A fifth of the UK games industry is female, with 4% BAME

The latest Creative Skillset Employment survey has revealed the growing diversity of the UK games industry.

The report is conducted every three years, with the latest results from Autumn 2015 showing that the number of people employed by games companies is now estimated to be 10,300.

Of that number, around 19 per cent are female, meaning roughly 2,000 women are making games in the UK. Promisingly, 27 per cent of executive or management positions are occupied by women.

Meanwhile, the number of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) workers in games remains below the UK’s average representation of 10 per cent. Just four per cent of those in games are BAME, in line with similar proportions of the film, post-production and animation industries. Again, a greater number of managers and executives are BAME: 13 per cent.

Elsewhere in the report, 16 per cent of the games industry is believed to be working on a freelance basis.

"Industry growth brings opportunities for everyone, and it is pleasing to see the proportion of women in the games industry continuing to grow to 19 per cent,” said Women in Games founder David Smith.

“It is encouraging for the long term that employers are able to find more diverse talent to bring increasing success to the future games industry in the UK."

UPDATE: Develop has been informed by Creative Skillset that the previous comparisons made by Women in Games regarding female representation and the number of people employed in games in the 2012 and 2009 employment surveys are inaccurate, as the data was collected using a different method to last year’s report. To avoid confusion, these comparisons have been removed from the above text.