Why an industry that brought £8.8bn to UK economy last year faces uncertain future

When we talk about the value of the video games industry in the UK, it's usually in terms of money. 

The industry brought £8.8bn to the British economy last year; it generates twice as much revenue as film and TV; it employs 73,000 workers around the country.

They're big numbers and they're often rolled out because to a lot of people, gaming can still feel niche; the domain of teenage boys in fusty bedrooms.

Sure, it inspires devotees; we watched this weekend as tens of thousands of elaborately costumed fans poured into MCM Comic Con in London.

But that's not the whole story; the majority of adults (65%) now play video games.

(If you're thinking, 'Not me or my friends' - phone games like Candy Crush and Farmville are video games.)

Those working on our games argue there's a huge cultural value to British gaming too.

"I always think of the money, but the cultural impact of games is phenomenal," said Harvey Elliott, founder of games publisher Playstack and board member of Ukie, the industry's trade body.

"We know that this generation of kids is growing up with gaming as their main entertainment platform."

Another publisher, James Schall of Secret Mode games, believes video games are becoming a way of showing off British culture to the world.

Four of the companies' games, based in glamorous locations like Scarborough and a Scottish oil rig in the '70s, have had a surprising amount of international success.

"You may think some of these games are only for British audiences but actually audiences in America, in Germany, in China adore these stories," said Mr Schall.

"The output is so strong, not just financially, but also culturally in selling Great Britain as a destination and as a brand," he said.

But change is coming, and difficult decisions are on the horizon.

"The video games market, in terms of console and PC, reached maturity," said George E Osborn, author of Power Play: Video Games, Politics and the Battle for Global Influence.

"That means growth is tailing off here, but it's continuing to grow the industry at large in places like China."

Naturally, that means money and talent is heading east to where the growth is; China has overtaken the US in terms of dominance in video games, its market is worth more than $50bn.

With all that change afoot, the people who make our video games here in the UK are having to reassess.

"You're having to change a lot of fundamentals about how you do business, who you trade with, and whether you have to make some difficult decisions like 'Do I want to do things like censor my video game to get access to the Chinese market?'," said Mr Osborn.

"These are big, complicated decisions."

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The last thing you need during a period of instability like that… is instability at home.

The turbulent landscape in Westminster, with a Labour leadership race looming, has the potential to rock an already unstable - and highly valuable - industry.

Watch the video at the top to find out why Westminster's troubles could impact the games we play.

(c) Sky News 2026: Why an industry that brought £8.8bn to UK economy last year faces uncertain future