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UKIE Fact Sheet Q1 2011 The video games and interactive entertainment industry is a growth industry of the future, and the jewel in the crown of the UK’s creative industries. Video games are more popular than ever before, played by people of all ages at home, online, and on mobile phones. Games cover a range of genres and styles, including hardcore games, casual games, social games and MMOG (Massive Multiplayer Online Games). Games are also increasingly used in the classroom as educational aids, and as part of an active and healthy lifestyle. Here are some facts about the industry: BOOSTING THE UK ECONOMY The UK Games sector is projected to grow 7.5% between 2009 and 2012. (Technology Strategy Board) Last year, 2010, turned into a sensational 12 months for Activision as Call of Duty: Black Ops ended the year as the best-selling video game topping the coveted 2010 All Formats Chart, and grossing more than £113.8 million in its first week of sales, the biggest grossing week of all time for video games software (UKIE/GfK-Chart Track) Total sales of console videogame software amounted to £1.45bn (UKIE/GfK-Chart Track) The total value of console/PC gaming peripherals was £545m in 2010, with total sales reaching 25.8m million units. (UKIE/GfK-Chart Track) Overall, the total gross generated in the UK during the 52 weeks of 2010 from the sale of all entertainment software, console hardware and console/pc gaming accessories, was £2.875 billion. This equated to 93.6 million units sold all-told in the UK. (UKIE/GfK-Chart Track) UK revenue for Social Network Gaming in 2010 was close to £40m (IHS Screen Digest)
AT THE HEART OF BRITISH BUSINESS The UK has the biggest developer base in Europe, and is home to 48 of the world’s top 100 development studios. (Develop 100, 2010) 7050 people work in the computer games development and publishing, with a further 6,900 working in VFX, 27,550 in online content and 800 in mobile content. Given the proliferation and increasing popularity of online and mobile gaming, we can expect a significant proportion of these to be games industry-related jobs. (Skillset Creative Media Industries Census 2009) Alongside over 1000 game and software retail specialists, a total of 6,700 retailers sell games. (GFK-Chart Track) A BRITISH PREOCCUPATION 1 in 3 people describe themselves as gamers. (ISFE) Overall, in 2010 UK consumers bought a total of 63 million console & pc videogames – which works out at more than one per person in the UK (UKIE/GFK-Chart Track) Take up of games console play has increased to over 50% in the last year. (Ofcom) Half of UK households contain at least one video-games console. (Ofcom) Almost as many people regularly go to the cinema as regularly play online games on a PC. (Digital Entertainment Survey, 2010) 50% of Facebook visits are to play games (Mark Zuckerberg)
