TIGA: The UK Gaming Industry stays resilient and continues to grow
Companies are moving part of full-time jobs to contracts, as the number of freelancers increased by 3 times.
Over the 12 months from April 2023 to May 2024, the UK gaming industry grew by 4.8% YoY.
More than 28,500 people in the UK are professionally involved in game development. Of these, 3,625 are freelancers (their number has increased more than 3 times, apparently, companies are switching to contract work to optimize costs). Overall, the number of people employed in the UK gaming industry increased by 13.9%.
The number of new jobs exceeded the number of layoffs. From April 2023 to May 2024, 3,932 full-time vacancies were opened. During the same period, 2,353 positions were cut.
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The number of game studios in the UK decreased from 1,801 in April 2023 to 1,757 in May 2024.
248 gaming companies decided to close during the survey period. This is 10.4% of all gaming companies in the country - a record (anti-record?).
In the period from April 2023 to May 2024, 166 startups were launched. In the previous year, there were 251 such companies.
Companies owned by foreign shareholders employ 62% of all workers in the UK industry.