Surviving the Start-Up Storm: Scaling Up UK Game Studios

Gaming Staff • August 13, 2024

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TIGA, the trade association for the UK video games industry, has released a report titled "Scaling-up the UK Video Games Industry" which highlights the challenges faced by games studios in their growth journey. The report, which analyzed 882 studios founded between 2008 and 2018, found that the most dangerous period for games studios is between their second and fifth year, with 64% of studios that closed shuttering in this 4-year window. The report also reveals that studios that fail to reach over 5 staff are particularly susceptible to failure, while those that reach over 15 staff are much less likely to fail.

To address these challenges, TIGA has proposed five steps to scaling-up the UK video games industry, including establishing a National Games Accelerator, introducing a Video Games Investment Fund, providing subsidized co-working hubs for local games developers, enhancing the Video Games Expenditure Credit, and retaining and boosting the UK Games Talent and Finance CIC to support developers via the Prototype Fund and Content Fund.

TIGA's CEO, Dr Richard Wilson OBE, emphasized the need to enable more start-ups to scale-up and grow, stating that while the UK is a great place to start a studio, growing is difficult, especially for independent studios. TIGA Chairman and CEO and Creative Director at Rebellion, Jason Kingsley, CBE, also highlighted the need to help more UK games studios grow from the danger zone (under 5 staff) to more commercially viable scales (above 15 staff).

TIGA, which has won 28 business awards and commendations since 2010, aims to strengthen the games development and digital publishing sector by engaging with policymakers, enhancing education and skills, promoting best practice, and conducting primary research into the games sector. The association's initiatives and proposals aim to create a favorable environment for video games development and support the growth of UK games studios.

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