**China will have the most 'esports enthusiasts' in 2019 with 75.0 million, followed by the U.S. and Brazil. South Korea will have the highest share of 'esports enthusiasts' relative to its online population in 2019 with 12%.
**By 2022, the global esports audience is predicted to reach 645 million people, with 297 million 'esports enthusiasts'.

*The global average revenue per 'esports enthusiast' will be $5.45 this year, up +8.9% from $5.00 in 2018. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)

*In 2018, there were 737 major events. Together, they generated for $54.7 million in ticket revenues, down from $58.9 million in 2017. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)

*The total prize money in 2018 reached $150.8 million, a significant increase from 2017’s $112.1 million. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)

*The League of Legends World Championship was 2018’s biggest tournament by live viewership hours on Twitch, with 53.8 million hours. It also produced $1.9 million in ticket revenues. The Overwatch League was the most-watched league by live viewership hours on Twitch, generating 79.5 million hours. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)

*335 million people watch esports in Europe, an increase of 36% since 2016, with revenues anticipated to reach $346m in 2018. ([https://www.isfe.eu/isfe-key-facts/ ISFE], May 2019)

*In 2018/19, 6.2% of UK adults reported having watched a professionally organised computer or video game tournament in the last year and 1.1% had played in a professionally organised computer or video game tournament in that period. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/taking-part-201819-statistical-release DCMS Taking Part Survey], Dec 2019)

== 2018 Stats ==

*The global esports market is set to grow 20.6% year-on-year, from $620m in 2017 to US$1.6bn by 2022. ([https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/industries/tmt/media/outlook/segment-findings.html PwC], Jun 2018)

*The UK’s second fastest growing entertainment and media sector is esports, growing 21% year on year to reach £48m in revenue by 2022. ([http://www.cityam.com/287043/uks-entertainment-and-media-sector-forecast-grow-gbp76bn PwC / City AM] / [https://www.digitaltveurope.com/2018/06/07/pwc-vr-the-fastest-growing-segment-of-uk-media-sector/ digitsaltveurope.com], Jun 2018)

*Esports generated $756m in revenue and attracted 258M unique viewers in 2017, with the sector set to worth £1,138bn in 2018. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*According to Superdata, the $756m esport market in 2017 was split 70% sponsorship and ads, 11% prize pools, 10% amateur tournaments and 9% merchandise and ticket sales. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*The most popular esport games by viewership in 2017 were League of Legends (157m), PlayerUknknown’s Battlegrounds(102m) and Hearthstone (83m). ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*The largest prize pool event held in the UK to date was ESL One Birmingham, with a prize pool of $1 million, held at Arena Birmingham in May 2018. ([https://www.eslgaming.com/press/esl-one-dota-2-major-comes-birmingham ESL], May 2018)

== 2017 Stats ==

*191m people will watch esports at least once a month in 2017, with a further 194m watching less regularly (total: 385m). ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/esports-franchises-70-watch-only-one-game-and-42-dont-play/ Newzoo], May 2017)

*In 2017, Europe will reach an esports audience size of 77m people and will account for 32% of global esports economy revenues. ([https://resources.newzoo.com/hubfs/Reports/Newzoo_EsportsBAR_An_Overview_of_Esports_in_Europe_v1.pdf Newzoo], Dec 2017)

*The largest esports event in Europe in 2017 was ESL’s ‘Intel Extreme Masters Season XI’, in Katowice, Poland with an attendance of 173,000. The largest event by hours of streamed via Twitch was PGL’s 2017 Kiev Major, with 23.3m hours watched. ([https://resources.newzoo.com/hubfs/Reports/Newzoo_EsportsBAR_An_Overview_of_Esports_in_Europe_v1.pdf Newzoo], Dec 2017)

*By September 2017, there have been 90 disclosed eSports funding deals globally worth $1.2B, already ahead of full-year figures in 2015 (which saw 84 deals totaling $942M). At the current run rate, deals are projected to hit a new record of 136 deals totaling $1.9B — representing a 64% uptick in deals and a 23% increase in funding from 2016. ([https://www.cbinsights.com/research/esports-funding-trends/ CBInsights], Sept 2017)

*At a quarterly level, Q2’17 saw 35 deals, beating the previous quarterly record of 31 deals in Q3’16 and Q1’17. Q3’16 holds the quarterly record for funding, with $934M invested — meaning the quarter singlehandedly accounted for 62% of the full year’s funding. ([https://www.cbinsights.com/research/esports-funding-trends/ CBInsights], Sept 2017)

*Esports content reaches consumers that don’t necessarily play the games. 23% of the fanbase of the top 3 esports franchises in North American and Western Europe don’t play the game they watch. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/esports-franchises-70-watch-only-one-game-and-42-dont-play/ Newzoo], May 2017)

*The UK esports market will see a 27.6% CAGR, reaching £8m in consumer ticket sales by 2021. Digital advertising in esports will increase by 46.2% CAGR to £12m by 2021. ([https://www.pwc.co.uk/industries/entertainment-media/insights/entertainment-media-outlook.html PWC], June 2017)

== 2016 Stats ==

*The global esports market was worth $0.9bn in 2016 and will grow to $1.4bn by 2019. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ SuperData], Dec 2016)

*US male millennials are just as likely to watch esports (22%) as baseball or hockey. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/why-brands-and-esports-are-entering-esports/ Newzoo], Oct 2016)

*US Esports Enthusiasts will watch esports in preference of traditional sports, with 76% stating that esports viewing is taking away hours they used to spend watching sports. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/why-brands-and-esports-are-entering-esports/ Newzoo], Oct 2016)

*Total global esport revenue will reach $892.8m in 2016, up to $1.1bn in 2018. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/spring-2016-esports-report/ Superdata], May 2016)

*Although Asia still leads at $328m (37%), North America and Europe are up to $275 (31%) and $269m (30%) respectively. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/spring-2016-esports-report/ Superdata], May 2016)

*The largest prize pool held in the UK to date was the $765,000 ECS Season One final, held at Wembley SSE Arena in June 2016 and organised by UK-based FaceIT and Twitch. ([https://www.csgoleague.com/esports-championship-series-finals-to-take-place-at-the-sse-arena-wembley-in-london-june-25-26-tickets-available-now-for-purchase/ ECS], May 2016)

*The UK esports audience will reach 6.5 million in 2016, with 3.1 million people watching more than once a month. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/uk-esports-audience-2016/ Newzoo], Aug 2016)

*The UK esports audience skews 69% male, 31% female. The 21-35 age group represents 63% of the market. Women most likely to watch esports when aged between 21-35 (making up 21% of the overall market, compared to the 42% share for men of the same age). ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/uk-esports-audience-2016/ Newzoo], Aug 2016)

*UK esports fans are far more likely to participate in physical team sports (65%) than the general online population (21%) and are more likely to subscribe to Spotify (48% vs 14%). ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/uk-esports-audience-2016/ Newzoo], Aug 2016)

*35% (18.3m) of UK adults are aware of eSports, split as 48% of males and 23% of females aware. Esports has greater awareness among younger demogrpahics, with 64% of 18-24y/o and 59% of 25-34y/o aware. ([https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/r/53/UK eSports report - Just a game.pdf YouGov], Sept 2017)

*Of the 7% (3.6m) of the UK population has watched esports, the gender split is more evenly split at 55% male and 45% female. 22% of viewers watch more than once a month and 7% more than once a week. ([https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/r/53/UK eSports report - Just a game.pdf YouGov], Sept 2017)

*UK football clubs including Manchester City and West Ham have signed professional esports players. (BBC [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-36734518 #1] and [http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36231379 #2])

*Viewership for esports has grown to 188m in 2015, with more than a third of American esports fans choosing tournaments to watch based on their favorite teams and players. ([http://superdata-research.myshopify.com/products/esports-market-brief-2015 Superdata], Jan 2016)

*The $748m of global revenues were broken down into 77% ($578.6m) from indirect sources like sponsorship and advertising and 23% ($168.9m) from direct sources, such as esports betting and fantasy sites (7%, $55.8m), prize pools (7%, $53.8m), amateur and micro tournaments (4%, $27.7m), merchandise (2%, $17m) and ticket sales (2%, $15.9m). ([http://superdata-research.myshopify.com/products/esports-market-brief-2015 Superdata], Jan 2016)

*2015 also saw the expansion of esports into the mobile platform. For instance Hearthstone’s revenues and monthly active users have really grown since its launch on smartphones in April 2015: the monthly active users grew by +140% then. Another example is the mobile-only MOBA Vainglory, which was specifically created to be an esport. ([http://superdata-research.myshopify.com/products/esports-market-brief-2015 Superdata], Jan 2016)

*According to Newzoo’s quarterly Global esports Market Awareness report, eSports awareness will reach 1bn consumers in 2016, up 36% compared to 2015. From the 16 countries studied, the average awareness of esports among gamers increased from 53.7% in 2015 to 65.7% in 2016. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/global-esports-awareness-exceeds-1-billion-as-new-initiatives-launched/ Newzoo], May 2016)

*The global esports audience will grow to 292 million people in 2016, 148m of which are “enthusiasts”, playing or viewing more than once a month. In 2015, esports “enthusiasts” were split 69% male and 54% aged 21-35yo. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/global-esports-awareness-exceeds-1-billion-as-new-initiatives-launched/ Newzoo], May 2016)

*Esports revenues (from media rights, merchandise & tickets, online advertising, brand partnerships and additional game publisher investment) are set to grow to $463m in 2016, a 43% increase from 2015, and eclipse $1bn by 2019, a 40.7% CAGR from 2014’s $194m. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/free-esports-report-the-esports-audience/ Newzoo], Mar 2016)

*Esports fans are an attractive audience for marketers, with an average income of $69k and over half comprised of Millennials (51%). ([http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2016/mobile-esports-and-vr-expand-and-increase-gaming-engagement.html Nielsen], Apr 2016)

*21.3% of all hours watched on Twitch from July to December 2015 was esports content, totalling 475.5 million hours of esports watched across all esports franchises. MOBAs account for 58% of the esports viewing and a further 27% for shooters. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/esports-drives-21-3-of-twitch-viewership/ Newzoo], Apr 2016)

== 2015 Stats ==

*The prize pools for 2015 should be worth $42m, and it appears that the growing prize pools attract more viewers. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/esports-brief/ Superdata], May 2015)

*Looking at esports audience gender: 87% is male, 13% female (could be linked to the fact only 2 of the Top 200 esports players are female). ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/esports-brief/ Superdata], May 2015)

*The average size of a transaction on esports merchandise (apparel, headphones, mice and mousepads) is $42.30 in key western markets. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/esports-brief/ Superdata], May 2015)

*US viewers buy 3 full games per month, and have an average $200 monthly budget for games (44% spent on full game, 24% on in-game purchases and 32% on peripheral devices). ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/esports-brief/ Superdata], May 2015)

Esports

2021-09-01T16:21:45Z

UkieColm:

[[File:NewzooEsportsAudienceGlobalMar2021.png|thumb|750px|Esports global audience, 2021. Esports enthusiasts are defined as those who watch esports more than once per month. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/viewership-engagement-continues-to-skyrocket-across-games-and-esports-the-global-live-streaming-audience-will-pass-700-million-this-year/ Newzoo])]]
== Background ==

=== Origins ===

In 1980 an [https://britishesports.org/news/a-brief-history-of-esports-and-video-games/ Atari Space Invaders tournament with around 10,000 entrants] attempting to record the high score, spawned the idea of competitive gaming on a scale similar to sports events.

The release of [https://britishesports.org/news/a-brief-history-of-esports-and-video-games/ multiplayer console games such as Street Fighter II, Doom, Quake and Starcraft in the 1990s] drove further interest in competitive gaming and the creation of more games tournaments.

With the introduction of [https://britishesports.org/news/a-brief-history-of-esports-and-video-games/ online services such as Xbox Live in the early 2000s], console owners were able to play cooperatively or against each other online in popular titles including Halo and Call of Duty.

=== Growth in Popularity ===

Advances in [https://britishesports.org/news/a-brief-history-of-esports-and-video-games/ broadband internet and the rise of video content and new online services and the founding of organisations such as ESL through the 2000s and 2010s] generated further interest in esports. During this period, [https://ukie-wiki.azurewebsites.net/index.php/Glossary_of_Games_Terminology#M MOBA games (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena)] League of Legends and Dota 2 became some of the most popular competitive games. First-person-shooters such as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overwatch_League Overwatch] and [https://pro.eslgaming.com/r6/proleague/ Rainbow Six Siege], sports games such as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_eWorld_Cup FIFA] and battle royale games such as [https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/jul/30/fortnite-world-cup-esports Fortnite] also have major esports tournaments offering millions of dollars in prize money.

== Largest Prize Pools ==

The [https://dotesports.com/general/news/biggest-prize-pools-esports-14605 largest prize pools at unique international esports tournament series] as of August 2021 is as follows. Note that only the highest prize pool of a given tournament series appears here. The 10 highest ever prize pools are reproduced below.

{| class="wikitable"
!Rank
!Year
!Game
!Tournament Series
!Prize Pool
|-
|1
|2019
|''Dota 2''
|The International 9
|$34.3m
|-
|2
|2019
|''Fortnite''
|''Fortnite'' World Cup Finals
|$30.4m
|-
|3
|2021
|''Player Unknown's Battlegrounds''
|''PUBG'' Global Invitational.S
|$7.1m
|-
|4
|2018
|''League of Legends''
|''League of Legends'' World Championship
|$6.4m
|-
|5
|2020
|''Honor of Kings''
|''Honor of Kings'' World Champion Cup
|$4.6m
|-
|6
|2020
|''Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)''
|''Call of Duty'' League Championship
|$4.6m
|-
|7
|2018
|''Fortnite''
|''Fortnite'' Fall Skirmish Series - Clubs Standings
|$4m
|-
|8
|2019
|''Player Unknown's Battlegrounds''
|''PUBG'' Global Championship
|$4m
|-
|9
|2019
|''Overwatch''
|''Overwatch'' League - Playoffs
|$3.5m
|-
|10
|2015
|''Dota 2''
|''Dota 2'' Asia Championship
|$3m
|-
|}

The following table shows the largest prize pools for any single event in esports history. ([https://dotesports.com/general/news/biggest-prize-pools-esports-14605 Dot Esports])

{| class="wikitable"
!Rank
!Year
!Game
!Tournament
!Prize Pool
|-
|1
|2019
|''Dota 2''
|The International 9
|$34.3m
|-
|2
|2019
|''Fortnite''
|''Fortnite'' World Cup Finals
|$30.4m
|-
|3
|2018
|''Dota 2''
|The International 8
|$25.5m
|-
|4
|2017
|''Dota 2''
|The International 7
|$24.7m
|-
|5
|2016
|''Dota 2''
|The International 6
|$20.7m
|-
|6
|2015
|''Dota 2''
|The International 5
|$18.4m
|-
|7
|2014
|''Dota 2''
|The International 4
|$10.9m
|-
|8
|2021
|''Player Unknown's Battlegrounds''
|''PUBG'' Global Invitational.S
|$7.1m
|-
|9
|2018
|''League of Legends''
|''League of Legends'' World Championship
|$6.4m
|-
|10
|2017
|''League of Legends''
|''League of Legends'' World Championship
|$4.9m
|-
|}

== 2021 Stats ==

=== Market ===

*Global esports revenues are expected to reach $1.084bn in 2021, up 14.5% from 2020. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/viewership-engagement-continues-to-skyrocket-across-games-and-esports-the-global-live-streaming-audience-will-pass-700-million-this-year/ Newzoo], Mar 2021)
**This figure comprises
***Sponsorships: $641.0m (59%)
***Media Rights: $192.6m (18%)
***Publisher Fees: $126.6m (12%)
***Merchandise & Tickets: $66.6m (13.8%)
***Digital: $32.3m (3%)
***Streaming: $25.1m (2%)
**Western Europs is the 3rd largest region for esports revenues at $205.8m, behind North America with $243.0m and China with $360.1m.

=== Audience ===

*The global esports audience is expected to grow to 474.0m people in 2021, up 8.7% on 2020, while the expected broader live-streaming audience is expected to reach 728.8m. The pandemic accelerated growth in livestreaming audiences. (([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/viewership-engagement-continues-to-skyrocket-across-games-and-esports-the-global-live-streaming-audience-will-pass-700-million-this-year/ Newzoo], Mar 2021)
**240.0m (51%) people are occasional viewers, with a further 234.0m (49%) esports enthusiasts, defined as those watching professional esports content at least once a month.
**China is expected to be home to the most esports enthusiasts in 2021 with 92.8m viewers, ahead of the USA and Brazil.
**The global average revenue per esports enthusiast is estimated to be $4.63 in 2021, up 2.8% from 2020's $4.40, but down 4.7% from 2019's $4.86 potentially owing to the lack of live events during the pandemic. This figure is expected to rise to $5.25 in 2022 with the restoration of the calendar of live events.

== 2020 Stats ==

*The global esports market will generate revenues of $1,059.3m in 2020, a small revision on the previous estimate of $1,100.1 due to coronoavirus impacts, according to data from Newzoo. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoo-coronavirus-impact-on-the-esports-market-business-revenues/ Newzoo], Apr 2020)
**This downward revision is not related decreased demand (the audience is not smaller) or decreased supply (the number of events organizers want to put on is not fewer). Rather, due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, many events have been postponed, canceled, or moved to online formats.
**Within this analysis, esports merchandise revenues in 2020 were revised to $106.5m (from $121.7m), media rights to $176.2 (from $185.4m) and sponsorships to $614.9m (from $636.9m). However, team streaming revenues were revised upwards to $19.9m (from $18.2m) and global publisher fees to $120.2 million.

*By 2023, global esports revenues are expected to reach $1,598.2m, an upwards revision from previous estimates of $1,556.7m. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoo-coronavirus-impact-on-the-esports-market-business-revenues/ Newzoo], Apr 2020)

== 2019 Stats ==

*In 2019, it is expected that the global esports market will surpass the billion-dollar mark for revenue for the first time - growing +26.7% year-on-year to reach $1.1billion. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)
**North America will generate $409.1 million of this amount, while China will account for $210.3 million, overtaking Western Europe as the second-largest region in terms of revenues.
**By 2022, it is estimated global esports revenues will reach $1.79bn, a CAGR of 22.3% from 2017.

*In 2019, $897.2 million in revenues, or 82% of the total market, will come from brand investments (media rights, advertising, and sponsorship). This will increase to $1.5 billion by 2022, making up 87% of total esports revenues. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)
**In 2019, esports revenues breakdown as follows:
***Sponsorship - $456.7m (+34.3% yoy)
***Media Rights - $251.3m (+41.8% yoy)
***Advertising - $189.2m (+14.8% yoy)
***Merchandise & Tickets - $103.7m (+22.4% yoy)
***Game Publisher Fees - $95.2m (+3.0% yoy)

*The global esports audience will grow to 453.8 million worldwide in 2019, a year-on-year growth of +15%. This will comprise of 201.2 million 'esports enthusiasts' (who view more than once a month), and 252.6 million 'occasional viewers (those who view less than once a month). ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)
**China will have the most 'esports enthusiasts' in 2019 with 75.0 million, followed by the U.S. and Brazil. South Korea will have the highest share of 'esports enthusiasts' relative to its online population in 2019 with 12%.
**By 2022, the global esports audience is predicted to reach 645 million people, with 297 million 'esports enthusiasts'.

*The global average revenue per 'esports enthusiast' will be $5.45 this year, up +8.9% from $5.00 in 2018. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)

*In 2018, there were 737 major events. Together, they generated for $54.7 million in ticket revenues, down from $58.9 million in 2017. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)

*The total prize money in 2018 reached $150.8 million, a significant increase from 2017’s $112.1 million. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)

*The League of Legends World Championship was 2018’s biggest tournament by live viewership hours on Twitch, with 53.8 million hours. It also produced $1.9 million in ticket revenues. The Overwatch League was the most-watched league by live viewership hours on Twitch, generating 79.5 million hours. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)

*335 million people watch esports in Europe, an increase of 36% since 2016, with revenues anticipated to reach $346m in 2018. ([https://www.isfe.eu/isfe-key-facts/ ISFE], May 2019)

*In 2018/19, 6.2% of UK adults reported having watched a professionally organised computer or video game tournament in the last year and 1.1% had played in a professionally organised computer or video game tournament in that period. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/taking-part-201819-statistical-release DCMS Taking Part Survey], Dec 2019)

== 2018 Stats ==

*The global esports market is set to grow 20.6% year-on-year, from $620m in 2017 to US$1.6bn by 2022. ([https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/industries/tmt/media/outlook/segment-findings.html PwC], Jun 2018)

*The UK’s second fastest growing entertainment and media sector is esports, growing 21% year on year to reach £48m in revenue by 2022. ([http://www.cityam.com/287043/uks-entertainment-and-media-sector-forecast-grow-gbp76bn PwC / City AM] / [https://www.digitaltveurope.com/2018/06/07/pwc-vr-the-fastest-growing-segment-of-uk-media-sector/ digitsaltveurope.com], Jun 2018)

*Esports generated $756m in revenue and attracted 258M unique viewers in 2017, with the sector set to worth £1,138bn in 2018. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*According to Superdata, the $756m esport market in 2017 was split 70% sponsorship and ads, 11% prize pools, 10% amateur tournaments and 9% merchandise and ticket sales. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*The most popular esport games by viewership in 2017 were League of Legends (157m), PlayerUknknown’s Battlegrounds(102m) and Hearthstone (83m). ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*The largest prize pool event held in the UK to date was ESL One Birmingham, with a prize pool of $1 million, held at Arena Birmingham in May 2018. ([https://www.eslgaming.com/press/esl-one-dota-2-major-comes-birmingham ESL], May 2018)

== 2017 Stats ==

*191m people will watch esports at least once a month in 2017, with a further 194m watching less regularly (total: 385m). ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/esports-franchises-70-watch-only-one-game-and-42-dont-play/ Newzoo], May 2017)

*In 2017, Europe will reach an esports audience size of 77m people and will account for 32% of global esports economy revenues. ([https://resources.newzoo.com/hubfs/Reports/Newzoo_EsportsBAR_An_Overview_of_Esports_in_Europe_v1.pdf Newzoo], Dec 2017)

*The largest esports event in Europe in 2017 was ESL’s ‘Intel Extreme Masters Season XI’, in Katowice, Poland with an attendance of 173,000. The largest event by hours of streamed via Twitch was PGL’s 2017 Kiev Major, with 23.3m hours watched. ([https://resources.newzoo.com/hubfs/Reports/Newzoo_EsportsBAR_An_Overview_of_Esports_in_Europe_v1.pdf Newzoo], Dec 2017)

*By September 2017, there have been 90 disclosed eSports funding deals globally worth $1.2B, already ahead of full-year figures in 2015 (which saw 84 deals totaling $942M). At the current run rate, deals are projected to hit a new record of 136 deals totaling $1.9B — representing a 64% uptick in deals and a 23% increase in funding from 2016. ([https://www.cbinsights.com/research/esports-funding-trends/ CBInsights], Sept 2017)

*At a quarterly level, Q2’17 saw 35 deals, beating the previous quarterly record of 31 deals in Q3’16 and Q1’17. Q3’16 holds the quarterly record for funding, with $934M invested — meaning the quarter singlehandedly accounted for 62% of the full year’s funding. ([https://www.cbinsights.com/research/esports-funding-trends/ CBInsights], Sept 2017)

*Esports content reaches consumers that don’t necessarily play the games. 23% of the fanbase of the top 3 esports franchises in North American and Western Europe don’t play the game they watch. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/esports-franchises-70-watch-only-one-game-and-42-dont-play/ Newzoo], May 2017)

*The UK esports market will see a 27.6% CAGR, reaching £8m in consumer ticket sales by 2021. Digital advertising in esports will increase by 46.2% CAGR to £12m by 2021. ([https://www.pwc.co.uk/industries/entertainment-media/insights/entertainment-media-outlook.html PWC], June 2017)

== 2016 Stats ==

*The global esports market was worth $0.9bn in 2016 and will grow to $1.4bn by 2019. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ SuperData], Dec 2016)

*US male millennials are just as likely to watch esports (22%) as baseball or hockey. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/why-brands-and-esports-are-entering-esports/ Newzoo], Oct 2016)

*US Esports Enthusiasts will watch esports in preference of traditional sports, with 76% stating that esports viewing is taking away hours they used to spend watching sports. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/why-brands-and-esports-are-entering-esports/ Newzoo], Oct 2016)

*Total global esport revenue will reach $892.8m in 2016, up to $1.1bn in 2018. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/spring-2016-esports-report/ Superdata], May 2016)

*Although Asia still leads at $328m (37%), North America and Europe are up to $275 (31%) and $269m (30%) respectively. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/spring-2016-esports-report/ Superdata], May 2016)

*The largest prize pool held in the UK to date was the $765,000 ECS Season One final, held at Wembley SSE Arena in June 2016 and organised by UK-based FaceIT and Twitch. ([https://www.csgoleague.com/esports-championship-series-finals-to-take-place-at-the-sse-arena-wembley-in-london-june-25-26-tickets-available-now-for-purchase/ ECS], May 2016)

*The UK esports audience will reach 6.5 million in 2016, with 3.1 million people watching more than once a month. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/uk-esports-audience-2016/ Newzoo], Aug 2016)

*The UK esports audience skews 69% male, 31% female. The 21-35 age group represents 63% of the market. Women most likely to watch esports when aged between 21-35 (making up 21% of the overall market, compared to the 42% share for men of the same age). ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/uk-esports-audience-2016/ Newzoo], Aug 2016)

*UK esports fans are far more likely to participate in physical team sports (65%) than the general online population (21%) and are more likely to subscribe to Spotify (48% vs 14%). ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/uk-esports-audience-2016/ Newzoo], Aug 2016)

*35% (18.3m) of UK adults are aware of eSports, split as 48% of males and 23% of females aware. Esports has greater awareness among younger demogrpahics, with 64% of 18-24y/o and 59% of 25-34y/o aware. ([https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/r/53/UK eSports report - Just a game.pdf YouGov], Sept 2017)

*Of the 7% (3.6m) of the UK population has watched esports, the gender split is more evenly split at 55% male and 45% female. 22% of viewers watch more than once a month and 7% more than once a week. ([https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/r/53/UK eSports report - Just a game.pdf YouGov], Sept 2017)

*UK football clubs including Manchester City and West Ham have signed professional esports players. (BBC [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-36734518 #1] and [http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36231379 #2])

*Viewership for esports has grown to 188m in 2015, with more than a third of American esports fans choosing tournaments to watch based on their favorite teams and players. ([http://superdata-research.myshopify.com/products/esports-market-brief-2015 Superdata], Jan 2016)

*The $748m of global revenues were broken down into 77% ($578.6m) from indirect sources like sponsorship and advertising and 23% ($168.9m) from direct sources, such as esports betting and fantasy sites (7%, $55.8m), prize pools (7%, $53.8m), amateur and micro tournaments (4%, $27.7m), merchandise (2%, $17m) and ticket sales (2%, $15.9m). ([http://superdata-research.myshopify.com/products/esports-market-brief-2015 Superdata], Jan 2016)

*2015 also saw the expansion of esports into the mobile platform. For instance Hearthstone’s revenues and monthly active users have really grown since its launch on smartphones in April 2015: the monthly active users grew by +140% then. Another example is the mobile-only MOBA Vainglory, which was specifically created to be an esport. ([http://superdata-research.myshopify.com/products/esports-market-brief-2015 Superdata], Jan 2016)

*According to Newzoo’s quarterly Global esports Market Awareness report, eSports awareness will reach 1bn consumers in 2016, up 36% compared to 2015. From the 16 countries studied, the average awareness of esports among gamers increased from 53.7% in 2015 to 65.7% in 2016. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/global-esports-awareness-exceeds-1-billion-as-new-initiatives-launched/ Newzoo], May 2016)

*The global esports audience will grow to 292 million people in 2016, 148m of which are “enthusiasts”, playing or viewing more than once a month. In 2015, esports “enthusiasts” were split 69% male and 54% aged 21-35yo. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/global-esports-awareness-exceeds-1-billion-as-new-initiatives-launched/ Newzoo], May 2016)

*Esports revenues (from media rights, merchandise & tickets, online advertising, brand partnerships and additional game publisher investment) are set to grow to $463m in 2016, a 43% increase from 2015, and eclipse $1bn by 2019, a 40.7% CAGR from 2014’s $194m. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/free-esports-report-the-esports-audience/ Newzoo], Mar 2016)

*Esports fans are an attractive audience for marketers, with an average income of $69k and over half comprised of Millennials (51%). ([http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2016/mobile-esports-and-vr-expand-and-increase-gaming-engagement.html Nielsen], Apr 2016)

*21.3% of all hours watched on Twitch from July to December 2015 was esports content, totalling 475.5 million hours of esports watched across all esports franchises. MOBAs account for 58% of the esports viewing and a further 27% for shooters. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/esports-drives-21-3-of-twitch-viewership/ Newzoo], Apr 2016)

== 2015 Stats ==

*The prize pools for 2015 should be worth $42m, and it appears that the growing prize pools attract more viewers. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/esports-brief/ Superdata], May 2015)

*Looking at esports audience gender: 87% is male, 13% female (could be linked to the fact only 2 of the Top 200 esports players are female). ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/esports-brief/ Superdata], May 2015)

*The average size of a transaction on esports merchandise (apparel, headphones, mice and mousepads) is $42.30 in key western markets. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/esports-brief/ Superdata], May 2015)

*US viewers buy 3 full games per month, and have an average $200 monthly budget for games (44% spent on full game, 24% on in-game purchases and 32% on peripheral devices). ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/esports-brief/ Superdata], May 2015)

Esports

2021-09-01T16:20:32Z

UkieColm:

[[File:NewzooEsportsAudienceGlobalMar2021.png|thumb|750px|Esports global audience, 2021. Esports enthusiasts are defined as those who watch esports more than once per month. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/viewership-engagement-continues-to-skyrocket-across-games-and-esports-the-global-live-streaming-audience-will-pass-700-million-this-year/ Newzoo])]]
== Background ==

=== Origins ===

In 1980 an [https://britishesports.org/news/a-brief-history-of-esports-and-video-games/ Atari Space Invaders tournament with around 10,000 entrants] attempting to record the high score, spawned the idea of competitive gaming on a scale similar to sports events.

The release of [https://britishesports.org/news/a-brief-history-of-esports-and-video-games/ multiplayer console games such as Street Fighter II, Doom, Quake and Starcraft in the 1990s] drove further interest in competitive gaming and the creation of more games tournaments.

With the introduction of [https://britishesports.org/news/a-brief-history-of-esports-and-video-games/ online services such as Xbox Live in the early 2000s], console owners were able to play cooperatively or against each other online in popular titles including Halo and Call of Duty.

=== Growth in Popularity ===

Advances in [https://britishesports.org/news/a-brief-history-of-esports-and-video-games/ broadband internet and the rise of video content and new online services and the founding of organisations such as ESL through the 2000s and 2010s] generated further interest in esports. During this period, [https://ukie-wiki.azurewebsites.net/index.php/Glossary_of_Games_Terminology#M MOBA games (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena)] League of Legends and Dota 2 became some of the most popular competitive games. First-person-shooters such as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overwatch_League Overwatch] and [https://pro.eslgaming.com/r6/proleague/ Rainbow Six Siege], sports games such as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_eWorld_Cup FIFA] and battle royale games such as [https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/jul/30/fortnite-world-cup-esports Fortnite] also have major esports tournaments offering millions of dollars in prize money.

== Largest Prize Pools ==

The [https://dotesports.com/general/news/biggest-prize-pools-esports-14605 largest prize pools at unique international esports tournament series] as of August 2021 is as follows. Note that only the highest prize pool of a given tournament series appears here. The 10 highest ever prize pools are reproduced below.

{| class="wikitable"
!Rank
!Year
!Game
!Tournament Series
!Prize Pool
|-
|1
|2019
|''Dota 2''
|The International 9
|$34.3m
|-
|2
|2019
|''Fortnite''
|''Fortnite'' World Cup Finals
|$30.4m
|-
|3
|2021
|''Player Unknown's Battlegrounds''
|''PUBG'' Global Invitational.S
|$7.1m
|-
|4
|2018
|''League of Legends''
|''League of Legends'' World Championship
|$6.4m
|-
|5
|2020
|''Honor of Kings''
|''Honor of Kings'' World Champion Cup
|$4.6m
|-
|6
|2020
|''Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)''
|''Call of Duty'' League Championship
|$4.6m
|-
|7
|2018
|''Fortnite''
|''Fortnite'' Fall Skirmish Series - Clubs Standings
|$4m
|-
|8
|2019
|''Player Unknown's Battlegrounds''
|''PUBG'' Global Championship
|$4m
|-
|9
|2019
|''Overwatch''
|''Overwatch'' League - Playoffs
|$3.5m
|-
|10
|2015
|''Dota 2''
|''Dota 2'' Asia Championship
|$3m
|-
|}

The following table shows the largest prize pools for any single event in esports history. [https://dotesports.com/general/news/biggest-prize-pools-esports-14605 Dot Esports]

{| class="wikitable"
!Rank
!Year
!Game
!Tournament
!Prize Pool
|-
|1
|2019
|''Dota 2''
|The International 9
|$34.3m
|-
|2
|2019
|''Fortnite''
|''Fortnite'' World Cup Finals
|$30.4m
|-
|3
|2018
|''Dota 2''
|The International 8
|$25.5m
|-
|4
|2017
|''Dota 2''
|The International 7
|$24.7m
|-
|5
|2016
|''Dota 2''
|The International 6
|$20.7m
|-
|6
|2015
|''Dota 2''
|The International 5
|$18.4m
|-
|7
|2014
|''Dota 2''
|The International 4
|$10.9m
|-
|8
|2021
|''Player Unknown's Battlegrounds''
|''PUBG'' Global Invitational.S
|$7.1m
|-
|9
|2018
|''League of Legends''
|''League of Legends'' World Championship
|$6.4m
|-
|10
|2017
|''League of Legends''
|''League of Legends'' World Championship
|$4.9m
|-
|}

== 2021 Stats ==

=== Market ===

*Global esports revenues are expected to reach $1.084bn in 2021, up 14.5% from 2020. (([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/viewership-engagement-continues-to-skyrocket-across-games-and-esports-the-global-live-streaming-audience-will-pass-700-million-this-year/ Newzoo], Mar 2021)
**This figure comprises
***Sponsorships: $641.0m (59%)
***Media Rights: $192.6m (18%)
***Publisher Fees: $126.6m (12%)
***Merchandise & Tickets: $66.6m (13.8%)
***Digital: $32.3m (3%)
***Streaming: $25.1m (2%)
**Western Europs is the 3rd largest region for esports revenues at $205.8m, behind North America with $243.0m and China with $360.1m.

=== Audience ===

*The global esports audience is expected to grow to 474.0m people in 2021, up 8.7% on 2020, while the expected broader live-streaming audience is expected to reach 728.8m. The pandemic accelerated growth in livestreaming audiences. (([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/viewership-engagement-continues-to-skyrocket-across-games-and-esports-the-global-live-streaming-audience-will-pass-700-million-this-year/ Newzoo], Mar 2021)
**240.0m (51%) people are occasional viewers, with a further 234.0m (49%) esports enthusiasts, defined as those watching professional esports content at least once a month.
**China is expected to be home to the most esports enthusiasts in 2021 with 92.8m viewers, ahead of the USA and Brazil.
**The global average revenue per esports enthusiast is estimated to be $4.63 in 2021, up 2.8% from 2020's $4.40, but down 4.7% from 2019's $4.86 potentially owing to the lack of live events during the pandemic. This figure is expected to rise to $5.25 in 2022 with the restoration of the calendar of live events.

== 2020 Stats ==

*The global esports market will generate revenues of $1,059.3m in 2020, a small revision on the previous estimate of $1,100.1 due to coronoavirus impacts, according to data from Newzoo. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoo-coronavirus-impact-on-the-esports-market-business-revenues/ Newzoo], Apr 2020)
**This downward revision is not related decreased demand (the audience is not smaller) or decreased supply (the number of events organizers want to put on is not fewer). Rather, due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, many events have been postponed, canceled, or moved to online formats.
**Within this analysis, esports merchandise revenues in 2020 were revised to $106.5m (from $121.7m), media rights to $176.2 (from $185.4m) and sponsorships to $614.9m (from $636.9m). However, team streaming revenues were revised upwards to $19.9m (from $18.2m) and global publisher fees to $120.2 million.

*By 2023, global esports revenues are expected to reach $1,598.2m, an upwards revision from previous estimates of $1,556.7m. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoo-coronavirus-impact-on-the-esports-market-business-revenues/ Newzoo], Apr 2020)

== 2019 Stats ==

*In 2019, it is expected that the global esports market will surpass the billion-dollar mark for revenue for the first time - growing +26.7% year-on-year to reach $1.1billion. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)
**North America will generate $409.1 million of this amount, while China will account for $210.3 million, overtaking Western Europe as the second-largest region in terms of revenues.
**By 2022, it is estimated global esports revenues will reach $1.79bn, a CAGR of 22.3% from 2017.

*In 2019, $897.2 million in revenues, or 82% of the total market, will come from brand investments (media rights, advertising, and sponsorship). This will increase to $1.5 billion by 2022, making up 87% of total esports revenues. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)
**In 2019, esports revenues breakdown as follows:
***Sponsorship - $456.7m (+34.3% yoy)
***Media Rights - $251.3m (+41.8% yoy)
***Advertising - $189.2m (+14.8% yoy)
***Merchandise & Tickets - $103.7m (+22.4% yoy)
***Game Publisher Fees - $95.2m (+3.0% yoy)

*The global esports audience will grow to 453.8 million worldwide in 2019, a year-on-year growth of +15%. This will comprise of 201.2 million 'esports enthusiasts' (who view more than once a month), and 252.6 million 'occasional viewers (those who view less than once a month). ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)
**China will have the most 'esports enthusiasts' in 2019 with 75.0 million, followed by the U.S. and Brazil. South Korea will have the highest share of 'esports enthusiasts' relative to its online population in 2019 with 12%.
**By 2022, the global esports audience is predicted to reach 645 million people, with 297 million 'esports enthusiasts'.

*The global average revenue per 'esports enthusiast' will be $5.45 this year, up +8.9% from $5.00 in 2018. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)

*In 2018, there were 737 major events. Together, they generated for $54.7 million in ticket revenues, down from $58.9 million in 2017. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)

*The total prize money in 2018 reached $150.8 million, a significant increase from 2017’s $112.1 million. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)

*The League of Legends World Championship was 2018’s biggest tournament by live viewership hours on Twitch, with 53.8 million hours. It also produced $1.9 million in ticket revenues. The Overwatch League was the most-watched league by live viewership hours on Twitch, generating 79.5 million hours. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)

*335 million people watch esports in Europe, an increase of 36% since 2016, with revenues anticipated to reach $346m in 2018. ([https://www.isfe.eu/isfe-key-facts/ ISFE], May 2019)

*In 2018/19, 6.2% of UK adults reported having watched a professionally organised computer or video game tournament in the last year and 1.1% had played in a professionally organised computer or video game tournament in that period. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/taking-part-201819-statistical-release DCMS Taking Part Survey], Dec 2019)

== 2018 Stats ==

*The global esports market is set to grow 20.6% year-on-year, from $620m in 2017 to US$1.6bn by 2022. ([https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/industries/tmt/media/outlook/segment-findings.html PwC], Jun 2018)

*The UK’s second fastest growing entertainment and media sector is esports, growing 21% year on year to reach £48m in revenue by 2022. ([http://www.cityam.com/287043/uks-entertainment-and-media-sector-forecast-grow-gbp76bn PwC / City AM] / [https://www.digitaltveurope.com/2018/06/07/pwc-vr-the-fastest-growing-segment-of-uk-media-sector/ digitsaltveurope.com], Jun 2018)

*Esports generated $756m in revenue and attracted 258M unique viewers in 2017, with the sector set to worth £1,138bn in 2018. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*According to Superdata, the $756m esport market in 2017 was split 70% sponsorship and ads, 11% prize pools, 10% amateur tournaments and 9% merchandise and ticket sales. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*The most popular esport games by viewership in 2017 were League of Legends (157m), PlayerUknknown’s Battlegrounds(102m) and Hearthstone (83m). ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*The largest prize pool event held in the UK to date was ESL One Birmingham, with a prize pool of $1 million, held at Arena Birmingham in May 2018. ([https://www.eslgaming.com/press/esl-one-dota-2-major-comes-birmingham ESL], May 2018)

== 2017 Stats ==

*191m people will watch esports at least once a month in 2017, with a further 194m watching less regularly (total: 385m). ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/esports-franchises-70-watch-only-one-game-and-42-dont-play/ Newzoo], May 2017)

*In 2017, Europe will reach an esports audience size of 77m people and will account for 32% of global esports economy revenues. ([https://resources.newzoo.com/hubfs/Reports/Newzoo_EsportsBAR_An_Overview_of_Esports_in_Europe_v1.pdf Newzoo], Dec 2017)

*The largest esports event in Europe in 2017 was ESL’s ‘Intel Extreme Masters Season XI’, in Katowice, Poland with an attendance of 173,000. The largest event by hours of streamed via Twitch was PGL’s 2017 Kiev Major, with 23.3m hours watched. ([https://resources.newzoo.com/hubfs/Reports/Newzoo_EsportsBAR_An_Overview_of_Esports_in_Europe_v1.pdf Newzoo], Dec 2017)

*By September 2017, there have been 90 disclosed eSports funding deals globally worth $1.2B, already ahead of full-year figures in 2015 (which saw 84 deals totaling $942M). At the current run rate, deals are projected to hit a new record of 136 deals totaling $1.9B — representing a 64% uptick in deals and a 23% increase in funding from 2016. ([https://www.cbinsights.com/research/esports-funding-trends/ CBInsights], Sept 2017)

*At a quarterly level, Q2’17 saw 35 deals, beating the previous quarterly record of 31 deals in Q3’16 and Q1’17. Q3’16 holds the quarterly record for funding, with $934M invested — meaning the quarter singlehandedly accounted for 62% of the full year’s funding. ([https://www.cbinsights.com/research/esports-funding-trends/ CBInsights], Sept 2017)

*Esports content reaches consumers that don’t necessarily play the games. 23% of the fanbase of the top 3 esports franchises in North American and Western Europe don’t play the game they watch. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/esports-franchises-70-watch-only-one-game-and-42-dont-play/ Newzoo], May 2017)

*The UK esports market will see a 27.6% CAGR, reaching £8m in consumer ticket sales by 2021. Digital advertising in esports will increase by 46.2% CAGR to £12m by 2021. ([https://www.pwc.co.uk/industries/entertainment-media/insights/entertainment-media-outlook.html PWC], June 2017)

== 2016 Stats ==

*The global esports market was worth $0.9bn in 2016 and will grow to $1.4bn by 2019. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ SuperData], Dec 2016)

*US male millennials are just as likely to watch esports (22%) as baseball or hockey. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/why-brands-and-esports-are-entering-esports/ Newzoo], Oct 2016)

*US Esports Enthusiasts will watch esports in preference of traditional sports, with 76% stating that esports viewing is taking away hours they used to spend watching sports. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/why-brands-and-esports-are-entering-esports/ Newzoo], Oct 2016)

*Total global esport revenue will reach $892.8m in 2016, up to $1.1bn in 2018. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/spring-2016-esports-report/ Superdata], May 2016)

*Although Asia still leads at $328m (37%), North America and Europe are up to $275 (31%) and $269m (30%) respectively. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/spring-2016-esports-report/ Superdata], May 2016)

*The largest prize pool held in the UK to date was the $765,000 ECS Season One final, held at Wembley SSE Arena in June 2016 and organised by UK-based FaceIT and Twitch. ([https://www.csgoleague.com/esports-championship-series-finals-to-take-place-at-the-sse-arena-wembley-in-london-june-25-26-tickets-available-now-for-purchase/ ECS], May 2016)

*The UK esports audience will reach 6.5 million in 2016, with 3.1 million people watching more than once a month. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/uk-esports-audience-2016/ Newzoo], Aug 2016)

*The UK esports audience skews 69% male, 31% female. The 21-35 age group represents 63% of the market. Women most likely to watch esports when aged between 21-35 (making up 21% of the overall market, compared to the 42% share for men of the same age). ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/uk-esports-audience-2016/ Newzoo], Aug 2016)

*UK esports fans are far more likely to participate in physical team sports (65%) than the general online population (21%) and are more likely to subscribe to Spotify (48% vs 14%). ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/uk-esports-audience-2016/ Newzoo], Aug 2016)

*35% (18.3m) of UK adults are aware of eSports, split as 48% of males and 23% of females aware. Esports has greater awareness among younger demogrpahics, with 64% of 18-24y/o and 59% of 25-34y/o aware. ([https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/r/53/UK eSports report - Just a game.pdf YouGov], Sept 2017)

*Of the 7% (3.6m) of the UK population has watched esports, the gender split is more evenly split at 55% male and 45% female. 22% of viewers watch more than once a month and 7% more than once a week. ([https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/r/53/UK eSports report - Just a game.pdf YouGov], Sept 2017)

*UK football clubs including Manchester City and West Ham have signed professional esports players. (BBC [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-36734518 #1] and [http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36231379 #2])

*Viewership for esports has grown to 188m in 2015, with more than a third of American esports fans choosing tournaments to watch based on their favorite teams and players. ([http://superdata-research.myshopify.com/products/esports-market-brief-2015 Superdata], Jan 2016)

*The $748m of global revenues were broken down into 77% ($578.6m) from indirect sources like sponsorship and advertising and 23% ($168.9m) from direct sources, such as esports betting and fantasy sites (7%, $55.8m), prize pools (7%, $53.8m), amateur and micro tournaments (4%, $27.7m), merchandise (2%, $17m) and ticket sales (2%, $15.9m). ([http://superdata-research.myshopify.com/products/esports-market-brief-2015 Superdata], Jan 2016)

*2015 also saw the expansion of esports into the mobile platform. For instance Hearthstone’s revenues and monthly active users have really grown since its launch on smartphones in April 2015: the monthly active users grew by +140% then. Another example is the mobile-only MOBA Vainglory, which was specifically created to be an esport. ([http://superdata-research.myshopify.com/products/esports-market-brief-2015 Superdata], Jan 2016)

*According to Newzoo’s quarterly Global esports Market Awareness report, eSports awareness will reach 1bn consumers in 2016, up 36% compared to 2015. From the 16 countries studied, the average awareness of esports among gamers increased from 53.7% in 2015 to 65.7% in 2016. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/global-esports-awareness-exceeds-1-billion-as-new-initiatives-launched/ Newzoo], May 2016)

*The global esports audience will grow to 292 million people in 2016, 148m of which are “enthusiasts”, playing or viewing more than once a month. In 2015, esports “enthusiasts” were split 69% male and 54% aged 21-35yo. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/global-esports-awareness-exceeds-1-billion-as-new-initiatives-launched/ Newzoo], May 2016)

*Esports revenues (from media rights, merchandise & tickets, online advertising, brand partnerships and additional game publisher investment) are set to grow to $463m in 2016, a 43% increase from 2015, and eclipse $1bn by 2019, a 40.7% CAGR from 2014’s $194m. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/free-esports-report-the-esports-audience/ Newzoo], Mar 2016)

*Esports fans are an attractive audience for marketers, with an average income of $69k and over half comprised of Millennials (51%). ([http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2016/mobile-esports-and-vr-expand-and-increase-gaming-engagement.html Nielsen], Apr 2016)

*21.3% of all hours watched on Twitch from July to December 2015 was esports content, totalling 475.5 million hours of esports watched across all esports franchises. MOBAs account for 58% of the esports viewing and a further 27% for shooters. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/esports-drives-21-3-of-twitch-viewership/ Newzoo], Apr 2016)

== 2015 Stats ==

*The prize pools for 2015 should be worth $42m, and it appears that the growing prize pools attract more viewers. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/esports-brief/ Superdata], May 2015)

*Looking at esports audience gender: 87% is male, 13% female (could be linked to the fact only 2 of the Top 200 esports players are female). ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/esports-brief/ Superdata], May 2015)

*The average size of a transaction on esports merchandise (apparel, headphones, mice and mousepads) is $42.30 in key western markets. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/esports-brief/ Superdata], May 2015)

*US viewers buy 3 full games per month, and have an average $200 monthly budget for games (44% spent on full game, 24% on in-game purchases and 32% on peripheral devices). ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/esports-brief/ Superdata], May 2015)

Esports

2021-09-01T16:19:21Z

UkieColm:

[[File:NewzooEsportsAudienceGlobalMar2021.png|thumb|750px|Esports global audience, 2021. Esports enthusiasts are defined as those who watch esports more than once per month. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/viewership-engagement-continues-to-skyrocket-across-games-and-esports-the-global-live-streaming-audience-will-pass-700-million-this-year/ Newzoo])]]
== Background ==

=== Origins ===

In 1980 an [https://britishesports.org/news/a-brief-history-of-esports-and-video-games/ Atari Space Invaders tournament with around 10,000 entrants] attempting to record the high score, spawned the idea of competitive gaming on a scale similar to sports events.

The release of [https://britishesports.org/news/a-brief-history-of-esports-and-video-games/ multiplayer console games such as Street Fighter II, Doom, Quake and Starcraft in the 1990s] drove further interest in competitive gaming and the creation of more games tournaments.

With the introduction of [https://britishesports.org/news/a-brief-history-of-esports-and-video-games/ online services such as Xbox Live in the early 2000s], console owners were able to play cooperatively or against each other online in popular titles including Halo and Call of Duty.

=== Growth in Popularity ===

Advances in [https://britishesports.org/news/a-brief-history-of-esports-and-video-games/ broadband internet and the rise of video content and new online services and the founding of organisations such as ESL through the 2000s and 2010s] generated further interest in esports. During this period, [https://ukie-wiki.azurewebsites.net/index.php/Glossary_of_Games_Terminology#M MOBA games (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena)] League of Legends and Dota 2 became some of the most popular competitive games. First-person-shooters such as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overwatch_League Overwatch] and [https://pro.eslgaming.com/r6/proleague/ Rainbow Six Siege], sports games such as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_eWorld_Cup FIFA] and battle royale games such as [https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/jul/30/fortnite-world-cup-esports Fortnite] also have major esports tournaments offering millions of dollars in prize money.

== Largest Prize Pools ==

The [https://dotesports.com/general/news/biggest-prize-pools-esports-14605 largest prize pools at unique international esports tournament series] as of August 2021 is as follows. Note that only the highest prize pool of a given tournament series appears here. The 10 highest ever prize pools are reproduced below.

{| class="wikitable"
!Rank
!Year
!Game
!Tournament Series
!Prize Pool
|-
|1
|2019
|''Dota 2''
|The International 9
|$34.3m
|-
|2
|2019
|''Fortnite''
|''Fortnite'' World Cup Finals
|$30.4m
|-
|3
|2021
|''Player Unknown's Battlegrounds''
|''PUBG'' Global Invitational.S
|$7.1m
|-
|4
|2018
|''League of Legends''
|''League of Legends'' World Championship
|$6.4m
|-
|5
|2020
|''Honor of Kings''
|''Honor of Kings'' World Champion Cup
|$4.6m
|-
|6
|2020
|''Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)''
|''Call of Duty'' League Championship
|$4.6m
|-
|7
|2018
|''Fortnite''
|''Fortnite'' Fall Skirmish Series - Clubs Standings
|$4m
|-
|8
|2019
|''Player Unknown's Battlegrounds''
|''PUBG'' Global Championship
|$4m
|-
|9
|2019
|''Overwatch''
|''Overwatch'' League - Playoffs
|$3.5m
|-
|10
|2015
|''Dota 2''
|''Dota 2'' Asia Championship
|$3m
|-
|}

The following table shows the largest prize pools for any single event in esports history. [https://dotesports.com/general/news/biggest-prize-pools-esports-14605 Dot Esports]

{| class="wikitable"
!Rank
!Year
!Game
!Tournament Series
!Prize Pool
|-
|1
|2019
|''Dota 2''
|The International 9
|$34.3m
|-
|2
|2019
|''Fortnite''
|''Fortnite'' World Cup Finals
|$30.4m
|-
|3
|2018
|''Dota 2''
|The International 8
|$25.5m
|-
|4
|2017
|''Dota 2''
|The International 7
|$24.7m
|-
|5
|2016
|''Dota 2''
|The International 6
|$20.7m
|-
|6
|2015
|''Dota 2''
|The International 5
|$18.4m
|-
|7
|2014
|''Dota 2''
|The International 4
|$10.9m
|-
|8
|2021
|''Player Unknown's Battlegrounds''
|''PUBG'' Global Invitational.S
|$7.1m
|-
|9
|2018
|''League of Legends''
|''League of Legends'' World Championship
|$6.4m
|-
|10
|2017
|''League of Legends''
|''League of Legends'' World Championship
|$4.9m
|-
|}

== 2021 Stats ==

=== Market ==

*Global esports revenues are expected to reach $1.084bn in 2021, up 14.5% from 2020. (([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/viewership-engagement-continues-to-skyrocket-across-games-and-esports-the-global-live-streaming-audience-will-pass-700-million-this-year/ Newzoo], Mar 2021)
**This figure comprises
***Sponsorships: $641.0m (59%)
***Media Rights: $192.6m (18%)
***Publisher Fees: $126.6m (12%)
***Merchandise & Tickets: $66.6m (13.8%)
***Digital: $32.3m (3%)
***Streaming: $25.1m (2%)
**Western Europs is the 3rd largest region for esports revenues at $205.8m, behind North America with $243.0m and China with $360.1m.

=== Audience ===

*The global esports audience is expected to grow to 474.0m people in 2021, up 8.7% on 2020, while the expected broader live-streaming audience is expected to reach 728.8m. The pandemic accelerated growth in livestreaming audiences. (([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/viewership-engagement-continues-to-skyrocket-across-games-and-esports-the-global-live-streaming-audience-will-pass-700-million-this-year/ Newzoo], Mar 2021)
**240.0m (51%) people are occasional viewers, with a further 234.0m (49%) esports enthusiasts, defined as those watching professional esports content at least once a month.
**China is expected to be home to the most esports enthusiasts in 2021 with 92.8m viewers, ahead of the USA and Brazil.
**The global average revenue per esports enthusiast is estimated to be $4.63 in 2021, up 2.8% from 2020's $4.40, but down 4.7% from 2019's $4.86 potentially owing to the lack of live events during the pandemic. This figure is expected to rise to $5.25 in 2022 with the restoration of the calendar of live events.

== 2020 Stats ==

*The global esports market will generate revenues of $1,059.3m in 2020, a small revision on the previous estimate of $1,100.1 due to coronoavirus impacts, according to data from Newzoo. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoo-coronavirus-impact-on-the-esports-market-business-revenues/ Newzoo], Apr 2020)
**This downward revision is not related decreased demand (the audience is not smaller) or decreased supply (the number of events organizers want to put on is not fewer). Rather, due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, many events have been postponed, canceled, or moved to online formats.
**Within this analysis, esports merchandise revenues in 2020 were revised to $106.5m (from $121.7m), media rights to $176.2 (from $185.4m) and sponsorships to $614.9m (from $636.9m). However, team streaming revenues were revised upwards to $19.9m (from $18.2m) and global publisher fees to $120.2 million.

*By 2023, global esports revenues are expected to reach $1,598.2m, an upwards revision from previous estimates of $1,556.7m. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoo-coronavirus-impact-on-the-esports-market-business-revenues/ Newzoo], Apr 2020)

== 2019 Stats ==

*In 2019, it is expected that the global esports market will surpass the billion-dollar mark for revenue for the first time - growing +26.7% year-on-year to reach $1.1billion. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)
**North America will generate $409.1 million of this amount, while China will account for $210.3 million, overtaking Western Europe as the second-largest region in terms of revenues.
**By 2022, it is estimated global esports revenues will reach $1.79bn, a CAGR of 22.3% from 2017.

*In 2019, $897.2 million in revenues, or 82% of the total market, will come from brand investments (media rights, advertising, and sponsorship). This will increase to $1.5 billion by 2022, making up 87% of total esports revenues. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)
**In 2019, esports revenues breakdown as follows:
***Sponsorship - $456.7m (+34.3% yoy)
***Media Rights - $251.3m (+41.8% yoy)
***Advertising - $189.2m (+14.8% yoy)
***Merchandise & Tickets - $103.7m (+22.4% yoy)
***Game Publisher Fees - $95.2m (+3.0% yoy)

*The global esports audience will grow to 453.8 million worldwide in 2019, a year-on-year growth of +15%. This will comprise of 201.2 million 'esports enthusiasts' (who view more than once a month), and 252.6 million 'occasional viewers (those who view less than once a month). ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)
**China will have the most 'esports enthusiasts' in 2019 with 75.0 million, followed by the U.S. and Brazil. South Korea will have the highest share of 'esports enthusiasts' relative to its online population in 2019 with 12%.
**By 2022, the global esports audience is predicted to reach 645 million people, with 297 million 'esports enthusiasts'.

*The global average revenue per 'esports enthusiast' will be $5.45 this year, up +8.9% from $5.00 in 2018. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)

*In 2018, there were 737 major events. Together, they generated for $54.7 million in ticket revenues, down from $58.9 million in 2017. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)

*The total prize money in 2018 reached $150.8 million, a significant increase from 2017’s $112.1 million. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)

*The League of Legends World Championship was 2018’s biggest tournament by live viewership hours on Twitch, with 53.8 million hours. It also produced $1.9 million in ticket revenues. The Overwatch League was the most-watched league by live viewership hours on Twitch, generating 79.5 million hours. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)

*335 million people watch esports in Europe, an increase of 36% since 2016, with revenues anticipated to reach $346m in 2018. ([https://www.isfe.eu/isfe-key-facts/ ISFE], May 2019)

*In 2018/19, 6.2% of UK adults reported having watched a professionally organised computer or video game tournament in the last year and 1.1% had played in a professionally organised computer or video game tournament in that period. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/taking-part-201819-statistical-release DCMS Taking Part Survey], Dec 2019)

== 2018 Stats ==

*The global esports market is set to grow 20.6% year-on-year, from $620m in 2017 to US$1.6bn by 2022. ([https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/industries/tmt/media/outlook/segment-findings.html PwC], Jun 2018)

*The UK’s second fastest growing entertainment and media sector is esports, growing 21% year on year to reach £48m in revenue by 2022. ([http://www.cityam.com/287043/uks-entertainment-and-media-sector-forecast-grow-gbp76bn PwC / City AM] / [https://www.digitaltveurope.com/2018/06/07/pwc-vr-the-fastest-growing-segment-of-uk-media-sector/ digitsaltveurope.com], Jun 2018)

*Esports generated $756m in revenue and attracted 258M unique viewers in 2017, with the sector set to worth £1,138bn in 2018. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*According to Superdata, the $756m esport market in 2017 was split 70% sponsorship and ads, 11% prize pools, 10% amateur tournaments and 9% merchandise and ticket sales. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*The most popular esport games by viewership in 2017 were League of Legends (157m), PlayerUknknown’s Battlegrounds(102m) and Hearthstone (83m). ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*The largest prize pool event held in the UK to date was ESL One Birmingham, with a prize pool of $1 million, held at Arena Birmingham in May 2018. ([https://www.eslgaming.com/press/esl-one-dota-2-major-comes-birmingham ESL], May 2018)

== 2017 Stats ==

*191m people will watch esports at least once a month in 2017, with a further 194m watching less regularly (total: 385m). ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/esports-franchises-70-watch-only-one-game-and-42-dont-play/ Newzoo], May 2017)

*In 2017, Europe will reach an esports audience size of 77m people and will account for 32% of global esports economy revenues. ([https://resources.newzoo.com/hubfs/Reports/Newzoo_EsportsBAR_An_Overview_of_Esports_in_Europe_v1.pdf Newzoo], Dec 2017)

*The largest esports event in Europe in 2017 was ESL’s ‘Intel Extreme Masters Season XI’, in Katowice, Poland with an attendance of 173,000. The largest event by hours of streamed via Twitch was PGL’s 2017 Kiev Major, with 23.3m hours watched. ([https://resources.newzoo.com/hubfs/Reports/Newzoo_EsportsBAR_An_Overview_of_Esports_in_Europe_v1.pdf Newzoo], Dec 2017)

*By September 2017, there have been 90 disclosed eSports funding deals globally worth $1.2B, already ahead of full-year figures in 2015 (which saw 84 deals totaling $942M). At the current run rate, deals are projected to hit a new record of 136 deals totaling $1.9B — representing a 64% uptick in deals and a 23% increase in funding from 2016. ([https://www.cbinsights.com/research/esports-funding-trends/ CBInsights], Sept 2017)

*At a quarterly level, Q2’17 saw 35 deals, beating the previous quarterly record of 31 deals in Q3’16 and Q1’17. Q3’16 holds the quarterly record for funding, with $934M invested — meaning the quarter singlehandedly accounted for 62% of the full year’s funding. ([https://www.cbinsights.com/research/esports-funding-trends/ CBInsights], Sept 2017)

*Esports content reaches consumers that don’t necessarily play the games. 23% of the fanbase of the top 3 esports franchises in North American and Western Europe don’t play the game they watch. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/esports-franchises-70-watch-only-one-game-and-42-dont-play/ Newzoo], May 2017)

*The UK esports market will see a 27.6% CAGR, reaching £8m in consumer ticket sales by 2021. Digital advertising in esports will increase by 46.2% CAGR to £12m by 2021. ([https://www.pwc.co.uk/industries/entertainment-media/insights/entertainment-media-outlook.html PWC], June 2017)

== 2016 Stats ==

*The global esports market was worth $0.9bn in 2016 and will grow to $1.4bn by 2019. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ SuperData], Dec 2016)

*US male millennials are just as likely to watch esports (22%) as baseball or hockey. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/why-brands-and-esports-are-entering-esports/ Newzoo], Oct 2016)

*US Esports Enthusiasts will watch esports in preference of traditional sports, with 76% stating that esports viewing is taking away hours they used to spend watching sports. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/why-brands-and-esports-are-entering-esports/ Newzoo], Oct 2016)

*Total global esport revenue will reach $892.8m in 2016, up to $1.1bn in 2018. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/spring-2016-esports-report/ Superdata], May 2016)

*Although Asia still leads at $328m (37%), North America and Europe are up to $275 (31%) and $269m (30%) respectively. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/spring-2016-esports-report/ Superdata], May 2016)

*The largest prize pool held in the UK to date was the $765,000 ECS Season One final, held at Wembley SSE Arena in June 2016 and organised by UK-based FaceIT and Twitch. ([https://www.csgoleague.com/esports-championship-series-finals-to-take-place-at-the-sse-arena-wembley-in-london-june-25-26-tickets-available-now-for-purchase/ ECS], May 2016)

*The UK esports audience will reach 6.5 million in 2016, with 3.1 million people watching more than once a month. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/uk-esports-audience-2016/ Newzoo], Aug 2016)

*The UK esports audience skews 69% male, 31% female. The 21-35 age group represents 63% of the market. Women most likely to watch esports when aged between 21-35 (making up 21% of the overall market, compared to the 42% share for men of the same age). ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/uk-esports-audience-2016/ Newzoo], Aug 2016)

*UK esports fans are far more likely to participate in physical team sports (65%) than the general online population (21%) and are more likely to subscribe to Spotify (48% vs 14%). ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/uk-esports-audience-2016/ Newzoo], Aug 2016)

*35% (18.3m) of UK adults are aware of eSports, split as 48% of males and 23% of females aware. Esports has greater awareness among younger demogrpahics, with 64% of 18-24y/o and 59% of 25-34y/o aware. ([https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/r/53/UK eSports report - Just a game.pdf YouGov], Sept 2017)

*Of the 7% (3.6m) of the UK population has watched esports, the gender split is more evenly split at 55% male and 45% female. 22% of viewers watch more than once a month and 7% more than once a week. ([https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/r/53/UK eSports report - Just a game.pdf YouGov], Sept 2017)

*UK football clubs including Manchester City and West Ham have signed professional esports players. (BBC [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-36734518 #1] and [http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36231379 #2])

*Viewership for esports has grown to 188m in 2015, with more than a third of American esports fans choosing tournaments to watch based on their favorite teams and players. ([http://superdata-research.myshopify.com/products/esports-market-brief-2015 Superdata], Jan 2016)

*The $748m of global revenues were broken down into 77% ($578.6m) from indirect sources like sponsorship and advertising and 23% ($168.9m) from direct sources, such as esports betting and fantasy sites (7%, $55.8m), prize pools (7%, $53.8m), amateur and micro tournaments (4%, $27.7m), merchandise (2%, $17m) and ticket sales (2%, $15.9m). ([http://superdata-research.myshopify.com/products/esports-market-brief-2015 Superdata], Jan 2016)

*2015 also saw the expansion of esports into the mobile platform. For instance Hearthstone’s revenues and monthly active users have really grown since its launch on smartphones in April 2015: the monthly active users grew by +140% then. Another example is the mobile-only MOBA Vainglory, which was specifically created to be an esport. ([http://superdata-research.myshopify.com/products/esports-market-brief-2015 Superdata], Jan 2016)

*According to Newzoo’s quarterly Global esports Market Awareness report, eSports awareness will reach 1bn consumers in 2016, up 36% compared to 2015. From the 16 countries studied, the average awareness of esports among gamers increased from 53.7% in 2015 to 65.7% in 2016. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/global-esports-awareness-exceeds-1-billion-as-new-initiatives-launched/ Newzoo], May 2016)

*The global esports audience will grow to 292 million people in 2016, 148m of which are “enthusiasts”, playing or viewing more than once a month. In 2015, esports “enthusiasts” were split 69% male and 54% aged 21-35yo. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/global-esports-awareness-exceeds-1-billion-as-new-initiatives-launched/ Newzoo], May 2016)

*Esports revenues (from media rights, merchandise & tickets, online advertising, brand partnerships and additional game publisher investment) are set to grow to $463m in 2016, a 43% increase from 2015, and eclipse $1bn by 2019, a 40.7% CAGR from 2014’s $194m. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/free-esports-report-the-esports-audience/ Newzoo], Mar 2016)

*Esports fans are an attractive audience for marketers, with an average income of $69k and over half comprised of Millennials (51%). ([http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2016/mobile-esports-and-vr-expand-and-increase-gaming-engagement.html Nielsen], Apr 2016)

*21.3% of all hours watched on Twitch from July to December 2015 was esports content, totalling 475.5 million hours of esports watched across all esports franchises. MOBAs account for 58% of the esports viewing and a further 27% for shooters. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/esports-drives-21-3-of-twitch-viewership/ Newzoo], Apr 2016)

== 2015 Stats ==

*The prize pools for 2015 should be worth $42m, and it appears that the growing prize pools attract more viewers. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/esports-brief/ Superdata], May 2015)

*Looking at esports audience gender: 87% is male, 13% female (could be linked to the fact only 2 of the Top 200 esports players are female). ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/esports-brief/ Superdata], May 2015)

*The average size of a transaction on esports merchandise (apparel, headphones, mice and mousepads) is $42.30 in key western markets. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/esports-brief/ Superdata], May 2015)

*US viewers buy 3 full games per month, and have an average $200 monthly budget for games (44% spent on full game, 24% on in-game purchases and 32% on peripheral devices). ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/esports-brief/ Superdata], May 2015)

Esports

2021-09-01T16:17:04Z

UkieColm:

[[File:NewzooEsportsAudienceGlobalMar2021.png|thumb|750px|Esports global audience, 2021. Esports enthusiasts are defined as those who watch esports more than once per month. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/viewership-engagement-continues-to-skyrocket-across-games-and-esports-the-global-live-streaming-audience-will-pass-700-million-this-year/ Newzoo])]]
== Background ==

=== Origins ===

In 1980 an [https://britishesports.org/news/a-brief-history-of-esports-and-video-games/ Atari Space Invaders tournament with around 10,000 entrants] attempting to record the high score, spawned the idea of competitive gaming on a scale similar to sports events.

The release of [https://britishesports.org/news/a-brief-history-of-esports-and-video-games/ multiplayer console games such as Street Fighter II, Doom, Quake and Starcraft in the 1990s] drove further interest in competitive gaming and the creation of more games tournaments.

With the introduction of [https://britishesports.org/news/a-brief-history-of-esports-and-video-games/ online services such as Xbox Live in the early 2000s], console owners were able to play cooperatively or against each other online in popular titles including Halo and Call of Duty.

=== Growth in Popularity ===

Advances in [https://britishesports.org/news/a-brief-history-of-esports-and-video-games/ broadband internet and the rise of video content and new online services and the founding of organisations such as ESL through the 2000s and 2010s] generated further interest in esports. During this period, [https://ukie-wiki.azurewebsites.net/index.php/Glossary_of_Games_Terminology#M MOBA games (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena)] League of Legends and Dota 2 became some of the most popular competitive games. First-person-shooters such as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overwatch_League Overwatch] and [https://pro.eslgaming.com/r6/proleague/ Rainbow Six Siege], sports games such as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_eWorld_Cup FIFA] and battle royale games such as [https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/jul/30/fortnite-world-cup-esports Fortnite] also have major esports tournaments offering millions of dollars in prize money.

== Largest Prize Pools ==

The [https://dotesports.com/general/news/biggest-prize-pools-esports-14605 largest prize pools at unique international esports tournament series] as of August 2021 is as follows. Note that only the highest prize pool of a given tournament series appears here. The 10 highest ever prize pools are reproduced below.

{| class="wikitable"
!Rank
!Year
!Game
!Tournament Series
!Prize Pool
|-
|1
|2019
|''Dota 2''
|The International 9
|$34.3m
|-
|2
|2019
|''Fortnite''
|''Fortnite'' World Cup Finals
|$30.4m
|-
|3
|2021
|''Player Unknown's Battlegrounds''
|''PUBG'' Global Invitational.S
|$7.1m
|-
|4
|2018
|''League of Legends''
|''League of Legends'' World Championship
|$6.4m
|-
|5
|2020
|''Honor of Kings''
|''Honor of Kings'' World Champion Cup
|$4.6m
|-
|6
|2020
|''Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)''
|''Call of Duty'' League Championship
|$4.6m
|-
|7
|2018
|''Fortnite''
|''Fortnite'' Fall Skirmish Series - Clubs Standings
|$4m
|-
|8
|2019
|''Player Unknown's Battlegrounds''
|''PUBG'' Global Championship
|$4m
|-
|9
|2019
|''Overwatch''
|''Overwatch'' League - Playoffs
|$3.5m
|-
|10
|2015
|''Dota 2''
|''Dota 2'' Asia Championship
|$3m
|-

The following table shows the largest prize pools for any single event in esports history. [https://dotesports.com/general/news/biggest-prize-pools-esports-14605 Dot Esports]

{| class="wikitable"
!Rank
!Year
!Game
!Tournament Series
!Prize Pool
|-
|1
|2019
|''Dota 2''
|The International 9
|$34.3m
|-
|2
|2019
|''Fortnite''
|''Fortnite'' World Cup Finals
|$30.4m
|-
|3
|2018
|''Dota 2''
|The International 8
|$25.5m
|-
|4
|2017
|''Dota 2''
|The International 7
|$24.7m
|-
|5
|2016
|''Dota 2''
|The International 6
|$20.7m
|-
|6
|2015
|''Dota 2''
|The International 5
|$18.4m
|-
|7
|2014
|''Dota 2''
|The International 4
|$10.9m
|-
|8
|2021
|''Player Unknown's Battlegrounds''
|''PUBG'' Global Invitational.S
|$7.1m
|-
|9
|2018
|''League of Legends''
|''League of Legends'' World Championship
|$6.4m
|-
|10
|2017
|''League of Legends''
|''League of Legends'' World Championship
|$4.9m
|-

== 2021 Stats ==

=== Market ==

*Global esports revenues are expected to reach $1.084bn in 2021, up 14.5% from 2020. (([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/viewership-engagement-continues-to-skyrocket-across-games-and-esports-the-global-live-streaming-audience-will-pass-700-million-this-year/ Newzoo], Mar 2021)
**This figure comprises
***Sponsorships: $641.0m (59%)
***Media Rights: $192.6m (18%)
***Publisher Fees: $126.6m (12%)
***Merchandise & Tickets: $66.6m (13.8%)
***Digital: $32.3m (3%)
***Streaming: $25.1m (2%)
**Western Europs is the 3rd largest region for esports revenues at $205.8m, behind North America with $243.0m and China with $360.1m.

=== Audience ===

*The global esports audience is expected to grow to 474.0m people in 2021, up 8.7% on 2020, while the expected broader live-streaming audience is expected to reach 728.8m. The pandemic accelerated growth in livestreaming audiences. (([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/viewership-engagement-continues-to-skyrocket-across-games-and-esports-the-global-live-streaming-audience-will-pass-700-million-this-year/ Newzoo], Mar 2021)
**240.0m (51%) people are occasional viewers, with a further 234.0m (49%) esports enthusiasts, defined as those watching professional esports content at least once a month.
**China is expected to be home to the most esports enthusiasts in 2021 with 92.8m viewers, ahead of the USA and Brazil.
**The global average revenue per esports enthusiast is estimated to be $4.63 in 2021, up 2.8% from 2020's $4.40, but down 4.7% from 2019's $4.86 potentially owing to the lack of live events during the pandemic. This figure is expected to rise to $5.25 in 2022 with the restoration of the calendar of live events.

== 2020 Stats ==

*The global esports market will generate revenues of $1,059.3m in 2020, a small revision on the previous estimate of $1,100.1 due to coronoavirus impacts, according to data from Newzoo. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoo-coronavirus-impact-on-the-esports-market-business-revenues/ Newzoo], Apr 2020)
**This downward revision is not related decreased demand (the audience is not smaller) or decreased supply (the number of events organizers want to put on is not fewer). Rather, due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, many events have been postponed, canceled, or moved to online formats.
**Within this analysis, esports merchandise revenues in 2020 were revised to $106.5m (from $121.7m), media rights to $176.2 (from $185.4m) and sponsorships to $614.9m (from $636.9m). However, team streaming revenues were revised upwards to $19.9m (from $18.2m) and global publisher fees to $120.2 million.

*By 2023, global esports revenues are expected to reach $1,598.2m, an upwards revision from previous estimates of $1,556.7m. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoo-coronavirus-impact-on-the-esports-market-business-revenues/ Newzoo], Apr 2020)

== 2019 Stats ==

*In 2019, it is expected that the global esports market will surpass the billion-dollar mark for revenue for the first time - growing +26.7% year-on-year to reach $1.1billion. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)
**North America will generate $409.1 million of this amount, while China will account for $210.3 million, overtaking Western Europe as the second-largest region in terms of revenues.
**By 2022, it is estimated global esports revenues will reach $1.79bn, a CAGR of 22.3% from 2017.

*In 2019, $897.2 million in revenues, or 82% of the total market, will come from brand investments (media rights, advertising, and sponsorship). This will increase to $1.5 billion by 2022, making up 87% of total esports revenues. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)
**In 2019, esports revenues breakdown as follows:
***Sponsorship - $456.7m (+34.3% yoy)
***Media Rights - $251.3m (+41.8% yoy)
***Advertising - $189.2m (+14.8% yoy)
***Merchandise & Tickets - $103.7m (+22.4% yoy)
***Game Publisher Fees - $95.2m (+3.0% yoy)

*The global esports audience will grow to 453.8 million worldwide in 2019, a year-on-year growth of +15%. This will comprise of 201.2 million 'esports enthusiasts' (who view more than once a month), and 252.6 million 'occasional viewers (those who view less than once a month). ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)
**China will have the most 'esports enthusiasts' in 2019 with 75.0 million, followed by the U.S. and Brazil. South Korea will have the highest share of 'esports enthusiasts' relative to its online population in 2019 with 12%.
**By 2022, the global esports audience is predicted to reach 645 million people, with 297 million 'esports enthusiasts'.

*The global average revenue per 'esports enthusiast' will be $5.45 this year, up +8.9% from $5.00 in 2018. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)

*In 2018, there were 737 major events. Together, they generated for $54.7 million in ticket revenues, down from $58.9 million in 2017. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)

*The total prize money in 2018 reached $150.8 million, a significant increase from 2017’s $112.1 million. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)

*The League of Legends World Championship was 2018’s biggest tournament by live viewership hours on Twitch, with 53.8 million hours. It also produced $1.9 million in ticket revenues. The Overwatch League was the most-watched league by live viewership hours on Twitch, generating 79.5 million hours. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)

*335 million people watch esports in Europe, an increase of 36% since 2016, with revenues anticipated to reach $346m in 2018. ([https://www.isfe.eu/isfe-key-facts/ ISFE], May 2019)

*In 2018/19, 6.2% of UK adults reported having watched a professionally organised computer or video game tournament in the last year and 1.1% had played in a professionally organised computer or video game tournament in that period. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/taking-part-201819-statistical-release DCMS Taking Part Survey], Dec 2019)

== 2018 Stats ==

*The global esports market is set to grow 20.6% year-on-year, from $620m in 2017 to US$1.6bn by 2022. ([https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/industries/tmt/media/outlook/segment-findings.html PwC], Jun 2018)

*The UK’s second fastest growing entertainment and media sector is esports, growing 21% year on year to reach £48m in revenue by 2022. ([http://www.cityam.com/287043/uks-entertainment-and-media-sector-forecast-grow-gbp76bn PwC / City AM] / [https://www.digitaltveurope.com/2018/06/07/pwc-vr-the-fastest-growing-segment-of-uk-media-sector/ digitsaltveurope.com], Jun 2018)

*Esports generated $756m in revenue and attracted 258M unique viewers in 2017, with the sector set to worth £1,138bn in 2018. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*According to Superdata, the $756m esport market in 2017 was split 70% sponsorship and ads, 11% prize pools, 10% amateur tournaments and 9% merchandise and ticket sales. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*The most popular esport games by viewership in 2017 were League of Legends (157m), PlayerUknknown’s Battlegrounds(102m) and Hearthstone (83m). ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*The largest prize pool event held in the UK to date was ESL One Birmingham, with a prize pool of $1 million, held at Arena Birmingham in May 2018. ([https://www.eslgaming.com/press/esl-one-dota-2-major-comes-birmingham ESL], May 2018)

== 2017 Stats ==

*191m people will watch esports at least once a month in 2017, with a further 194m watching less regularly (total: 385m). ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/esports-franchises-70-watch-only-one-game-and-42-dont-play/ Newzoo], May 2017)

*In 2017, Europe will reach an esports audience size of 77m people and will account for 32% of global esports economy revenues. ([https://resources.newzoo.com/hubfs/Reports/Newzoo_EsportsBAR_An_Overview_of_Esports_in_Europe_v1.pdf Newzoo], Dec 2017)

*The largest esports event in Europe in 2017 was ESL’s ‘Intel Extreme Masters Season XI’, in Katowice, Poland with an attendance of 173,000. The largest event by hours of streamed via Twitch was PGL’s 2017 Kiev Major, with 23.3m hours watched. ([https://resources.newzoo.com/hubfs/Reports/Newzoo_EsportsBAR_An_Overview_of_Esports_in_Europe_v1.pdf Newzoo], Dec 2017)

*By September 2017, there have been 90 disclosed eSports funding deals globally worth $1.2B, already ahead of full-year figures in 2015 (which saw 84 deals totaling $942M). At the current run rate, deals are projected to hit a new record of 136 deals totaling $1.9B — representing a 64% uptick in deals and a 23% increase in funding from 2016. ([https://www.cbinsights.com/research/esports-funding-trends/ CBInsights], Sept 2017)

*At a quarterly level, Q2’17 saw 35 deals, beating the previous quarterly record of 31 deals in Q3’16 and Q1’17. Q3’16 holds the quarterly record for funding, with $934M invested — meaning the quarter singlehandedly accounted for 62% of the full year’s funding. ([https://www.cbinsights.com/research/esports-funding-trends/ CBInsights], Sept 2017)

*Esports content reaches consumers that don’t necessarily play the games. 23% of the fanbase of the top 3 esports franchises in North American and Western Europe don’t play the game they watch. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/esports-franchises-70-watch-only-one-game-and-42-dont-play/ Newzoo], May 2017)

*The UK esports market will see a 27.6% CAGR, reaching £8m in consumer ticket sales by 2021. Digital advertising in esports will increase by 46.2% CAGR to £12m by 2021. ([https://www.pwc.co.uk/industries/entertainment-media/insights/entertainment-media-outlook.html PWC], June 2017)

== 2016 Stats ==

*The global esports market was worth $0.9bn in 2016 and will grow to $1.4bn by 2019. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ SuperData], Dec 2016)

*US male millennials are just as likely to watch esports (22%) as baseball or hockey. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/why-brands-and-esports-are-entering-esports/ Newzoo], Oct 2016)

*US Esports Enthusiasts will watch esports in preference of traditional sports, with 76% stating that esports viewing is taking away hours they used to spend watching sports. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/why-brands-and-esports-are-entering-esports/ Newzoo], Oct 2016)

*Total global esport revenue will reach $892.8m in 2016, up to $1.1bn in 2018. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/spring-2016-esports-report/ Superdata], May 2016)

*Although Asia still leads at $328m (37%), North America and Europe are up to $275 (31%) and $269m (30%) respectively. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/spring-2016-esports-report/ Superdata], May 2016)

*The largest prize pool held in the UK to date was the $765,000 ECS Season One final, held at Wembley SSE Arena in June 2016 and organised by UK-based FaceIT and Twitch. ([https://www.csgoleague.com/esports-championship-series-finals-to-take-place-at-the-sse-arena-wembley-in-london-june-25-26-tickets-available-now-for-purchase/ ECS], May 2016)

*The UK esports audience will reach 6.5 million in 2016, with 3.1 million people watching more than once a month. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/uk-esports-audience-2016/ Newzoo], Aug 2016)

*The UK esports audience skews 69% male, 31% female. The 21-35 age group represents 63% of the market. Women most likely to watch esports when aged between 21-35 (making up 21% of the overall market, compared to the 42% share for men of the same age). ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/uk-esports-audience-2016/ Newzoo], Aug 2016)

*UK esports fans are far more likely to participate in physical team sports (65%) than the general online population (21%) and are more likely to subscribe to Spotify (48% vs 14%). ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/uk-esports-audience-2016/ Newzoo], Aug 2016)

*35% (18.3m) of UK adults are aware of eSports, split as 48% of males and 23% of females aware. Esports has greater awareness among younger demogrpahics, with 64% of 18-24y/o and 59% of 25-34y/o aware. ([https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/r/53/UK eSports report - Just a game.pdf YouGov], Sept 2017)

*Of the 7% (3.6m) of the UK population has watched esports, the gender split is more evenly split at 55% male and 45% female. 22% of viewers watch more than once a month and 7% more than once a week. ([https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/r/53/UK eSports report - Just a game.pdf YouGov], Sept 2017)

*UK football clubs including Manchester City and West Ham have signed professional esports players. (BBC [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-36734518 #1] and [http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36231379 #2])

*Viewership for esports has grown to 188m in 2015, with more than a third of American esports fans choosing tournaments to watch based on their favorite teams and players. ([http://superdata-research.myshopify.com/products/esports-market-brief-2015 Superdata], Jan 2016)

*The $748m of global revenues were broken down into 77% ($578.6m) from indirect sources like sponsorship and advertising and 23% ($168.9m) from direct sources, such as esports betting and fantasy sites (7%, $55.8m), prize pools (7%, $53.8m), amateur and micro tournaments (4%, $27.7m), merchandise (2%, $17m) and ticket sales (2%, $15.9m). ([http://superdata-research.myshopify.com/products/esports-market-brief-2015 Superdata], Jan 2016)

*2015 also saw the expansion of esports into the mobile platform. For instance Hearthstone’s revenues and monthly active users have really grown since its launch on smartphones in April 2015: the monthly active users grew by +140% then. Another example is the mobile-only MOBA Vainglory, which was specifically created to be an esport. ([http://superdata-research.myshopify.com/products/esports-market-brief-2015 Superdata], Jan 2016)

*According to Newzoo’s quarterly Global esports Market Awareness report, eSports awareness will reach 1bn consumers in 2016, up 36% compared to 2015. From the 16 countries studied, the average awareness of esports among gamers increased from 53.7% in 2015 to 65.7% in 2016. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/global-esports-awareness-exceeds-1-billion-as-new-initiatives-launched/ Newzoo], May 2016)

*The global esports audience will grow to 292 million people in 2016, 148m of which are “enthusiasts”, playing or viewing more than once a month. In 2015, esports “enthusiasts” were split 69% male and 54% aged 21-35yo. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/global-esports-awareness-exceeds-1-billion-as-new-initiatives-launched/ Newzoo], May 2016)

*Esports revenues (from media rights, merchandise & tickets, online advertising, brand partnerships and additional game publisher investment) are set to grow to $463m in 2016, a 43% increase from 2015, and eclipse $1bn by 2019, a 40.7% CAGR from 2014’s $194m. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/free-esports-report-the-esports-audience/ Newzoo], Mar 2016)

*Esports fans are an attractive audience for marketers, with an average income of $69k and over half comprised of Millennials (51%). ([http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2016/mobile-esports-and-vr-expand-and-increase-gaming-engagement.html Nielsen], Apr 2016)

*21.3% of all hours watched on Twitch from July to December 2015 was esports content, totalling 475.5 million hours of esports watched across all esports franchises. MOBAs account for 58% of the esports viewing and a further 27% for shooters. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/esports-drives-21-3-of-twitch-viewership/ Newzoo], Apr 2016)

== 2015 Stats ==

*The prize pools for 2015 should be worth $42m, and it appears that the growing prize pools attract more viewers. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/esports-brief/ Superdata], May 2015)

*Looking at esports audience gender: 87% is male, 13% female (could be linked to the fact only 2 of the Top 200 esports players are female). ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/esports-brief/ Superdata], May 2015)

*The average size of a transaction on esports merchandise (apparel, headphones, mice and mousepads) is $42.30 in key western markets. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/esports-brief/ Superdata], May 2015)

*US viewers buy 3 full games per month, and have an average $200 monthly budget for games (44% spent on full game, 24% on in-game purchases and 32% on peripheral devices). ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/esports-brief/ Superdata], May 2015)

Esports

2021-09-01T16:16:15Z

UkieColm:

[[File:NewzooEsportsAudienceGlobalMar2021.png|thumb|750px|Esports global audience, 2021. Esports enthusiasts are defined as those who watch esports more than once per month. [https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/viewership-engagement-continues-to-skyrocket-across-games-and-esports-the-global-live-streaming-audience-will-pass-700-million-this-year/ Newzoo]]]
== Background ==

=== Origins ===

In 1980 an [https://britishesports.org/news/a-brief-history-of-esports-and-video-games/ Atari Space Invaders tournament with around 10,000 entrants] attempting to record the high score, spawned the idea of competitive gaming on a scale similar to sports events.

The release of [https://britishesports.org/news/a-brief-history-of-esports-and-video-games/ multiplayer console games such as Street Fighter II, Doom, Quake and Starcraft in the 1990s] drove further interest in competitive gaming and the creation of more games tournaments.

With the introduction of [https://britishesports.org/news/a-brief-history-of-esports-and-video-games/ online services such as Xbox Live in the early 2000s], console owners were able to play cooperatively or against each other online in popular titles including Halo and Call of Duty.

=== Growth in Popularity ===

Advances in [https://britishesports.org/news/a-brief-history-of-esports-and-video-games/ broadband internet and the rise of video content and new online services and the founding of organisations such as ESL through the 2000s and 2010s] generated further interest in esports. During this period, [https://ukie-wiki.azurewebsites.net/index.php/Glossary_of_Games_Terminology#M MOBA games (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena)] League of Legends and Dota 2 became some of the most popular competitive games. First-person-shooters such as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overwatch_League Overwatch] and [https://pro.eslgaming.com/r6/proleague/ Rainbow Six Siege], sports games such as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_eWorld_Cup FIFA] and battle royale games such as [https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/jul/30/fortnite-world-cup-esports Fortnite] also have major esports tournaments offering millions of dollars in prize money.

== Largest Prize Pools ==

The [https://dotesports.com/general/news/biggest-prize-pools-esports-14605 largest prize pools at unique international esports tournament series] as of August 2021 is as follows. Note that only the highest prize pool of a given tournament series appears here. The 10 highest ever prize pools are reproduced below.

{| class="wikitable"
!Rank
!Year
!Game
!Tournament Series
!Prize Pool
|-
|1
|2019
|''Dota 2''
|The International 9
|$34.3m
|-
|2
|2019
|''Fortnite''
|''Fortnite'' World Cup Finals
|$30.4m
|-
|3
|2021
|''Player Unknown's Battlegrounds''
|''PUBG'' Global Invitational.S
|$7.1m
|-
|4
|2018
|''League of Legends''
|''League of Legends'' World Championship
|$6.4m
|-
|5
|2020
|''Honor of Kings''
|''Honor of Kings'' World Champion Cup
|$4.6m
|-
|6
|2020
|''Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)''
|''Call of Duty'' League Championship
|$4.6m
|-
|7
|2018
|''Fortnite''
|''Fortnite'' Fall Skirmish Series - Clubs Standings
|$4m
|-
|8
|2019
|''Player Unknown's Battlegrounds''
|''PUBG'' Global Championship
|$4m
|-
|9
|2019
|''Overwatch''
|''Overwatch'' League - Playoffs
|$3.5m
|-
|10
|2015
|''Dota 2''
|''Dota 2'' Asia Championship
|$3m
|-

The following table shows the largest prize pools for any single event in esports history. [https://dotesports.com/general/news/biggest-prize-pools-esports-14605 Dot Esports]

{| class="wikitable"
!Rank
!Year
!Game
!Tournament Series
!Prize Pool
|-
|1
|2019
|''Dota 2''
|The International 9
|$34.3m
|-
|2
|2019
|''Fortnite''
|''Fortnite'' World Cup Finals
|$30.4m
|-
|3
|2018
|''Dota 2''
|The International 8
|$25.5m
|-
|4
|2017
|''Dota 2''
|The International 7
|$24.7m
|-
|5
|2016
|''Dota 2''
|The International 6
|$20.7m
|-
|6
|2015
|''Dota 2''
|The International 5
|$18.4m
|-
|7
|2014
|''Dota 2''
|The International 4
|$10.9m
|-
|8
|2021
|''Player Unknown's Battlegrounds''
|''PUBG'' Global Invitational.S
|$7.1m
|-
|9
|2018
|''League of Legends''
|''League of Legends'' World Championship
|$6.4m
|-
|10
|2017
|''League of Legends''
|''League of Legends'' World Championship
|$4.9m
|-

== 2021 Stats ==

=== Market ==

*Global esports revenues are expected to reach $1.084bn in 2021, up 14.5% from 2020. (([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/viewership-engagement-continues-to-skyrocket-across-games-and-esports-the-global-live-streaming-audience-will-pass-700-million-this-year/ Newzoo], Mar 2021)
**This figure comprises
***Sponsorships: $641.0m (59%)
***Media Rights: $192.6m (18%)
***Publisher Fees: $126.6m (12%)
***Merchandise & Tickets: $66.6m (13.8%)
***Digital: $32.3m (3%)
***Streaming: $25.1m (2%)
**Western Europs is the 3rd largest region for esports revenues at $205.8m, behind North America with $243.0m and China with $360.1m.

=== Audience ===

*The global esports audience is expected to grow to 474.0m people in 2021, up 8.7% on 2020, while the expected broader live-streaming audience is expected to reach 728.8m. The pandemic accelerated growth in livestreaming audiences. (([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/viewership-engagement-continues-to-skyrocket-across-games-and-esports-the-global-live-streaming-audience-will-pass-700-million-this-year/ Newzoo], Mar 2021)
**240.0m (51%) people are occasional viewers, with a further 234.0m (49%) esports enthusiasts, defined as those watching professional esports content at least once a month.
**China is expected to be home to the most esports enthusiasts in 2021 with 92.8m viewers, ahead of the USA and Brazil.
**The global average revenue per esports enthusiast is estimated to be $4.63 in 2021, up 2.8% from 2020's $4.40, but down 4.7% from 2019's $4.86 potentially owing to the lack of live events during the pandemic. This figure is expected to rise to $5.25 in 2022 with the restoration of the calendar of live events.

== 2020 Stats ==

*The global esports market will generate revenues of $1,059.3m in 2020, a small revision on the previous estimate of $1,100.1 due to coronoavirus impacts, according to data from Newzoo. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoo-coronavirus-impact-on-the-esports-market-business-revenues/ Newzoo], Apr 2020)
**This downward revision is not related decreased demand (the audience is not smaller) or decreased supply (the number of events organizers want to put on is not fewer). Rather, due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, many events have been postponed, canceled, or moved to online formats.
**Within this analysis, esports merchandise revenues in 2020 were revised to $106.5m (from $121.7m), media rights to $176.2 (from $185.4m) and sponsorships to $614.9m (from $636.9m). However, team streaming revenues were revised upwards to $19.9m (from $18.2m) and global publisher fees to $120.2 million.

*By 2023, global esports revenues are expected to reach $1,598.2m, an upwards revision from previous estimates of $1,556.7m. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoo-coronavirus-impact-on-the-esports-market-business-revenues/ Newzoo], Apr 2020)

== 2019 Stats ==

*In 2019, it is expected that the global esports market will surpass the billion-dollar mark for revenue for the first time - growing +26.7% year-on-year to reach $1.1billion. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)
**North America will generate $409.1 million of this amount, while China will account for $210.3 million, overtaking Western Europe as the second-largest region in terms of revenues.
**By 2022, it is estimated global esports revenues will reach $1.79bn, a CAGR of 22.3% from 2017.

*In 2019, $897.2 million in revenues, or 82% of the total market, will come from brand investments (media rights, advertising, and sponsorship). This will increase to $1.5 billion by 2022, making up 87% of total esports revenues. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)
**In 2019, esports revenues breakdown as follows:
***Sponsorship - $456.7m (+34.3% yoy)
***Media Rights - $251.3m (+41.8% yoy)
***Advertising - $189.2m (+14.8% yoy)
***Merchandise & Tickets - $103.7m (+22.4% yoy)
***Game Publisher Fees - $95.2m (+3.0% yoy)

*The global esports audience will grow to 453.8 million worldwide in 2019, a year-on-year growth of +15%. This will comprise of 201.2 million 'esports enthusiasts' (who view more than once a month), and 252.6 million 'occasional viewers (those who view less than once a month). ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)
**China will have the most 'esports enthusiasts' in 2019 with 75.0 million, followed by the U.S. and Brazil. South Korea will have the highest share of 'esports enthusiasts' relative to its online population in 2019 with 12%.
**By 2022, the global esports audience is predicted to reach 645 million people, with 297 million 'esports enthusiasts'.

*The global average revenue per 'esports enthusiast' will be $5.45 this year, up +8.9% from $5.00 in 2018. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)

*In 2018, there were 737 major events. Together, they generated for $54.7 million in ticket revenues, down from $58.9 million in 2017. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)

*The total prize money in 2018 reached $150.8 million, a significant increase from 2017’s $112.1 million. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)

*The League of Legends World Championship was 2018’s biggest tournament by live viewership hours on Twitch, with 53.8 million hours. It also produced $1.9 million in ticket revenues. The Overwatch League was the most-watched league by live viewership hours on Twitch, generating 79.5 million hours. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)

*335 million people watch esports in Europe, an increase of 36% since 2016, with revenues anticipated to reach $346m in 2018. ([https://www.isfe.eu/isfe-key-facts/ ISFE], May 2019)

*In 2018/19, 6.2% of UK adults reported having watched a professionally organised computer or video game tournament in the last year and 1.1% had played in a professionally organised computer or video game tournament in that period. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/taking-part-201819-statistical-release DCMS Taking Part Survey], Dec 2019)

== 2018 Stats ==

*The global esports market is set to grow 20.6% year-on-year, from $620m in 2017 to US$1.6bn by 2022. ([https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/industries/tmt/media/outlook/segment-findings.html PwC], Jun 2018)

*The UK’s second fastest growing entertainment and media sector is esports, growing 21% year on year to reach £48m in revenue by 2022. ([http://www.cityam.com/287043/uks-entertainment-and-media-sector-forecast-grow-gbp76bn PwC / City AM] / [https://www.digitaltveurope.com/2018/06/07/pwc-vr-the-fastest-growing-segment-of-uk-media-sector/ digitsaltveurope.com], Jun 2018)

*Esports generated $756m in revenue and attracted 258M unique viewers in 2017, with the sector set to worth £1,138bn in 2018. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*According to Superdata, the $756m esport market in 2017 was split 70% sponsorship and ads, 11% prize pools, 10% amateur tournaments and 9% merchandise and ticket sales. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*The most popular esport games by viewership in 2017 were League of Legends (157m), PlayerUknknown’s Battlegrounds(102m) and Hearthstone (83m). ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*The largest prize pool event held in the UK to date was ESL One Birmingham, with a prize pool of $1 million, held at Arena Birmingham in May 2018. ([https://www.eslgaming.com/press/esl-one-dota-2-major-comes-birmingham ESL], May 2018)

== 2017 Stats ==

*191m people will watch esports at least once a month in 2017, with a further 194m watching less regularly (total: 385m). ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/esports-franchises-70-watch-only-one-game-and-42-dont-play/ Newzoo], May 2017)

*In 2017, Europe will reach an esports audience size of 77m people and will account for 32% of global esports economy revenues. ([https://resources.newzoo.com/hubfs/Reports/Newzoo_EsportsBAR_An_Overview_of_Esports_in_Europe_v1.pdf Newzoo], Dec 2017)

*The largest esports event in Europe in 2017 was ESL’s ‘Intel Extreme Masters Season XI’, in Katowice, Poland with an attendance of 173,000. The largest event by hours of streamed via Twitch was PGL’s 2017 Kiev Major, with 23.3m hours watched. ([https://resources.newzoo.com/hubfs/Reports/Newzoo_EsportsBAR_An_Overview_of_Esports_in_Europe_v1.pdf Newzoo], Dec 2017)

*By September 2017, there have been 90 disclosed eSports funding deals globally worth $1.2B, already ahead of full-year figures in 2015 (which saw 84 deals totaling $942M). At the current run rate, deals are projected to hit a new record of 136 deals totaling $1.9B — representing a 64% uptick in deals and a 23% increase in funding from 2016. ([https://www.cbinsights.com/research/esports-funding-trends/ CBInsights], Sept 2017)

*At a quarterly level, Q2’17 saw 35 deals, beating the previous quarterly record of 31 deals in Q3’16 and Q1’17. Q3’16 holds the quarterly record for funding, with $934M invested — meaning the quarter singlehandedly accounted for 62% of the full year’s funding. ([https://www.cbinsights.com/research/esports-funding-trends/ CBInsights], Sept 2017)

*Esports content reaches consumers that don’t necessarily play the games. 23% of the fanbase of the top 3 esports franchises in North American and Western Europe don’t play the game they watch. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/esports-franchises-70-watch-only-one-game-and-42-dont-play/ Newzoo], May 2017)

*The UK esports market will see a 27.6% CAGR, reaching £8m in consumer ticket sales by 2021. Digital advertising in esports will increase by 46.2% CAGR to £12m by 2021. ([https://www.pwc.co.uk/industries/entertainment-media/insights/entertainment-media-outlook.html PWC], June 2017)

== 2016 Stats ==

*The global esports market was worth $0.9bn in 2016 and will grow to $1.4bn by 2019. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ SuperData], Dec 2016)

*US male millennials are just as likely to watch esports (22%) as baseball or hockey. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/why-brands-and-esports-are-entering-esports/ Newzoo], Oct 2016)

*US Esports Enthusiasts will watch esports in preference of traditional sports, with 76% stating that esports viewing is taking away hours they used to spend watching sports. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/why-brands-and-esports-are-entering-esports/ Newzoo], Oct 2016)

*Total global esport revenue will reach $892.8m in 2016, up to $1.1bn in 2018. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/spring-2016-esports-report/ Superdata], May 2016)

*Although Asia still leads at $328m (37%), North America and Europe are up to $275 (31%) and $269m (30%) respectively. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/spring-2016-esports-report/ Superdata], May 2016)

*The largest prize pool held in the UK to date was the $765,000 ECS Season One final, held at Wembley SSE Arena in June 2016 and organised by UK-based FaceIT and Twitch. ([https://www.csgoleague.com/esports-championship-series-finals-to-take-place-at-the-sse-arena-wembley-in-london-june-25-26-tickets-available-now-for-purchase/ ECS], May 2016)

*The UK esports audience will reach 6.5 million in 2016, with 3.1 million people watching more than once a month. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/uk-esports-audience-2016/ Newzoo], Aug 2016)

*The UK esports audience skews 69% male, 31% female. The 21-35 age group represents 63% of the market. Women most likely to watch esports when aged between 21-35 (making up 21% of the overall market, compared to the 42% share for men of the same age). ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/uk-esports-audience-2016/ Newzoo], Aug 2016)

*UK esports fans are far more likely to participate in physical team sports (65%) than the general online population (21%) and are more likely to subscribe to Spotify (48% vs 14%). ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/uk-esports-audience-2016/ Newzoo], Aug 2016)

*35% (18.3m) of UK adults are aware of eSports, split as 48% of males and 23% of females aware. Esports has greater awareness among younger demogrpahics, with 64% of 18-24y/o and 59% of 25-34y/o aware. ([https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/r/53/UK eSports report - Just a game.pdf YouGov], Sept 2017)

*Of the 7% (3.6m) of the UK population has watched esports, the gender split is more evenly split at 55% male and 45% female. 22% of viewers watch more than once a month and 7% more than once a week. ([https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/r/53/UK eSports report - Just a game.pdf YouGov], Sept 2017)

*UK football clubs including Manchester City and West Ham have signed professional esports players. (BBC [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-36734518 #1] and [http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36231379 #2])

*Viewership for esports has grown to 188m in 2015, with more than a third of American esports fans choosing tournaments to watch based on their favorite teams and players. ([http://superdata-research.myshopify.com/products/esports-market-brief-2015 Superdata], Jan 2016)

*The $748m of global revenues were broken down into 77% ($578.6m) from indirect sources like sponsorship and advertising and 23% ($168.9m) from direct sources, such as esports betting and fantasy sites (7%, $55.8m), prize pools (7%, $53.8m), amateur and micro tournaments (4%, $27.7m), merchandise (2%, $17m) and ticket sales (2%, $15.9m). ([http://superdata-research.myshopify.com/products/esports-market-brief-2015 Superdata], Jan 2016)

*2015 also saw the expansion of esports into the mobile platform. For instance Hearthstone’s revenues and monthly active users have really grown since its launch on smartphones in April 2015: the monthly active users grew by +140% then. Another example is the mobile-only MOBA Vainglory, which was specifically created to be an esport. ([http://superdata-research.myshopify.com/products/esports-market-brief-2015 Superdata], Jan 2016)

*According to Newzoo’s quarterly Global esports Market Awareness report, eSports awareness will reach 1bn consumers in 2016, up 36% compared to 2015. From the 16 countries studied, the average awareness of esports among gamers increased from 53.7% in 2015 to 65.7% in 2016. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/global-esports-awareness-exceeds-1-billion-as-new-initiatives-launched/ Newzoo], May 2016)

*The global esports audience will grow to 292 million people in 2016, 148m of which are “enthusiasts”, playing or viewing more than once a month. In 2015, esports “enthusiasts” were split 69% male and 54% aged 21-35yo. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/global-esports-awareness-exceeds-1-billion-as-new-initiatives-launched/ Newzoo], May 2016)

*Esports revenues (from media rights, merchandise & tickets, online advertising, brand partnerships and additional game publisher investment) are set to grow to $463m in 2016, a 43% increase from 2015, and eclipse $1bn by 2019, a 40.7% CAGR from 2014’s $194m. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/free-esports-report-the-esports-audience/ Newzoo], Mar 2016)

*Esports fans are an attractive audience for marketers, with an average income of $69k and over half comprised of Millennials (51%). ([http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2016/mobile-esports-and-vr-expand-and-increase-gaming-engagement.html Nielsen], Apr 2016)

*21.3% of all hours watched on Twitch from July to December 2015 was esports content, totalling 475.5 million hours of esports watched across all esports franchises. MOBAs account for 58% of the esports viewing and a further 27% for shooters. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/esports-drives-21-3-of-twitch-viewership/ Newzoo], Apr 2016)

== 2015 Stats ==

*The prize pools for 2015 should be worth $42m, and it appears that the growing prize pools attract more viewers. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/esports-brief/ Superdata], May 2015)

*Looking at esports audience gender: 87% is male, 13% female (could be linked to the fact only 2 of the Top 200 esports players are female). ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/esports-brief/ Superdata], May 2015)

*The average size of a transaction on esports merchandise (apparel, headphones, mice and mousepads) is $42.30 in key western markets. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/esports-brief/ Superdata], May 2015)

*US viewers buy 3 full games per month, and have an average $200 monthly budget for games (44% spent on full game, 24% on in-game purchases and 32% on peripheral devices). ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/esports-brief/ Superdata], May 2015)

Esports

2021-09-01T13:29:39Z

UkieColm:

[[File:NewzooEsportsAudienceGlobalMar2021.png|thumb|750px|Esports global audience, 2021.[https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/viewership-engagement-continues-to-skyrocket-across-games-and-esports-the-global-live-streaming-audience-will-pass-700-million-this-year/ Newzoo]]]
== Background ==

=== Origins ===

In 1980 an [https://britishesports.org/news/a-brief-history-of-esports-and-video-games/ Atari Space Invaders tournament with around 10,000 entrants] attempting to record the high score, spawned the idea of competitive gaming on a scale similar to sports events.

The release of [https://britishesports.org/news/a-brief-history-of-esports-and-video-games/ multiplayer console games such as Street Fighter II, Doom, Quake and Starcraft in the 1990s] drove further interest in competitive gaming and the creation of more games tournaments.

With the introduction of [https://britishesports.org/news/a-brief-history-of-esports-and-video-games/ online services such as Xbox Live in the early 2000s], console owners were able to play cooperatively or against each other online in popular titles including Halo and Call of Duty.

=== Growth in Popularity ===

Advances in [https://britishesports.org/news/a-brief-history-of-esports-and-video-games/ broadband internet and the rise of video content and new online services and the founding of organisations such as ESL through the 2000s and 2010s] generated further interest in esports. During this period, [https://ukie-wiki.azurewebsites.net/index.php/Glossary_of_Games_Terminology#M MOBA games (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena)] League of Legends and Dota 2 became some of the most popular competitive games. First-person-shooters such as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overwatch_League Overwatch] and [https://pro.eslgaming.com/r6/proleague/ Rainbow Six Siege], sports games such as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_eWorld_Cup FIFA] and battle royale games such as [https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/jul/30/fortnite-world-cup-esports Fortnite] also have major esports tournaments offering millions of dollars in prize money.

== Largest Prize Pools ==

The [https://dotesports.com/general/news/biggest-prize-pools-esports-14605 largest prize pools at international esports tournaments] as of August 2019:

{| class="wikitable"
!Rank
!Year
!Game
!Tournament Name
!Prize Pool
|-
|1
|2019
|Dota 2
|The International 9
|$33.3m
|-
|2
|2019
|Fortnite
|The 2019 Fortnite World Cup Finals
|$30.4m
|-
|3
|2018
|League of Legends
|The 2018 League of Legends World Championship
|$6.4m
|-
|4
|2018
|Fortnite
|Fortnite Fall Skirmish Series
|$4m
|-
|5
|2015
|Dota 2
|The Dota 2 Asia Championship
|$3m
|-
|6
|2015
|Dota 2
|The Dota 2 Valve Majors
|$3m
|-
|7
|2015
|Smite
|The 2015 Smite World Championship
|$2.6m
|-
|8
|2016
|Halo 5
|The 2016 Halo World Championship
|$2.5m
|-
|9
|2016
|Call of Duty: Black Ops III
|The 2016 Call of Duty World League Championship
|$2m
|-
|10
|2017
|League of Legends
|The 2017 Mid-Season Invitational
|$1.7m
|}

== 2020 Stats ==

*The global esports market will generate revenues of $1,059.3 in 2020, a small revision on the previous estimate of $1,100.1 due to coronoavirus impacts, according to data from Newzoo. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoo-coronavirus-impact-on-the-esports-market-business-revenues/ Newzoo], Apr 2020)
**This downward revision is not related decreased demand (the audience is not smaller) or decreased supply (the number of events organizers want to put on is not fewer). Rather, due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, many events have been postponed, canceled, or moved to online formats.
**Within this analysis, esports merchandise revenues in 2020 were revised to $106.5m (from $121.7m), media rights to $176.2 (from $185.4m) and sponsorships to $614.9m (from $636.9m). However, team streaming revenues were revised upwards to $19.9m (from $18.2m) and global publisher fees to $120.2 million.

*By 2023, global esports revenues are expected to reach $1,598.2, an upwards revision from previous estimates of $1,556.7m. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/newzoo-coronavirus-impact-on-the-esports-market-business-revenues/ Newzoo], Apr 2020)

== 2019 Stats ==

*In 2019, it is expected that the global esports market will surpass the billion-dollar mark for revenue for the first time - growing +26.7% year-on-year to reach $1.1billion. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)
**North America will generate $409.1 million of this amount, while China will account for $210.3 million, overtaking Western Europe as the second-largest region in terms of revenues.
**By 2022, it is estimated global esports revenues will reach $1.79bn, a CAGR of 22.3% from 2017.

*In 2019, $897.2 million in revenues, or 82% of the total market, will come from brand investments (media rights, advertising, and sponsorship). This will increase to $1.5 billion by 2022, making up 87% of total esports revenues. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)
**In 2019, esports revenues breakdown as follows:
***Sponsorship - $456.7m (+34.3% yoy)
***Media Rights - $251.3m (+41.8% yoy)
***Advertising - $189.2m (+14.8% yoy)
***Merchandise & Tickets - $103.7m (+22.4% yoy)
***Game Publisher Fees - $95.2m (+3.0% yoy)

*The global esports audience will grow to 453.8 million worldwide in 2019, a year-on-year growth of +15%. This will comprise of 201.2 million 'esports enthusiasts' (who view more than once a month), and 252.6 million 'occasional viewers (those who view less than once a month). ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)
**China will have the most 'esports enthusiasts' in 2019 with 75.0 million, followed by the U.S. and Brazil. South Korea will have the highest share of 'esports enthusiasts' relative to its online population in 2019 with 12%.
**By 2022, the global esports audience is predicted to reach 645 million people, with 297 million 'esports enthusiasts'.

*The global average revenue per 'esports enthusiast' will be $5.45 this year, up +8.9% from $5.00 in 2018. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)

*In 2018, there were 737 major events. Together, they generated for $54.7 million in ticket revenues, down from $58.9 million in 2017. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)

*The total prize money in 2018 reached $150.8 million, a significant increase from 2017’s $112.1 million. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)

*The League of Legends World Championship was 2018’s biggest tournament by live viewership hours on Twitch, with 53.8 million hours. It also produced $1.9 million in ticket revenues. The Overwatch League was the most-watched league by live viewership hours on Twitch, generating 79.5 million hours. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/newzoo-global-esports-market-report-2019-light-version/ Newzoo], Feb 2019)

*335 million people watch esports in Europe, an increase of 36% since 2016, with revenues anticipated to reach $346m in 2018. ([https://www.isfe.eu/isfe-key-facts/ ISFE], May 2019)

*In 2018/19, 6.2% of UK adults reported having watched a professionally organised computer or video game tournament in the last year and 1.1% had played in a professionally organised computer or video game tournament in that period. ([https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/taking-part-201819-statistical-release DCMS Taking Part Survey], Dec 2019)

== 2018 Stats ==

*The global esports market is set to grow 20.6% year-on-year, from $620m in 2017 to US$1.6bn by 2022. ([https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/industries/tmt/media/outlook/segment-findings.html PwC], Jun 2018)

*The UK’s second fastest growing entertainment and media sector is esports, growing 21% year on year to reach £48m in revenue by 2022. ([http://www.cityam.com/287043/uks-entertainment-and-media-sector-forecast-grow-gbp76bn PwC / City AM] / [https://www.digitaltveurope.com/2018/06/07/pwc-vr-the-fastest-growing-segment-of-uk-media-sector/ digitsaltveurope.com], Jun 2018)

*Esports generated $756m in revenue and attracted 258M unique viewers in 2017, with the sector set to worth £1,138bn in 2018. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*According to Superdata, the $756m esport market in 2017 was split 70% sponsorship and ads, 11% prize pools, 10% amateur tournaments and 9% merchandise and ticket sales. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*The most popular esport games by viewership in 2017 were League of Legends (157m), PlayerUknknown’s Battlegrounds(102m) and Hearthstone (83m). ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ Superdata], Jan 2018)

*The largest prize pool event held in the UK to date was ESL One Birmingham, with a prize pool of $1 million, held at Arena Birmingham in May 2018. ([https://www.eslgaming.com/press/esl-one-dota-2-major-comes-birmingham ESL], May 2018)

== 2017 Stats ==

*191m people will watch esports at least once a month in 2017, with a further 194m watching less regularly (total: 385m). ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/esports-franchises-70-watch-only-one-game-and-42-dont-play/ Newzoo], May 2017)

*In 2017, Europe will reach an esports audience size of 77m people and will account for 32% of global esports economy revenues. ([https://resources.newzoo.com/hubfs/Reports/Newzoo_EsportsBAR_An_Overview_of_Esports_in_Europe_v1.pdf Newzoo], Dec 2017)

*The largest esports event in Europe in 2017 was ESL’s ‘Intel Extreme Masters Season XI’, in Katowice, Poland with an attendance of 173,000. The largest event by hours of streamed via Twitch was PGL’s 2017 Kiev Major, with 23.3m hours watched. ([https://resources.newzoo.com/hubfs/Reports/Newzoo_EsportsBAR_An_Overview_of_Esports_in_Europe_v1.pdf Newzoo], Dec 2017)

*By September 2017, there have been 90 disclosed eSports funding deals globally worth $1.2B, already ahead of full-year figures in 2015 (which saw 84 deals totaling $942M). At the current run rate, deals are projected to hit a new record of 136 deals totaling $1.9B — representing a 64% uptick in deals and a 23% increase in funding from 2016. ([https://www.cbinsights.com/research/esports-funding-trends/ CBInsights], Sept 2017)

*At a quarterly level, Q2’17 saw 35 deals, beating the previous quarterly record of 31 deals in Q3’16 and Q1’17. Q3’16 holds the quarterly record for funding, with $934M invested — meaning the quarter singlehandedly accounted for 62% of the full year’s funding. ([https://www.cbinsights.com/research/esports-funding-trends/ CBInsights], Sept 2017)

*Esports content reaches consumers that don’t necessarily play the games. 23% of the fanbase of the top 3 esports franchises in North American and Western Europe don’t play the game they watch. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/esports-franchises-70-watch-only-one-game-and-42-dont-play/ Newzoo], May 2017)

*The UK esports market will see a 27.6% CAGR, reaching £8m in consumer ticket sales by 2021. Digital advertising in esports will increase by 46.2% CAGR to £12m by 2021. ([https://www.pwc.co.uk/industries/entertainment-media/insights/entertainment-media-outlook.html PWC], June 2017)

== 2016 Stats ==

*The global esports market was worth $0.9bn in 2016 and will grow to $1.4bn by 2019. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/market-data/market-brief-year-in-review/ SuperData], Dec 2016)

*US male millennials are just as likely to watch esports (22%) as baseball or hockey. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/why-brands-and-esports-are-entering-esports/ Newzoo], Oct 2016)

*US Esports Enthusiasts will watch esports in preference of traditional sports, with 76% stating that esports viewing is taking away hours they used to spend watching sports. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/why-brands-and-esports-are-entering-esports/ Newzoo], Oct 2016)

*Total global esport revenue will reach $892.8m in 2016, up to $1.1bn in 2018. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/spring-2016-esports-report/ Superdata], May 2016)

*Although Asia still leads at $328m (37%), North America and Europe are up to $275 (31%) and $269m (30%) respectively. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/spring-2016-esports-report/ Superdata], May 2016)

*The largest prize pool held in the UK to date was the $765,000 ECS Season One final, held at Wembley SSE Arena in June 2016 and organised by UK-based FaceIT and Twitch. ([https://www.csgoleague.com/esports-championship-series-finals-to-take-place-at-the-sse-arena-wembley-in-london-june-25-26-tickets-available-now-for-purchase/ ECS], May 2016)

*The UK esports audience will reach 6.5 million in 2016, with 3.1 million people watching more than once a month. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/uk-esports-audience-2016/ Newzoo], Aug 2016)

*The UK esports audience skews 69% male, 31% female. The 21-35 age group represents 63% of the market. Women most likely to watch esports when aged between 21-35 (making up 21% of the overall market, compared to the 42% share for men of the same age). ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/uk-esports-audience-2016/ Newzoo], Aug 2016)

*UK esports fans are far more likely to participate in physical team sports (65%) than the general online population (21%) and are more likely to subscribe to Spotify (48% vs 14%). ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/uk-esports-audience-2016/ Newzoo], Aug 2016)

*35% (18.3m) of UK adults are aware of eSports, split as 48% of males and 23% of females aware. Esports has greater awareness among younger demogrpahics, with 64% of 18-24y/o and 59% of 25-34y/o aware. ([https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/r/53/UK eSports report - Just a game.pdf YouGov], Sept 2017)

*Of the 7% (3.6m) of the UK population has watched esports, the gender split is more evenly split at 55% male and 45% female. 22% of viewers watch more than once a month and 7% more than once a week. ([https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/r/53/UK eSports report - Just a game.pdf YouGov], Sept 2017)

*UK football clubs including Manchester City and West Ham have signed professional esports players. (BBC [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-36734518 #1] and [http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36231379 #2])

*Viewership for esports has grown to 188m in 2015, with more than a third of American esports fans choosing tournaments to watch based on their favorite teams and players. ([http://superdata-research.myshopify.com/products/esports-market-brief-2015 Superdata], Jan 2016)

*The $748m of global revenues were broken down into 77% ($578.6m) from indirect sources like sponsorship and advertising and 23% ($168.9m) from direct sources, such as esports betting and fantasy sites (7%, $55.8m), prize pools (7%, $53.8m), amateur and micro tournaments (4%, $27.7m), merchandise (2%, $17m) and ticket sales (2%, $15.9m). ([http://superdata-research.myshopify.com/products/esports-market-brief-2015 Superdata], Jan 2016)

*2015 also saw the expansion of esports into the mobile platform. For instance Hearthstone’s revenues and monthly active users have really grown since its launch on smartphones in April 2015: the monthly active users grew by +140% then. Another example is the mobile-only MOBA Vainglory, which was specifically created to be an esport. ([http://superdata-research.myshopify.com/products/esports-market-brief-2015 Superdata], Jan 2016)

*According to Newzoo’s quarterly Global esports Market Awareness report, eSports awareness will reach 1bn consumers in 2016, up 36% compared to 2015. From the 16 countries studied, the average awareness of esports among gamers increased from 53.7% in 2015 to 65.7% in 2016. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/global-esports-awareness-exceeds-1-billion-as-new-initiatives-launched/ Newzoo], May 2016)

*The global esports audience will grow to 292 million people in 2016, 148m of which are “enthusiasts”, playing or viewing more than once a month. In 2015, esports “enthusiasts” were split 69% male and 54% aged 21-35yo. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/global-esports-awareness-exceeds-1-billion-as-new-initiatives-launched/ Newzoo], May 2016)

*Esports revenues (from media rights, merchandise & tickets, online advertising, brand partnerships and additional game publisher investment) are set to grow to $463m in 2016, a 43% increase from 2015, and eclipse $1bn by 2019, a 40.7% CAGR from 2014’s $194m. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/trend-reports/free-esports-report-the-esports-audience/ Newzoo], Mar 2016)

*Esports fans are an attractive audience for marketers, with an average income of $69k and over half comprised of Millennials (51%). ([http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2016/mobile-esports-and-vr-expand-and-increase-gaming-engagement.html Nielsen], Apr 2016)

*21.3% of all hours watched on Twitch from July to December 2015 was esports content, totalling 475.5 million hours of esports watched across all esports franchises. MOBAs account for 58% of the esports viewing and a further 27% for shooters. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/esports-drives-21-3-of-twitch-viewership/ Newzoo], Apr 2016)

== 2015 Stats ==

*The prize pools for 2015 should be worth $42m, and it appears that the growing prize pools attract more viewers. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/esports-brief/ Superdata], May 2015)

*Looking at esports audience gender: 87% is male, 13% female (could be linked to the fact only 2 of the Top 200 esports players are female). ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/esports-brief/ Superdata], May 2015)

*The average size of a transaction on esports merchandise (apparel, headphones, mice and mousepads) is $42.30 in key western markets. ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/esports-brief/ Superdata], May 2015)

*US viewers buy 3 full games per month, and have an average $200 monthly budget for games (44% spent on full game, 24% on in-game purchases and 32% on peripheral devices). ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/blog/esports-brief/ Superdata], May 2015)

File:NewzooEsportsAudienceGlobalMar2021.png

2021-09-01T13:27:37Z

UkieColm:

PEGI Age Ratings

2021-08-27T14:22:16Z

UkieColm: /* All PEGI territories */

Showing the number of games released by PEGI age rating

== UK Only ==

UK Certificates for Release issued by the VSC

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!
!colspan="4"|Certificates by Age Rating
!colspan="3"|Percentage by Age Rating
|-
!Year
!12
!16
!18
!Total
!12
!16
!18
|-
|[https://videostandards.org.uk/MzCms/ContentImage.ashx?cpath=000%5c000%5c969%5c598%5c2020+VSC+Annual+Report.pdf 2020]
|style="text-align:right;" | 250
|style="text-align:right;" | 206
|style="text-align:right;" | 174
|style="text-align:right;" | '''630'''
|style="text-align:right;" | 39.7%
|style="text-align:right;" | 32.7%
|style="text-align:right;" | 27.6%
|-
|[https://videostandards.org.uk/MzCms/ContentImage.ashx?cpath=000%5C000%5C948%5C950%5CAnnual+Report+2016+-+2017.pdf 2017]
|style="text-align:right;" | 240
|style="text-align:right;" | 218
|style="text-align:right;" | 153
|style="text-align:right;" | '''661'''
|style="text-align:right;" | 36.3%
|style="text-align:right;" | 33.0%
|style="text-align:right;" | 23.1%
|-
|[https://videostandards.org.uk/RichTextAssets/VSC%20Parliamentary%20Report%202016.pdf 2016]
|style="text-align:right;" | 201
|style="text-align:right;" | 151
|style="text-align:right;" | 146
|style="text-align:right;" | '''498'''
|style="text-align:right;" | 40.4%
|style="text-align:right;" | 30.3%
|style="text-align:right;" | 29.3%
|-
|[2015]
|style="text-align:right;" | -
|style="text-align:right;" | -
|style="text-align:right;" | -
|style="text-align:right;" | '''-'''
|style="text-align:right;" | -
|style="text-align:right;" | -
|style="text-align:right;" | -
|-
|[2014]
|style="text-align:right;" | -
|style="text-align:right;" | -
|style="text-align:right;" | -
|style="text-align:right;" | '''-'''
|style="text-align:right;" | -
|style="text-align:right;" | -
|style="text-align:right;" | -
|-
|[https://videostandards.org.uk/MzCms/ContentImage.ashx?cpath=000%5C000%5C876%5C385%5CFull+Report+final.pdf 2013]
|style="text-align:right;" |134
|style="text-align:right;" |137
|style="text-align:right;" |115
|style="text-align:right;" |'''385'''
|style="text-align:right;" | 34.8%
|style="text-align:right;" | 35.6%
|style="text-align:right;" | 29.9%
|}

Note: For a video game supplied in the UK for a number of different games consoles (e.g. Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch) a separate UK certificate is issued for each version of the game.

== All PEGI territories ==

These figures include online ratings.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!
!colspan="6"|No. of PEGI Licences by Age Rating
!colspan="5"|Percentage of PEGI Licences by Age Rating
|-
!Year
!3
!7
!12
!16
!18
!Total
!3
!7
!12
!16
!18
|-
|[https://videostandards.org.uk/MzCms/ContentImage.ashx?cpath=000%5c000%5c969%5c598%5c2020+VSC+Annual+Report.pdf 2020]
|style="text-align:right;" | 435
|style="text-align:right;" | 354
|style="text-align:right;" | 376
|style="text-align:right;" | 294
|style="text-align:right;" | 282
|style="text-align:right;" | '''1,741'''
|style="text-align:right;" | 25.0%
|style="text-align:right;" | 20.3%
|style="text-align:right;" | 21.6%
|style="text-align:right;" | 16.9%
|style="text-align:right;" | 16.2%
|-
|[https://www.isfe.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/ISFE-final-1.pdf 2019]
|style="text-align:right;" | 403
|style="text-align:right;" | 368
|style="text-align:right;" | 403
|style="text-align:right;" | 315
|style="text-align:right;" | 210
|style="text-align:right;" | '''1,750'''
|style="text-align:right;" | 23.0%
|style="text-align:right;" | 21.0%
|style="text-align:right;" | 23.0%
|style="text-align:right;" | 18.0%
|style="text-align:right;" | 12.0%
|-
|2018
|style="text-align:right;" | 499
|style="text-align:right;" | 459
|style="text-align:right;" | 589
|style="text-align:right;" | 366
|style="text-align:right;" | 229
|style="text-align:right;" | '''2,142'''
|style="text-align:right;" | 23.3%
|style="text-align:right;" | 21.4%
|style="text-align:right;" | 27.5%
|style="text-align:right;" | 17.1%
|style="text-align:right;" | 10.7%
|-
|[https://videostandards.org.uk/MzCms/ContentImage.ashx?cpath=000%5C000%5C948%5C950%5CAnnual+Report+2016+-+2017.pdf 2017]
|style="text-align:right;" | 441
|style="text-align:right;" | 455
|style="text-align:right;" | 535
|style="text-align:right;" | 362
|style="text-align:right;" | 184
|style="text-align:right;" | '''1,977'''
|style="text-align:right;" | 22.3%
|style="text-align:right;" | 23.0%
|style="text-align:right;" | 27.1%
|style="text-align:right;" | 18.3%
|style="text-align:right;" | 9.3%
|-
|[https://videostandards.org.uk/RichTextAssets/VSC%20Parliamentary%20Report%202016.pdf 2016]
|style="text-align:right;" | 366
|style="text-align:right;" | 396
|style="text-align:right;" | 476
|style="text-align:right;" | 295
|style="text-align:right;" | 186
|style="text-align:right;" | '''1,719'''
|style="text-align:right;" | 21.3%
|style="text-align:right;" | 23.0%
|style="text-align:right;" | 27.7%
|style="text-align:right;" | 18.3%
|style="text-align:right;" | 10.8%
|-
|[https://isfe.eu/sites/isfe.eu/files/attachments/pegi_annual_report_2015.pdf 2015]
|style="text-align:right;" | 427
|style="text-align:right;" | 486
|style="text-align:right;" | 501
|style="text-align:right;" | 237
|style="text-align:right;" | 204
|style="text-align:right;" | '''1,855'''
|style="text-align:right;" | 23.0%
|style="text-align:right;" | 26.2%
|style="text-align:right;" | 27.0%
|style="text-align:right;" | 12.8%
|style="text-align:right;" | 11.0%
|-
|2014
|style="text-align:right;" | 470
|style="text-align:right;" | 399
|style="text-align:right;" | 374
|style="text-align:right;" | 254
|style="text-align:right;" | 188
|style="text-align:right;" | '''1,685'''
|style="text-align:right;" | 27.9%
|style="text-align:right;" | 23.7%
|style="text-align:right;" | 22.2%
|style="text-align:right;" | 15.1%
|style="text-align:right;" | 11.2%
|-
|[https://issuu.com/pegi/docs/annual_report2013 2013]
|style="text-align:right;" | 471
|style="text-align:right;" | 371
|style="text-align:right;" | 326
|style="text-align:right;" | 225
|style="text-align:right;" | 149
|style="text-align:right;" | '''1,542'''
|style="text-align:right;" | 30.5%
|style="text-align:right;" | 24.1%
|style="text-align:right;" | 21.1%
|style="text-align:right;" | 14.6%
|style="text-align:right;" | 9.7%
|-
|[https://www.isfe.eu/sites/isfe.eu/files/attachments/annual_report12_web.pdf 2012]
|style="text-align:right;" | 613
|style="text-align:right;" | 388
|style="text-align:right;" | 418
|style="text-align:right;" | 224
|style="text-align:right;" | 170
|style="text-align:right;" | '''1,813'''
|style="text-align:right;" | 33.8%
|style="text-align:right;" | 21.4%
|style="text-align:right;" | 23.1%
|style="text-align:right;" | 12.4%
|style="text-align:right;" | 9.4%
|-
|[https://www.isfe.eu/sites/isfe.eu/files/attachments/annual_report2011_web.pdf 2011]
|style="text-align:right;" | 828
|style="text-align:right;" | 362
|style="text-align:right;" | 515
|style="text-align:right;" | 284
|style="text-align:right;" | 218
|style="text-align:right;" | '''2,214'''
|style="text-align:right;" | 37.4%
|style="text-align:right;" | 16.4%
|style="text-align:right;" | 23.3%
|style="text-align:right;" | 12.8%
|style="text-align:right;" | 9.8%
|-
|[https://www.isfe.eu/sites/isfe.eu/files/annual_report2010.pdf 2003 - 2010 (combined)]
|style="text-align:right;" | 7,849
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,967
|style="text-align:right;" | 3,496
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,991
|style="text-align:right;" | 825
|style="text-align:right;" | '''16,143'''
|style="text-align:right;" | 48.6%
|style="text-align:right;" | 12.2%
|style="text-align:right;" | 21.7%
|style="text-align:right;" | 12.3%
|style="text-align:right;" | 5.1%
|-
|}

Please note: Since 2015, the age ratings for an increasing number of games are flowing via [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Age_Rating_Coalition IARC] and as such PEGI's official figures may not represent the true distribution of all games released by age rating. The decline since 2010 in games rated PEGI 3 may also be influenced by the shift of more casual games to mobile platforms, some of which may not be rated by PEGI.

==Age Labels==

PEGI categorises games into [https://pegi.info/what-do-the-labels-mean 5 age classifications], each allowing different levels of age-appropriate content:

{| class="wikitable"
! PEGI Age Label
! Description
|-
|[[File:PEGI 3.jpg|70px]]
|The content of games with a PEGI 3 rating is considered suitable for all age groups. The game should not contain any sounds or pictures that are likely to frighten young children. A very mild form of violence (in a comical context or a childlike setting) is acceptable. No bad language should be heard.
|-
|[[File:PEGI 7.jpg|70px]]
|Game content with scenes or sounds that can possibly frightening to younger children should fall in this category. Very mild forms of violence (implied, non-detailed, or non-realistic violence) are acceptable for a game with a PEGI 7 rating.
|-
|[[File:PEGI 12.jpg|70px]]
|Video games that show violence of a slightly more graphic nature towards fantasy characters or non-realistic violence towards human-like characters would fall in this age category. Sexual innuendo or sexual posturing can be present, while any bad language in this category must be mild. Gambling as it is normally carried out in real life in casinos or gambling halls can also be present (e.g. card games that in real life would be played for money).
|-
|[[File:PEGI 16.jpg|70px]]
|This rating is applied once the depiction of violence (or sexual activity) reaches a stage that looks the same as would be expected in real life. The use of bad language in games with a PEGI 16 rating can be more extreme, while games of chance, and the use of tobacco, alcohol or illegal drugs can also be present
|-
|[[File:PEGI 18.jpg|70px]]
|The adult classification is applied when the level of violence reaches a stage where it becomes a depiction of gross violence, apparently motiveless killing, or violence towards defenceless characters. The glamorisation of the use of illegal drugs and explicit sexual activity should also fall into this age category.
|}

==Content Descriptors==

To make the nature of content that may not be age-appropriate clearer to consumers, PEGI also uses ‘[https://pegi.info/what-do-the-labels-mean content descriptors]’. These appear as symbols on the boxes of games, describing content such as violence and bad language in games:

{| class="wikitable"
! PEGI Content Descriptor Name
! PEGI Content Descriptor Label
! Description
|-
|Violence
|[[File:PEGI Violence Descriptor.jpg|70px]]
|The game contains depictions of violence. In games rated PEGI 7 this can only be non-realistic or non-detailed violence. Games rated PEGI 12 can include violence in a fantasy environmentor non-realistic violence towards human-like characters, whereas games rated PEGI 16 or 18 have increasingly more realistic-looking violence.
|-
|Bad Language
|[[File:PEGI Bad Language Descriptor.jpg|70px]]
|The game contains bad language. This descriptor can be found on games with a PEGI 12 (mild swearing), PEGI 16 (e.g. sexual expletives or blasphemy) or PEGI 18 rating (e.g. sexual expletives or blasphemy).
|-
|Fear
|[[File:PEGI Fear Descriptor.jpg|70px]]
|This descriptor may appear on games with a PEGI 7 if it contains pictures or sounds that may be frightening or scary to young children, or on PEGI 12 games with horrific sounds or horror effects (but without any violent content).
|-
|Gambling
|[[File:PEGI Gambling Descriptor.jpg|70px]]
|The game contains elements that encourage or teach gambling. These simulations of gambling refer to games of chance that are normally carried out in casinos or gambling halls. Games with this sort of content are PEGI 12, PEGI 16 or PEGI 18.
|-
|Sex
|[[File:PEGI Sex Descriptor.jpg|70px]]
|This content descriptor can accompany a PEGI 12 rating if the game includes sexual posturing or innuendo, a PEGI 16 rating if there is erotic nudity or sexual intercourse without visible genitals or a PEGI 18 rating if there is explicit sexual activity in the game. Depictions of nudity in a non-sexual content do not require a specific age rating, and this descriptor would not be necessary.
|-
|Drugs
|[[File:PEGI Drugs Descriptor.jpg|70px]]
|The game refers to or depicts the use of illegal drugs, alcohol or tobacco. Games with this content descriptor are always PEGI 16 or PEGI 18.
|-
|Discrimination
|[[File:PEGI Discrimination Descriptor.jpg|70px]]
|The game contains depictions of ethnic, religious, nationalistic or other stereotypes likely to encourage hatred. This content is always restricted to a PEGI 18 rating (and likely to infringe national criminal laws).
|}

In 2018 PEGI introduced a new content descriptor to [https://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/aug/30/video-games-that-allow-in-game-purchases-will-carry-pegi-warning label digital games with in-game purchases] and in early 2019 this content descriptor began appearing as a [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-01-16-new-pegi-content-descriptor-for-in-game-purchases label on physical releases].

{| class="wikitable"
! PEGI Content Descriptor Name
! PEGI Content Descriptor Label
! Description
|-
|In-Game Purchases
|[[File:PEGI In-Game Purchases Descriptor.jpg|70px]]
|The game includes an option to spend real money on in-game items or additional content.
|}

PEGI Age Ratings

2021-08-27T14:14:37Z

UkieColm: /* UK Only */

Showing the number of games released by PEGI age rating

== UK Only ==

UK Certificates for Release issued by the VSC

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!
!colspan="4"|Certificates by Age Rating
!colspan="3"|Percentage by Age Rating
|-
!Year
!12
!16
!18
!Total
!12
!16
!18
|-
|[https://videostandards.org.uk/MzCms/ContentImage.ashx?cpath=000%5c000%5c969%5c598%5c2020+VSC+Annual+Report.pdf 2020]
|style="text-align:right;" | 250
|style="text-align:right;" | 206
|style="text-align:right;" | 174
|style="text-align:right;" | '''630'''
|style="text-align:right;" | 39.7%
|style="text-align:right;" | 32.7%
|style="text-align:right;" | 27.6%
|-
|[https://videostandards.org.uk/MzCms/ContentImage.ashx?cpath=000%5C000%5C948%5C950%5CAnnual+Report+2016+-+2017.pdf 2017]
|style="text-align:right;" | 240
|style="text-align:right;" | 218
|style="text-align:right;" | 153
|style="text-align:right;" | '''661'''
|style="text-align:right;" | 36.3%
|style="text-align:right;" | 33.0%
|style="text-align:right;" | 23.1%
|-
|[https://videostandards.org.uk/RichTextAssets/VSC%20Parliamentary%20Report%202016.pdf 2016]
|style="text-align:right;" | 201
|style="text-align:right;" | 151
|style="text-align:right;" | 146
|style="text-align:right;" | '''498'''
|style="text-align:right;" | 40.4%
|style="text-align:right;" | 30.3%
|style="text-align:right;" | 29.3%
|-
|[2015]
|style="text-align:right;" | -
|style="text-align:right;" | -
|style="text-align:right;" | -
|style="text-align:right;" | '''-'''
|style="text-align:right;" | -
|style="text-align:right;" | -
|style="text-align:right;" | -
|-
|[2014]
|style="text-align:right;" | -
|style="text-align:right;" | -
|style="text-align:right;" | -
|style="text-align:right;" | '''-'''
|style="text-align:right;" | -
|style="text-align:right;" | -
|style="text-align:right;" | -
|-
|[https://videostandards.org.uk/MzCms/ContentImage.ashx?cpath=000%5C000%5C876%5C385%5CFull+Report+final.pdf 2013]
|style="text-align:right;" |134
|style="text-align:right;" |137
|style="text-align:right;" |115
|style="text-align:right;" |'''385'''
|style="text-align:right;" | 34.8%
|style="text-align:right;" | 35.6%
|style="text-align:right;" | 29.9%
|}

Note: For a video game supplied in the UK for a number of different games consoles (e.g. Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch) a separate UK certificate is issued for each version of the game.

== All PEGI territories ==

These figures include online ratings.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!
!colspan="6"|No. of PEGI Licences by Age Rating
!colspan="5"|Percentage of PEGI Licences by Age Rating
|-
!Year
!3
!7
!12
!16
!18
!Total
!3
!7
!12
!16
!18
|-
|[https://www.isfe.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/ISFE-final-1.pdf 2019]
|style="text-align:right;" | 403
|style="text-align:right;" | 368
|style="text-align:right;" | 403
|style="text-align:right;" | 315
|style="text-align:right;" | 210
|style="text-align:right;" | '''1,750'''
|style="text-align:right;" | 23.0%
|style="text-align:right;" | 21.0%
|style="text-align:right;" | 23.0%
|style="text-align:right;" | 18.0%
|style="text-align:right;" | 12.0%
|-
|2018
|style="text-align:right;" | 499
|style="text-align:right;" | 459
|style="text-align:right;" | 589
|style="text-align:right;" | 366
|style="text-align:right;" | 229
|style="text-align:right;" | '''2,142'''
|style="text-align:right;" | 23.3%
|style="text-align:right;" | 21.4%
|style="text-align:right;" | 27.5%
|style="text-align:right;" | 17.1%
|style="text-align:right;" | 10.7%
|-
|[https://videostandards.org.uk/MzCms/ContentImage.ashx?cpath=000%5C000%5C948%5C950%5CAnnual+Report+2016+-+2017.pdf 2017]
|style="text-align:right;" | 441
|style="text-align:right;" | 455
|style="text-align:right;" | 535
|style="text-align:right;" | 362
|style="text-align:right;" | 184
|style="text-align:right;" | '''1,977'''
|style="text-align:right;" | 22.3%
|style="text-align:right;" | 23.0%
|style="text-align:right;" | 27.1%
|style="text-align:right;" | 18.3%
|style="text-align:right;" | 9.3%
|-
|[https://videostandards.org.uk/RichTextAssets/VSC%20Parliamentary%20Report%202016.pdf 2016]
|style="text-align:right;" | 366
|style="text-align:right;" | 396
|style="text-align:right;" | 476
|style="text-align:right;" | 295
|style="text-align:right;" | 186
|style="text-align:right;" | '''1,719'''
|style="text-align:right;" | 21.3%
|style="text-align:right;" | 23.0%
|style="text-align:right;" | 27.7%
|style="text-align:right;" | 18.3%
|style="text-align:right;" | 10.8%
|-
|[https://isfe.eu/sites/isfe.eu/files/attachments/pegi_annual_report_2015.pdf 2015]
|style="text-align:right;" | 427
|style="text-align:right;" | 486
|style="text-align:right;" | 501
|style="text-align:right;" | 237
|style="text-align:right;" | 204
|style="text-align:right;" | '''1,855'''
|style="text-align:right;" | 23.0%
|style="text-align:right;" | 26.2%
|style="text-align:right;" | 27.0%
|style="text-align:right;" | 12.8%
|style="text-align:right;" | 11.0%
|-
|2014
|style="text-align:right;" | 470
|style="text-align:right;" | 399
|style="text-align:right;" | 374
|style="text-align:right;" | 254
|style="text-align:right;" | 188
|style="text-align:right;" | '''1,685'''
|style="text-align:right;" | 27.9%
|style="text-align:right;" | 23.7%
|style="text-align:right;" | 22.2%
|style="text-align:right;" | 15.1%
|style="text-align:right;" | 11.2%
|-
|[https://issuu.com/pegi/docs/annual_report2013 2013]
|style="text-align:right;" | 471
|style="text-align:right;" | 371
|style="text-align:right;" | 326
|style="text-align:right;" | 225
|style="text-align:right;" | 149
|style="text-align:right;" | '''1,542'''
|style="text-align:right;" | 30.5%
|style="text-align:right;" | 24.1%
|style="text-align:right;" | 21.1%
|style="text-align:right;" | 14.6%
|style="text-align:right;" | 9.7%
|-
|[https://www.isfe.eu/sites/isfe.eu/files/attachments/annual_report12_web.pdf 2012]
|style="text-align:right;" | 613
|style="text-align:right;" | 388
|style="text-align:right;" | 418
|style="text-align:right;" | 224
|style="text-align:right;" | 170
|style="text-align:right;" | '''1,813'''
|style="text-align:right;" | 33.8%
|style="text-align:right;" | 21.4%
|style="text-align:right;" | 23.1%
|style="text-align:right;" | 12.4%
|style="text-align:right;" | 9.4%
|-
|[https://www.isfe.eu/sites/isfe.eu/files/attachments/annual_report2011_web.pdf 2011]
|style="text-align:right;" | 828
|style="text-align:right;" | 362
|style="text-align:right;" | 515
|style="text-align:right;" | 284
|style="text-align:right;" | 218
|style="text-align:right;" | '''2,214'''
|style="text-align:right;" | 37.4%
|style="text-align:right;" | 16.4%
|style="text-align:right;" | 23.3%
|style="text-align:right;" | 12.8%
|style="text-align:right;" | 9.8%
|-
|[https://www.isfe.eu/sites/isfe.eu/files/annual_report2010.pdf 2003 - 2010 (combined)]
|style="text-align:right;" | 7,849
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,967
|style="text-align:right;" | 3,496
|style="text-align:right;" | 1,991
|style="text-align:right;" | 825
|style="text-align:right;" | '''16,143'''
|style="text-align:right;" | 48.6%
|style="text-align:right;" | 12.2%
|style="text-align:right;" | 21.7%
|style="text-align:right;" | 12.3%
|style="text-align:right;" | 5.1%
|-
|}

Please note: Since 2015, the age ratings for an increasing number of games are flowing via [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Age_Rating_Coalition IARC] and as such PEGI's official figures may not represent the true distribution of all games released by age rating. The decline since 2010 in games rated PEGI 3 may also be influenced by the shift of more casual games to mobile platforms, some of which may not be rated by PEGI.

==Age Labels==

PEGI categorises games into [https://pegi.info/what-do-the-labels-mean 5 age classifications], each allowing different levels of age-appropriate content:

{| class="wikitable"
! PEGI Age Label
! Description
|-
|[[File:PEGI 3.jpg|70px]]
|The content of games with a PEGI 3 rating is considered suitable for all age groups. The game should not contain any sounds or pictures that are likely to frighten young children. A very mild form of violence (in a comical context or a childlike setting) is acceptable. No bad language should be heard.
|-
|[[File:PEGI 7.jpg|70px]]
|Game content with scenes or sounds that can possibly frightening to younger children should fall in this category. Very mild forms of violence (implied, non-detailed, or non-realistic violence) are acceptable for a game with a PEGI 7 rating.
|-
|[[File:PEGI 12.jpg|70px]]
|Video games that show violence of a slightly more graphic nature towards fantasy characters or non-realistic violence towards human-like characters would fall in this age category. Sexual innuendo or sexual posturing can be present, while any bad language in this category must be mild. Gambling as it is normally carried out in real life in casinos or gambling halls can also be present (e.g. card games that in real life would be played for money).
|-
|[[File:PEGI 16.jpg|70px]]
|This rating is applied once the depiction of violence (or sexual activity) reaches a stage that looks the same as would be expected in real life. The use of bad language in games with a PEGI 16 rating can be more extreme, while games of chance, and the use of tobacco, alcohol or illegal drugs can also be present
|-
|[[File:PEGI 18.jpg|70px]]
|The adult classification is applied when the level of violence reaches a stage where it becomes a depiction of gross violence, apparently motiveless killing, or violence towards defenceless characters. The glamorisation of the use of illegal drugs and explicit sexual activity should also fall into this age category.
|}

==Content Descriptors==

To make the nature of content that may not be age-appropriate clearer to consumers, PEGI also uses ‘[https://pegi.info/what-do-the-labels-mean content descriptors]’. These appear as symbols on the boxes of games, describing content such as violence and bad language in games:

{| class="wikitable"
! PEGI Content Descriptor Name
! PEGI Content Descriptor Label
! Description
|-
|Violence
|[[File:PEGI Violence Descriptor.jpg|70px]]
|The game contains depictions of violence. In games rated PEGI 7 this can only be non-realistic or non-detailed violence. Games rated PEGI 12 can include violence in a fantasy environmentor non-realistic violence towards human-like characters, whereas games rated PEGI 16 or 18 have increasingly more realistic-looking violence.
|-
|Bad Language
|[[File:PEGI Bad Language Descriptor.jpg|70px]]
|The game contains bad language. This descriptor can be found on games with a PEGI 12 (mild swearing), PEGI 16 (e.g. sexual expletives or blasphemy) or PEGI 18 rating (e.g. sexual expletives or blasphemy).
|-
|Fear
|[[File:PEGI Fear Descriptor.jpg|70px]]
|This descriptor may appear on games with a PEGI 7 if it contains pictures or sounds that may be frightening or scary to young children, or on PEGI 12 games with horrific sounds or horror effects (but without any violent content).
|-
|Gambling
|[[File:PEGI Gambling Descriptor.jpg|70px]]
|The game contains elements that encourage or teach gambling. These simulations of gambling refer to games of chance that are normally carried out in casinos or gambling halls. Games with this sort of content are PEGI 12, PEGI 16 or PEGI 18.
|-
|Sex
|[[File:PEGI Sex Descriptor.jpg|70px]]
|This content descriptor can accompany a PEGI 12 rating if the game includes sexual posturing or innuendo, a PEGI 16 rating if there is erotic nudity or sexual intercourse without visible genitals or a PEGI 18 rating if there is explicit sexual activity in the game. Depictions of nudity in a non-sexual content do not require a specific age rating, and this descriptor would not be necessary.
|-
|Drugs
|[[File:PEGI Drugs Descriptor.jpg|70px]]
|The game refers to or depicts the use of illegal drugs, alcohol or tobacco. Games with this content descriptor are always PEGI 16 or PEGI 18.
|-
|Discrimination
|[[File:PEGI Discrimination Descriptor.jpg|70px]]
|The game contains depictions of ethnic, religious, nationalistic or other stereotypes likely to encourage hatred. This content is always restricted to a PEGI 18 rating (and likely to infringe national criminal laws).
|}

In 2018 PEGI introduced a new content descriptor to [https://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/aug/30/video-games-that-allow-in-game-purchases-will-carry-pegi-warning label digital games with in-game purchases] and in early 2019 this content descriptor began appearing as a [https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-01-16-new-pegi-content-descriptor-for-in-game-purchases label on physical releases].

{| class="wikitable"
! PEGI Content Descriptor Name
! PEGI Content Descriptor Label
! Description
|-
|In-Game Purchases
|[[File:PEGI In-Game Purchases Descriptor.jpg|70px]]
|The game includes an option to spend real money on in-game items or additional content.
|}

Player Diversity & Demographics

2021-08-27T13:53:32Z

UkieColm:

== 2021 Stats ==

=== GLOBAL ===

*Across the five key European markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK) 50% of the population aged 6-64 play video games. ([https://www.isfe.eu/data-key-facts/key-facts-about-europe-s-video-games-sector/ ISFE], Aug 2021)
** The average age of a video game player in Europe is 31.3 years old.
** The games audience of these five territories breaks down as
***9% - 6-10 years old
***9% - 11-14 years old
***22% - 15-24 years old
***20% - 25-34 years old
***16% - 35-44 years old
***23% - 45-64 years old
**Within each age bracket, we can look at the percentage of people who play video games.
***68% of 6-10 year olds
***79% of 11-14 year olds
***72% of 15-24 year olds
***60% of 25-34 year olds
***43% of 35-44 year olds
***31% of 45-64 year olds
**The average time spent playing video games each week by European players is 9.5 hours, compared to 14 hours for social media and 23.5 hours for television.

*47% of all European video game players are women. ([https://www.isfe.eu/data-key-facts/key-facts-about-europe-s-video-games-sector/ ISFE], Aug 2021)
**Women make up 53% of all European mobile/tablet players.
**Women who play video games are three times more likely to study for a STEM degree than that that do not play video games.

== 2020 Stats ==

=== UK ===

*86% of people aged 16-69 have played computer or mobile games in the last year. 54% play "on most days". ([https://info.savanta.com/uk-gaming-attitudes-and-behaviours Savanta], Feb 2020)
**50% of people who play games on most days are female and 50% male.
**46% of people who play games on most days are aged over 40.
**Among women who say they play most days, only a third (33%) would identify as a “gaming hobbyist” compared with 58% of men who play the same amount. This may be due to perceptions that only certain types of video games “count” as gaming.
**Only 11% of those people who play exclusively on smartphones or tablets actually think of themselves as gamers, compared to nearly half of those people who play on consoles or PCs.

=== GLOBAL ===

*Across the four key European markets (UK, France, Germany and Spain) 51% of the population aged 6-64 play video games. ([https://www.isfe.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/ISFE-final-1.pdf ISFE], Sept 2020)
** The average age of someone who plays video games in Europe is 31 years old.
** The total share of the European video games audience made up of 6-10 year olds is 10%, 11-14 year-olds represent 9%, 15-24 year-olds represent 23%, 25-34 year-olds represent 20%, 35-44 year-olds represent 16% and 45-64 year-olds represent the remaining 22%.
**73% of 6-10 year-olds play video games, 84% of 11-14 year-olds, 74% of 15-24 year-olds, 59% of 25-34 year-olds, 46% of 35-44 year olds and 31% of people aged 45-64.
**The average European player plays video games for 8.6 hours a week, compared to 25 hours of TV or 14 hours on social media.

*45% of all European video game players are female. ([https://www.isfe.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/ISFE-final-1.pdf ISFE], Sept 2020)
**Women make up 51% of all European mobile/tablet players.
**86% of women play single-player modes, 23% online multiplayer modes and 16% offline multiplayer modes.
**Women who play video games are three times more likely to study for a STEM degree than that that do not play video games.

*71% of mothers (women aged 25-54, with at least one child) play video games across any device type, however only 48% describe themselves as a "gamer". ([https://www.activisionblizzardmedia.com/gamermoms Activision Blizzard], Apr 2020)
**Women account for 46% of all parents who play video games, both globally and of those in the UK.
**Mobile is the preferred platform, with over 90% of of mothers play mobile games at least weekly and 74% daily.
**However, both PC and consoles are still very popular with mothers, with 38% playing on daily on PCs and 33% daily on consoles.
**The strongest drivers for mothers who play are relaxation (59%) and moments of spare time (45%), rather than playing with their children or others (37%).
**Almost half (49%) of UK mothers have been playing games for more than 10 years.
**Mothers are more likely to report feeling able to relate to their children (45%), compared to mothers who do not play games (37%).
**30% of UK mothers play games for more than 10 hours a week. ([https://www.activisionblizzardmedia.com/gamermoms Activision Blizzard], Apr 2020)

*In 2019, 44% of American adults aged 50 and above play video games regularly (at least once a month), up from 38% in 2016. ([https://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/research/surveys_statistics/technology/2019/2020-gaming-trends-older-adults.doi.10.26419-2Fres.00328.001.pdf AARP], Jan 2020)
**Women were more likely to play games than men, with 49% of women playing regularly compared to 40% of men.
** On average, those who played games did so for about five hours per week, with 47% playing daily and 80% playing at least once per week.
** 73% of older adults who played games used phones or other mobile devices, 47% used PCs and 13% consoles.
** In total, AARP estimates that US that adults aged over 50 had a collective spend of $3.5bn on games in 2019, up from $523m in 2016. On average, AARP estimates this to be $70 per person.

== 2019 Stats ==

=== UK ===

*42% of British people aged 55 to 64, and 27% of those aged 65+, have played video games in the last five years. One in five grandparents plays video games with their grandchildren. ([https://www.mcvuk.com/new-research-shows-record-numbers-of-uk-people-aged-55-play-video-games/ Must Play May / MCV], May 2019)

*40% of British players aged 60+-year-old reportedly play strategy games “to keep the brain in tip-top shape”, whilst 20% enjoy multiplayer games “to earn brownie points and keep up with their grandchildren”. ([https://www.mcvuk.com/new-research-shows-record-numbers-of-uk-people-aged-55-play-video-games/ Must Play May / MCV], May 2019)

*85% of Brits aged under 35s and 75% of those aged 35-44 frequently play games. 40% that group tended to play with their children and 31% said they played games to relax. ([https://www.mcvuk.com/new-research-shows-record-numbers-of-uk-people-aged-55-play-video-games/ Must Play May / MCV], May 2019)

*95% of parents say their child uses any device to play video games, with 60% reporting their children plays at least once a week. ([https://www.internetmatters.org/blog/2019/07/01/parenting-generation-game-summary-of-findings/ internetmatters.org], Jul 2019)
**Parents of boys are more likely to report playing of video games (97%) than parents of girls (92%), although both rates are high.
**Among boys, consoles were the prefered device (88%), although it was less popular with girls (68%. The most popular device for girls was smartphones (79%) with a similar level of preference from boys (76%).

*Parents report that 81% of children play video games, with more than half reporting to prefer playing online. ([https://www.internetmatters.org/blog/2019/07/01/parenting-generation-game-summary-of-findings/ internetmatters.org], Jul 2019)

*Parents report that children generally start playing games on devices between the ages of 7 and 9. Handheld devices saw the youngest average starting age, at 7.6 years old, and smartphones the oldest at 9.2 years. Consoles and PCs sit between these at 8 years old and 8.5 years old respectively. ([https://www.internetmatters.org/blog/2019/07/01/parenting-generation-game-summary-of-findings/ internetmatters.org], Jul 2019)

*Parents report that children are more likely to play games in the living room (65%) than in their bedrooms (55%). ([https://www.internetmatters.org/blog/2019/07/01/parenting-generation-game-summary-of-findings/ internetmatters.org], Jul 2019)

*Children are far morel likely to prefer playing games with school friends (62%) than with siblings (27%), their parents (24%) or with others online (24%). ([https://www.internetmatters.org/blog/2019/07/01/parenting-generation-game-summary-of-findings/ internetmatters.org], Jul 2019)

=== GLOBAL ===

*Among 18-20 year-olds, games is the 2nd most popular catagory of app, with 66% of people in this age range opening a game app at least once a week ([https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/4963442/Whitepapers/ABM_Newzoo_Betting_on_Billions_Unlocking_Power_of_Mobile_Gamers_March2019.pdf Newzoo], Oct 2019)

*51% of players of mobile games are female and 49% are male. However, there a differences between genres with 74% of players of shooting games male and 66% of players of puzzle games female.([https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/4963442/Whitepapers/ABM_Newzoo_Betting_on_Billions_Unlocking_Power_of_Mobile_Gamers_March2019.pdf Newzoo], Oct 2019)

*The average age of someone who plays mobile games is 36 ([https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/4963442/Whitepapers/ABM_Newzoo_Betting_on_Billions_Unlocking_Power_of_Mobile_Gamers_March2019.pdf Newzoo], Oct 2019)

*Among children aged 10-12 in the US in 2019, the most played games are Roblox (played by 33%), Fortnite (played by 26%) and Minecraft (played by 24%) ([https://www.superdataresearch.com/preteen-gamers/ SuperData], Nov 2019)
**The most common way for children in the US to spend money on games is with gift cards, with 35% using store gift cards on games or in-game content.

*54% of the population aged between 6 and 64 play video games across the the four major European markets (UK, France, Germany and Spain). ([https://www.isfe.eu/isfe-key-facts/ ISFE], May 2019)
**48% of those who play games are female, which has remained steady since 2012.
**The 45-64 age group is the fastest growing segment of players, increasing by 28% in 2017, now accounting for 22% of all players. One third of all people in this age group now play video games.

== 2018 Stats ==

=== UK ===

*In 2018, 37.3m people in the UK play video games. The UK is the 6th largest game market in the world, with consumers spending $4.5bn on software. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/uk-games-market-2018/ Newzoo], Jul 2018)

*Of the UK’s online population, 49% of men and 48% of women play mobile games, while 38% of men and 26% of women play PC games. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/uk-games-market-2018/ Newzoo], Jul 2018)

*In a 2018 survey of 5,000 UK children under the age of 18, 84 percent of teen girls surveyed reported spending some of their free time playing videogames, up from 75 percent in 2017. Games as a hobby overall has overtaken shopping and is now ranked the 8th most popular hobby for young girls. ([https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-12-05-84-percent-of-teen-girls-play-video-games-in-their-spare-time gamesindusrty.biz] / [https://www.kidsinsights.co.uk/ Kid Insights], Dec 2018)

*15 percent of girls now watch esports, and more 13-15 year-old girls both participate in and watch esports live than boys in the same age group. ([https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-12-05-84-percent-of-teen-girls-play-video-games-in-their-spare-time gamesindusrty.biz] / [https://www.kidsinsights.co.uk/ Kid Insights], Dec 2018)

=== Global ===

*In 2018, 66% of people in the US aged over 13 play games, an increase from 58% in 2013. ([https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/reports/2018/us-games-360-report-2018.html Nielsen], May 2018)
**Of those players, 48% play games on all of the three main device types (consoles, mobile and PC/mac), with an additional 38% playing on two devices.

*Over the years 2013-2018, people in the US that play games have consistently spent 11% or 12% of their leisure time playing games. In 2018, people spent 11% of their leisure time playing games.([https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/reports/2018/us-games-360-report-2018.html Nielsen], May 2018)

[[File:Nielsen 360 leisure.PNG|thumb|400px|[https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/reports/2018/us-games-360-report-2018.html Nielsen US Games 360 Report] - US players aged 13+ in 2018, Leisure time by hours]]

*The average US gamer is 34 years years old. ([http://www.theesa.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/EF2018_FINAL.pdf ESA], April 2018)

*45% of all US gamers are women. ([http://www.theesa.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/EF2018_FINAL.pdf ESA], April 2018)

*Adult women represent a greater portion of the video game-playing population (33%) than boys under 18 (17%). ([http://www.theesa.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/EF2018_FINAL.pdf ESA], April 2018)

*Gamers aged 18 or older represent more than 70% of the video game-playing population. ([http://www.theesa.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/EF2018_FINAL.pdf ESA], April 2018)

*Of the most frequent game purchasers, 61% are male, 39% are female. ([http://www.theesa.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/EF2018_FINAL.pdf ESA], April 2018)

*The average female video game player is 36, and the average male video game player is 32 ([http://www.theesa.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/EF2018_FINAL.pdf ESA], April 2018)

*For men who game, 17% are under 18, 16% are 18-35, 12% are 36-49, and 11% are over 50. ([http://www.theesa.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/EF2018_FINAL.pdf ESA], April 2018)

*For women who game, 11% are under 18, 13% are 18-35, 8% are 36-49, and 12% are over 50. ([http://www.theesa.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/EF2018_FINAL.pdf ESA], April 2018)

== 2017 Stats ==

=== UK ===

*In 2017, 32.4 million people play games in the UK. Spending $4.2 billion this year, they make the UK the 5th largest games market in the world. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/the-u-k-gamer-2017/ Newzoo], Jun 2017)

*The UK mobile market is very evenly represented between the genders, with a 48% female / 52% male split between those who are playing more than once a month. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/the-u-k-gamer-2017/ Newzoo], Jun 2017)

*32% of UK players play PC, mobile and console games. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/the-u-k-gamer-2017/ Newzoo], Jun 2017)

*In 2016 there were 31.6m players in the UK, approximately 50% of the total population. Of those that play games, 59% of them spend money on games, annually spending an average of $206 per player. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/infographics/the-uk-games-market-2016/ Newzoo], Aug 2016)

*Women are more likely to play games than men – although they play less frequently – and the average age of a player is 43 years old. ([https://www.nesta.org.uk/report/did-you-really-take-a-hit-understanding-how-video-games-playing-affects-individuals/ Nesta], July 2017)

*Overall, half the population of gamers are at least in their 40s, while a quarter of all players are ages 56 years or above. ([https://www.nesta.org.uk/report/did-you-really-take-a-hit-understanding-how-video-games-playing-affects-individuals/ Nesta], July 2017)

*Of the people who play games in the UK, there are no significant effects of nationality, ethnic or religious background, or sexual orientation on whether people are likely to play. ([https://www.nesta.org.uk/report/did-you-really-take-a-hit-understanding-how-video-games-playing-affects-individuals/ Nesta], July 2017)

*People who play games are greater consumers of culture, such as reading, painting, attending performing arts and visiting heritage sites and libraries. Players are also more likely to actively participate in the creation of culture (writing, dancing, or creating forms of digital art) than non-games players. ([https://www.nesta.org.uk/report/did-you-really-take-a-hit-understanding-how-video-games-playing-affects-individuals/ Nesta], July 2017)

*People who played games growing up obtain better educational qualifications than those that did not. ([https://www.nesta.org.uk/report/did-you-really-take-a-hit-understanding-how-video-games-playing-affects-individuals/ Nesta], July 2017)

=== Global ===

*49% of mobile players are women. ([http://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/changethegame_white_paper.pdf Newzoo / Google], Dec 2017)

*65% of women aged 10-65 in the US play mobile games. ([http://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/changethegame_white_paper.pdf Newzoo / Google], Dec 2017)

*64% of female mobile players prefer mobile to other games platforms, compared to 38% of men. ([http://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/changethegame_white_paper.pdf Newzoo / Google], Dec 2017)

*43% of female mobile players play mobile games 5 times a week or more, compared to 38% of men. ([http://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/changethegame_white_paper.pdf Newzoo / Google], Dec 2017)

*Of the top 100 grossing games on Google Play, 44% more of the app icons feature male characters than female characters. ([http://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/changethegame_white_paper.pdf Newzoo / Google], Dec 2017)

*60% of women who play mobile games think that 30% or fewer of mobile games are made for women. ([http://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/changethegame_white_paper.pdf Newzoo / Google], Dec 2017)

*25% of men who play mobile games agree that “I would spend more time playing mobile games if I knew I was playing with or against players of my own gender” vs. only 10% of women. Among men who play mobile games the most (10+ hours/week) the number rises to 47%. For women, this desire remains fairly consistent. ([http://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/changethegame_white_paper.pdf Newzoo / Google], Dec 2017)

*More men than women pay for mobile games (52% Men; 33% Women) and men talk more frequently about mobile games than women do (44% Men vs. 27% Women). More men than women feel good/excited/satisfied upon payment of a new game (70% Men; 58% Women) while more women than men feel guilt/regret upon payment (23% Women; 16% Men). ([http://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/changethegame_white_paper.pdf Newzoo / Google], Dec 2017)

*64% of the US population aged 13+ play games ([http://www.nielsen.com/content/dam/corporate/us/en/reports-downloads/2017-reports/nielsen-games-360-report-2017.pdf Nielsen], Oct 2017)

*63% of U.S. households are home to at least one person who plays video games regularly (3 hours or more per week) and 48% of U.S. households own a dedicated game console. ([http://essentialfacts.theesa.com/ ESA], April 2017)

*The average video game player is 35 years old and has been playing video games for about 13 years. ([http://essentialfacts.theesa.com/ ESA], April 2017)

*41% of all game players are female and 59% male. ([http://essentialfacts.theesa.com/ ESA], April 2017)

*Women age 18 or older represent a significantly greater portion of the game-playing population (31%) than boys age 18 or younger (17%). ([http://essentialfacts.theesa.com/ ESA], April 2017)

*54% of the most frequent gamers play with others, including: 40% Friends, 21% Family members, 17% Parent(s), 15% Spouse/partner. ([http://essentialfacts.theesa.com/ ESA], April 2017)

*53% of the most frequent game players feel video games help them connect with friends and 42% feel video games help them spend time with family. ([http://essentialfacts.theesa.com/ ESA], April 2017)

*75% of the most frequent gamers believe playing video games provides mental stimulation or education. ([http://essentialfacts.theesa.com/ ESA], April 2017)

*93% of parents believe that the parental controls available in all new video game consoles are useful. 9 out of 10 require their children to ask permission or are present when their child buys or rents a video game ([http://essentialfacts.theesa.com/ ESA], April 2017)

*Of the online audience aged 10–65 across 13 countries, 46% of people that play games are women. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/male-and-female-gamers-how-their-similarities-and-differences-shape-the-games-market/ Newzoo], May 2017)

*Mobile games are almost equally popular among men and women, with 52% and 48% playing mobile games more than once a month, respectively. In contrast, 48% and 37% of men play on PC and console at least once a month, respectively, compared to 35% and 23% of women. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/male-and-female-gamers-how-their-similarities-and-differences-shape-the-games-market/ Newzoo], May 2017)

*For female gamers, social circles are key, with 39% of them discovering a game through friends or family, and 20% through social networks. For men, a comparatively low 27% discover games through friends or family. Instead, 26% of men discover new titles through review or game sites and 24% through online video channels. Choice of platform shapes the route by which a player finds a game, rather than gender alone. ([https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/male-and-female-gamers-how-their-similarities-and-differences-shape-the-games-market/ Newzoo], May 2017)

*Local co-operative gaming is consistently the most appealing form of social gaming across age and gender, easily beating competitive play. ([http://quanticfoundry.com/2016/07/21/social-gaming/ Quantic Foundry], Jul 2017)
**Co-operative play with friend was roughly equally popular either online or in person, whereas competitive play with friends in person was preferred to online. ([http://quanticfoundry.com/2016/07/21/social-gaming/ Quantic Foundry], Jul 2017)
**Co-operative play had similar appeal across genders, but more men enjoy competitive play than women. ([http://quanticfoundry.com/2016/07/21/social-gaming/ Quantic Foundry], Jul 2017)
**Co-operative appeal drops sharply when played with strangers. Competitive appeal is also reduced, especially amongst women. ([http://quanticfoundry.com/2016/07/21/social-gaming/ Quantic Foundry], Jul 2017)
**The desire for competitive play drop with age, whereas co-operative appeal remains stable. ([http://quanticfoundry.com/2016/02/10/gamer-generation/ Quantic Foundry], Feb 2016)

== 2016 Stats ==

=== UK ===

=== Global ===

*In a survey of Americans aged 50-plus, close to four in ten (38%) are play video games. ([http://www.aarp.org/research/topics/technology/info-2016/electronic-gaming-research-adults-50plus.html AARP], June 2016)
**40% of 50-plus women are gamers (vs. 35% of men) and are more likely to play daily than male gamers (45% vs. 35%). ([http://www.aarp.org/research/topics/technology/info-2016/electronic-gaming-research-adults-50plus.html AARP], June 2016)
**This increase in female gamers trend looks like it will continue, as women (57%) are significantly more likely than men (43%) to say they play more today than they did five years ago. ([http://www.aarp.org/research/topics/technology/info-2016/electronic-gaming-research-adults-50plus.html AARP], June 2016)
**75% of 50-plus gamers play video games weekly, with 40% playing every day. A greater proportion of older gamers compared to younger gamers report playing video games weekly or more often (37% of 50-59 year olds compared to 43% of 60-plus say they play every day). ([http://www.aarp.org/research/topics/technology/info-2016/electronic-gaming-research-adults-50plus.html AARP], June 2016)
**59% play games on computers/laptops compared to 57% on phones/other mobile devices. 59% play games online. ([http://www.aarp.org/research/topics/technology/info-2016/electronic-gaming-research-adults-50plus.html AARP], June 2016)
**The most played game types are card/tile games (48%) and puzzle/logic games (47%). ([http://www.aarp.org/research/topics/technology/info-2016/electronic-gaming-research-adults-50plus.html AARP], June 2016)

*Sexualisation of female protagonists in games has declined significantly in the 8 years, compared to female protagonists from the 1990-2005, an analysis of 571 titles has shown. ([http://phys.org/news/2016-07-survey-years-video-games-decline.html Phys.org], July 2016)

== 2015 Stats ==

=== UK ===

=== Global ===

*Disney Infinity, the toys-to-life game, has achieved a more diverse audience than they initially expected, with roughly 50% male and 50% female players. John Vignocchi states that they had initially expected more male players than female (70% vs 30%), however the games diverse character set of Disney characters has seen a more equal split. He adds that this also extends the age of players, with as many non-parent and parent adults playing as 6-12 year olds and teens. This has led to a shift in marketing spotlighting both male and female characters. ([http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2015-08-28-disney-infinity-audience-split-50-50-male-female MCV], Sept 2015)

*Players diversity: while two thirds of surveyed boys identify as gamers and the opposite is true for girls, it can be a pleasant surprise to note the openness of the male demographic to female protagonists and female players. ([http://www.polygon.com/2015/3/5/8153213/the-games-industry-is-wrong-about-kids-gaming-and-gender Polygon], Mar 2015)

*Looking at high school results specifically, boys are less likely to prefer to play as male characters (39%) compared to girls preferring to play as female characters (60%), they are also less likely to play a game based on the protagonist’s gender than girls (20% versus 28%). ([http://www.polygon.com/2015/3/5/8153213/the-games-industry-is-wrong-about-kids-gaming-and-gender Polygon], Mar 2015)

*High school boys also want to see more girls playing (87% said they’d like that) and 61% agree or strongly agree that females are too often treated as sex objects (25% remained neutral), while 83% of girls agreed or strongly agreed that this happens too often. ([http://www.polygon.com/2015/3/5/8153213/the-games-industry-is-wrong-about-kids-gaming-and-gender Polygon], Mar 2015)

== 2014 Stats ==

=== UK ===

*In 2014, the IAB estimated there were 33.5m video game players aged 8-74 in the UK. ([https://iabuk.net/system/tdf/research-docs/GamingRevolution-A0.pdf?file=1&type=node&id=22900 IAB], 2014)

=== Global ===