Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent estimate she has made of the contribution to economic growth of the video games industry; and what steps the Government is taking to support the UK video games industry.

The Government is committed to supporting the growth of the UK’s video games sector and we recognise that video games bring economic, cultural and social benefits across the UK. The video games industry trade body Ukie has estimated the value of the consumer games market at £7.16 billion in 2021, more than doubling in value since 2013.

As part of a wider package to support the growth of the creative industries, the Government is delivering an £8 million expansion of the UK Games Fund. This will provide valuable support to early stage game development businesses and talented graduates throughout the UK. In addition, the Video Games Tax Relief continues to make the UK one of the leading destinations in the world for making video games. The Video Games Tax Relief has supported £5.1 billion of UK expenditure on 1,940 games since its introduction in 2014.