UK game industry spawns over 300 studios since 2008

The UK game industry has spawned 338 new studios since 2008, according to new research.

The data, published by Tiga in the ‘Making Games in the UK Today’ report, found that over half of game companies in the UK industry today were formed in the last four years.

The same research said there are currently 448 studios in total in the UK, employing 9,224 creative staff and indirectly supporting 16,864 jobs. 

There has also been a huge drive in the formation of independent studios, with 83 per cent of all developers started since 2011 classed as independent, rather than publisher-owned.

This means that just 34 studios in the UK are publisher-owned, while 414 are independent.

During the same period, 53 per cent of studios founded were primarily focused on mobile. Overall, 37 per cent of all UK developers are now primarily focused on mobile platforms.

“The UK games development sector is young, independent and mobile. Over half of the studios in the UK started up in the last four years,” said Tiga CEO Richard Wilson.

“The overwhelming majority of the UK’s studios are independent: there are 34 publisher studios and 414 independent studios. Increasingly studios’ preferred platform for games is mobile and tablet: almost two-fifths of the UK studio population now primarily make games for these platforms. 

“The attraction of the mobile and tablet market to UK developers is clear. The mobile and tablet market is substantial and growing: sales of smartphones are expected to hit 1 billion globally in 2013. There are few barriers to entry in the mobile and tablet market, the cost of game development on these platforms is relatively low and it is comparatively straightforward for developers to update game content.”