- The UK games industry workforce is highly international - 19% of workers are from the EU/EEA, and a further 9% from the rest of the world – with respondents listing 88 different countries as where they spent most of their time in childhood.
- International workers make up a third of core games production, art and programming roles and are more likely to work in senior, mid-level and junior roles in the industry, but feature less in managerial and directorial positions.
- The games sector is a young industry, with two thirds of people working in the sector aged 35 or under. But 54% of people in the industry have worked in the sector for five years or more.
- 10% of people working in games are Black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME). This is a slightly higher percentage than in the national working population, and higher than both the overall creative industries and specific sectors such as music, publishing and film/TV.
- However, it is lower than the equivalent figure for IT and software, as well as below the average in the working-age population. While BAME workers can be found broadly equally in all job roles, with a small skew towards more non-sector specific roles, they are noticeably less represented in senior positions.
- 70% of people working in the games industry are male, compared to 28% female and 2% non-binary workers.
- Female representation in the workforce is significantly under the national average of those in work, as well as less than in cultural and creative roles more generally, but is similar to the proportion of women working in Film/TV, and above that of the general IT/software sector.
Source: UK Games Industry Census, Ukie, 2020
According to the latest available and most authoritative survey of the economic impact of the UK games sector:
- London contributed £1.4bn of GVA to the UK economy, accounting for 5,100 full-time equivalent roles.
- There were 8 games hubs in the UK, each worth more than £60m in GVA to the UK. These hubs were London, Slough, Heathrow, Leamington Spa, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Crawley, Horsham, Edinburgh, Manchester and Guildford.
- 55% of games development studios are outside in London and the South East.
- 23 cities and towns are home to at least 20 games companies.
- 99.5% of UK games companies are classified as SMEs, employing fewer than 250 people each, but collectively contributing £1.6bn of GVA nationally.
- £339m of GVA is generated by micro-businesses that employ fewer than 10 people.
Source: Think Global, Create Local report, Ukie, January 2020.
