Over the year, the industry lost 1,537 jobs - a decrease of 4.5%, which is the fastest decline in recorded history.
The British gaming industry association TIGA has called on the country's government to take urgent measures in response to the unprecedented decline in the video game development sector.
According to the new Making Games in the UK report, employment in the industry is declining at a record pace, and activity in creating new studios has fallen to a 15-year low. In the year ending September 2025, the industry lost 1,537 jobs — a decrease of 4.5%, which is the fastest decline in recorded history. This is also the first time since 2011 that the number of employees has decreased rather than increased.
The total number of developers in the UK decreased from 28,516 in May 2024 to 27,347 in September 2025, despite the increase in the number of freelancers, which numbers more than 4,245 people.
The situation with new studios is of particular concern: their number has been decreasing by more than 30% for the third year in a row. In total, there are currently about 2,110 gaming companies operating in the country — fewer than in the peak year of 2023 (2,175). During the reporting period, 206 companies closed or left the industry — this is the second largest figure in history after 2024.
TIGA is calling on the authorities to strengthen the Video Games Expenditure Credit (VGEC) tax relief program, which currently allows companies to recover up to 34% of 80% of qualified development costs. The association proposes increasing the rate to 53% for projects with a budget of up to £23.5 million.
TIGA also proposes increasing the share of eligible costs from 80% to 100%, which, according to its calculations, will create up to 10,551 jobs, including 1,292 developer positions.
