UK games industry makes £4.33bn in 2016

In the aftermath of what appeared in the press at least to be a bruising 2016 for the games industry, Ukie have announced today that the UK games industry is still growing, with the consumer spend up by 1.2 per cent this year with the final total at £4.33bn for the calendar year of 2016.

Our sister site MCV has all of the breakdowns and analysis you could want if you’re into that sort of thing.

To summarise, the gaming market in the UK is very solid. Console and PC software sales getting a knock this year, and console hardware really falling, but the expectation is that these things will trend upwards in 2017 with March itself already seeing the launch of several massive games and the Nintendo Switch console.

"Of course, these figures only paint the industry in very broad strokes." says the MCV piece "With Brexit bound to hit harder in 2017 and with the weakened pound affecting the price of a wide variety of goods, the key this year may not lie with details of spending within the industry but rather how well consumer confidence holds up as a whole.

"Thankfully, gaming has traditionally proved to be highly resistant to the kind of fiscal fluctuations that can floor other, so- called, non-essential spending. Let’s hope it proves so again."

Again, you can read the full details on the market on MCV.