The United Kingdom has the largest video game sector in Europe.[1] By revenue, the UK had the second-largest video game market in Europe in 2022 after Germany, and the sixth-largest globally.[2] By sales, it is Europe's largest market, having overtaken Germany in 2022.[3] The UK video game market was worth £7.16 billion ($9.81 billion) in 2021, a 2% increase over the previous year.[4]
While the North American and Japanese markets were thriving in the early 1980s with arcade and home console games, the UK's game industry grew out of amateur "bedroom coders" on home computers, in part due to the government's initiative, through the BBC to teach computer programming to students. Subsequently, many larger developers and publishers were established in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Many major video game franchises are developed in the UK, including Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider, Burnout, LittleBigPlanet, Wipeout and Dirt, making Britain the third-largest producer of video game series behind Japan and the United States. The best-selling video game series made in the UK is Grand Theft Auto (primary developed by Rockstar North in Edinburgh), which has sold over 150 million copies as of September 2013; the most recent instalment Grand Theft Auto V became the fastest-selling video game of all time by making $815.7 million (£511.8 million) in sales worldwide during the first 24 hours of the game's sale.[5] Another major British contribution to the game industry was the ZX Spectrum home computer, released in 1982.
The organisations responsible for rating video games in the UK are the British Board of Film Classification and PEGI, the latter of which was elected to rate British games in 2009 and subsequently began doing so in July 2012.[6]
The United Kingdom's video game industry is estimated to employ 20,000 people.[7]
^"About the UK Video Games Industry - TIGA". TIGA. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
^"Top Countries & Markets by Game Revenues". Newzoo. Archived from the original on 16 December 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
^Dring, Christopher (12 January 2023). "European console and PC game sales fall 7.1% in 2022". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
^Powell, Steffan (31 March 2022). "The UK video games market is worth a record £7.16bn". BBC News. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
^"Grand Theft Auto 5 breaks 6 sales world records". Guinness World Records. 8 October 2013.
^"PEGI ratings become UK's single video game age rating system". The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment. 30 July 2012. Archived from the original on 28 October 2012. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
^"Creative Industries Economic Estimates: Focus on..." Department for Culture, Media and Sport. 9 June 2016. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
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