UK Video Game Market Worth Billions

According to the UK government - quoting industry sources as there are no decent government figures, the UK video game 'market; is worth £3.356 billion, rising from £2.18 billion in 2006.

The news comes via Barbara Follett (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Culture; Minister for the East of England), Department for Culture, Media & Sport; Stevenage, Labour). Her full response is quoted below:

"In 2007, the turnover of the UK games market (games consoles, software and accessories) totalled £3.356 billion, rising from £2.18 billion in 2006. ( Source: Screen Digest)

"There are 280 games companies in the UK employing over 10,000 creative staff. Employment of a further 18,100 people is supported by the sector. ( Source: Oxford Economics report: The Economic Contribution of the Games Development Industry)

"In 2008 so far the UK games development industry contribution to GDP is £386 million. ( Source: as aforementioned)

"Please note that the aforementioned figures are taken from industry commissioned reports. It is not possible to use official Government statistics to measure the total size of the games sector as relevant figures are currently included in the wider SIC (Standard Industrial Classification of Economic Activities) category of "software, computer games and electronic publishing". An SIC code revision exercise took place in 2007 and the newly identified code for computer games publishing will come into effect in 2009 when the first data are published."

So, there we go - we finally get a SIC code and some decent stats next year.

^{Source: TheyWorkforYou}