This April saw the 14th BAFTA Games Awards, a ceremony that celebrated the cultural significance of the gaming industry, as well as highlighting how far we have come since the days of Pac-Man and Pong. In light of the BAFTA Games Awards, British marketplace and video game seller OnBuy.com decided to look more closely at the UK gaming industry. In particular, which UK regions can be crowned the capital of game development and publishing, using a map by UK Interactive Entertainment (or UKie) and compiling its data.
Where can you find the most games companies in the UK?
The British Games Institute says the UK is one of the top five video game producing countries in the world, with games such as Grand Theft Auto V, Halo Wars 2 and Hellblade made in Great Britain. But where should burgeoning app and game developers move to in hopes of working for one the of the UK’s 2,255 games companies?
The statistics assessed by OnBuy show that, perhaps unsurprisingly, London is home to the most games companies. The English capital houses a grand total of 630 companies related to games developing and publishing, which represents 28% of all UK games companies. Most of these are concentrated in central London (where 48% of London’s games are developed and published). Companies like Rocksteady Studios, responsible for developing the Batman Arkham series, and Slightly Mad Studios (Project CARS and Project CARS 2) are based in London.
Other important UK regions for the gaming industry include the South East, home to 18% of UK games companies, and the North West (9%). Scotland houses 130 gaming companies (6% of UK total), Wales 59 companies (3%) and Northern Ireland 39 (2%). Indeed, Scotland is home to one of the UK’s most notable games company- Edinburgh’s Rockstar North, famed for the success of Grand Theft Auto V.
UK regions releasing the most games:
The UK has released a total of 19,617 games. Interestingly, despite having the most gaming companies, London has not released the highest number of games. As of April 2018, the South East has released 38% of all UK games (or 7,386 games), compared to the 5,763 games released in London (representing 29% of games released in the UK).
The East of England has so far released 1,474 games (or 8%), followed by the North West at 1,176 games (or 6%) and the West Midlands, where a total of 1,014 games have been released (5%).
The West Midlands is also home to the oldest average age of a games company of any UK region, at 9.25 years.
Developers looking to move to a region with the longest lasting companies should also consider: The South East, where the average games company is 8.83 years old, the North East, where the company is 8.58 years old, and London at 8.41 years old.
In fact, research tells us that two thirds of games companies were founded after 2010.
According to UKie, UK games companies “are spread right across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland with economic clusters including Leamington, Sheffield, Dundee and Cardiff”. In fact, Leamington Spa has now been dubbed “Silicone Spa”.
Outside of London, here are the top 10 cities for number of games released:
As of April 2018, here are the top cities by the number of games they have released to date:
- Manchester …………………………………………………. 533 games released
- Liverpool ………………………………………………………288 games released
- Brighton ………………………………………………………. 244 games released
- Oxford…………………………………………………………… 230 games released
- Dundee……………………………………………………………181 games released
- Cambridge…………………………………………………… 167 games released
- Birmingham………………………………………………… 164 games released
- Wolverhampton ……………………………………….. 161 games released
- Edinburgh…………………………………………………….. 156 games released
- Newcastle ……………………………………………………. 152 games released
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