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Despite the global games industry downturn , the UK games development sector grew 4.8 % in the 12 months to May 2024 .

Against a backdrop of companies downsizing and studio closures , the UK ’ s games development sector proved to be comparatively resilient , growing to 25,419 full time equivalent development roles by May 2024 , which , at 4.8 %, was the lowest annualised rate of growth in the UK games industry since 2012 .

The UK ’ s fastest growing games clusters in the 12 months to May 2024 were London ( 468 new staff ), North East ( 280 staff ) and North West ( 247 staff ), but five regions contracted .

The findings come from TIGA ’ s definitive report on the state of the UK video games industry Making Games in the UK 2024 ( TIGA , 2024 ), which is based on an extensive survey of UK games businesses , with analysis by Games Investor Consulting .

TIGA ’ s research shows that in the period from April 2023 to May 2024 :

• Over 28,500 people make games professionally in the UK : The number of freelancers working for UK games development sector companies

( including studios , publishers and service companies ) grew substantially from 1,102 ( April 2023 ) to 3,625 ( May 2024 ) as very large companies downsized full time roles and switched to freelancers . The total games development workforce grew to 28,516 including 3,625 freelancers and 24,891 full time development roles . Employment in the games development sector has grown by an average of 9.5 % every year over the period December 2014 to May 2024 .

• Job growth outweighed company downsizing and closure : 400 extant companies shed 2,353 full time development jobs between April 2023 and May 2024 ; but 678 companies grew over the same period , adding 3,932 full time development jobs , and 1,070 extant companies neither grew nor shed staff .

• Overall games company numbers declined : The UK had 2,148 trading games development companies in May 2024 ( down from 2,175 in April 2023 ). This includes 1,697 games studios , 60 publisher studios , 109 publishers , four broadcasters and 278 service companies . Total studio numbers fell from 1,801 in April 2023 to 1,757 in May 2024 .

• Games company mortality rises to record levels : A total of 248 companies closed down or exited the games industry during the survey period , the highest ever recorded .

• The number of start-up studios fell : A total of 166 new games development companies were founded between April 2023 and May 2024 . This compares to 251 new games development companies that were set up between December 2021 and April 2023 .

• Large and console studios are main growth drivers : Studios with 41 to 149 development staff grew at an average rate of 19 % over the research period . Console studios grew by an average of 18.1 % over the same timeframe .

• Overseas owned studios now employ 62 % of the UK games development workforce : Studios ultimately owned by overseas companies employ 12,743 full-time staff , compared to 7,854 employed by domestically owned studios . While some overseas studios continued to grow strongly , some of the largest employers ’ creative headcount fell substantially as entire teams were made redundant . x www . intelligentcxo . com

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