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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential benefits of video games designed to support the mental health of young people.

The government recognises the potential mental health benefits for young people that can come from playing video games.

Independent studies from the University of Oxford, the United States National Library of Medicine and The Royal Society found positive health and wellbeing impacts from playing video games. The global video games industry also published the “Power of Play” report in 2023, providing insights into video games’ social and emotional benefit, showing 71% of players turning to video games to relieve stress.

In 2023, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport published a Video Games Research Framework which seeks to improve understanding of the impacts of video games. It sets out the Government’s research topics and priorities, including the mental health impacts on players interacting with video games and how the application of video games has health tools impacts on players.