UK games industry employment has grown by 25%, new study shows

The video games industry in the United Kingdom has employed significantly more people in recent times, a new report from non-profit trade association TIGA shows.

The study: The data is from TIGA's "definitive" report on the state of the industry in the UK.

• TIGA reported on May 11 that employment in the gaming sector grew by almost 25% between April 2020 and December 2021.
• The association states that almost 21,000 British people (20,975, to be exact) are in full-time employment in the games industry.
• Coinciding with the sharp increase of those in full-time employment, the study shows that annual investment from game studios rose from £993M ($1.2B) to £1.3B ($1.6B) and that the sector's contribution to the UK Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew from £2.2B ($2.7B) to £2.9B ($3.5B).

The takeaways: The UK games market looks to be growing on the surface.

• It's worth noting that domestic lockdowns led to an increase in the amount of video game usage and content consumption, with the first UK lockdown coming into effect in March 2020.
• Video Games Tax Relief (VGTR) has played a notable role in the growth of the UK games industry, helping the headcount to grow by 9.9% on average each year since its inception in 2014.
• The launch of new consoles from both Microsoft and Sony in late 2020 will have benefitted the UK's games development community. Additionally, both companies have a significant presence in the nation and are seemingly always hiring.
• "The UK video games development sector is sprinting ahead, with an annualised growth rate of 14.7 percent," said TIGA CEO Dr Richard Wilson. "This is the highest rate recorded since our survey began in 2007."