Launched today, Ukie’s ‘Playing On’ report shows the UK games sector has risen to the challenges raised by the current pandemic, rapidly adapting to new ways of working and maintaining very high levels of productivity throughout difficult circumstances, without over-reliance on governmental and public funds for support.
However, constraints in access to finance, business networking and broader economic impacts raise concerns around the mid-to-long term impacts of coronavirus, as well the ongoing day-to-day strain in areas such as workforce mental well-being. For some areas of the sector, such as events and services, short term impacts have been much more severe, and here government intervention has been welcomed.
Taken as a whole, the sector has remained resilient and, with a small amount of public support, would be in a prime position to lead the creative industrys’ economic recovery in a post-COVID world. https://tinyurl.com/y6fgjwg8
Background
- UK games industry
- 2,300+ games companies in UK
- 50,000 full time jobs
- 99.5% games companies are SMEs
- £2.8bn in GVA to UK economy
According to the Entertainment Retailers’ Association, the UK games software market was worth £3.77bn in 2019 (ERA, Mar 2020)
In 2018 UK sales of games eclipsed that of both music and video combined, reaching a record £3.86bn across both physical and digital, an increase of +9.1% on 2017.
During this year’s London Tech Week a series of insightful reports will appear on cityam.com, the online edition of London’s daily business newspaper.
Each report will dive deep into the key themes and the topics being explored during Tech Week.
We will hear from guest speakers, exhibitors and those attending to create reports for those who are serious about the business of tech.