UK government begins rollout of £30m Games Growth Package

The UK government has launched the latest phase of its Games Growth Package, allocating £28.5 million through the UK Games Fund to support early-stage developers and studio growth.

It has also committed £1.5 million to the London Games Festival over the next three years, bringing total investment to £30 million.

The funding is divided into three strands. The Entry track offers grants up to £20,000 for newly formed studios with limited track records. The Emergent track provides up to £100,000 for prototyping new games. The Expansion track offers up to £250,000 to support project completion and studio growth.

An additional £20 million has been allocated to the Tay Cities region (Angus, Dundee, Fife, and Perth and Kinross) to support local talent and advance creative technologies such as games and virtual reality.

“We welcome the Government’s Games Growth Package as a strong vote of confidence in the UK games industry,” said UKIE chief Nick Poole.

“We have been pleased to work with the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport team to help shape this package of support, ensuring it reflects the needs of studios across the country. Targeted support across the development pipeline will help studios start, scale and stay globally competitive.”

Head of Games London and London Games Festival director Michael French added: “This week sees the largest showing yet for our festival, which will help to further promote London and the UK as a video games centre of excellence to global investors and decision makers.

“This can only keep growing over the next three years, and we are excited to help raise the international profile of the UK’s games market, reach bigger audiences nationally and around the world, and facilitate investment into games businesses up and down the country.”

Earlier today, new data from trade body TIGA showed that PC and console development continues to support the UK games industry. 46% of studios identified PC as their main platform, while console games accounted for a larger share of sector jobs.