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- Software Sales — Digital Wins, Physical Fades
- Hardware Sales — Switch 2 Lifts a Down Market
- Game Culture — Minecraft, Mario and the Transmedia Boom
- UK Gaming Jobs — Growth on Paper, Cuts in Practice
- The UK’s Place in the Global Games Market
- What to Expect from the UK Games Market in 2026
- FAQs — UK Gaming Market
The UK video games market hit a record high in 2025. According to UKIE — the trade body for the UK’s interactive entertainment industry — consumers spent £8.76 billion on games during the year, a 7.4% rise on 2024 and the highest annual figure ever recorded. Every major segment grew, from mobile to hardware to film adaptations of game IP.
Below is a full breakdown by category, plus employment data, the UK’s global standing, and what the industry is expecting in 2026.
UKIE’s figures were released at London Games Festival in 2026, with CEO Nick Poole noting that British consumers spent more on games in 2025 than in any previous year. The market has more than doubled in size over the past decade and now generates £6 billion in gross value added (GVA) to the UK economy annually.
The headline breakdown:
- Software: £6.03bn (+7%) — the largest segment by far
- Hardware: £2.17bn (+3%) — lifted by the Nintendo Switch 2 launch in June 2025
- Game Culture (film, TV, toys, merchandise): £566m (+42%)
Software Sales — Digital Wins, Physical Fades
Software is where the bulk of UK gaming spend sits, and in 2025 the shift from physical to digital reached a point of no return. Physical boxed games now account for just 5% of total UK games revenue — down from a majority share just a decade ago.
| Segment | 2025 Revenue | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|
| Digital Console | £2.49bn | +9.2% |
| Mobile | £2.07bn | +7.9% |
| Digital PC | £1.15bn | +1% |
| Physical Boxed | £319m | −1% |
| Total Software | £6.03bn | +7% |
Digital console was the fastest-growing segment, up 9.2% to £2.49 billion. The installed base of current-generation hardware — PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and the newly launched Nintendo Switch 2 — has now reached what UKIE calls “critical mass,” with British consumers increasingly choosing digital downloads over physical discs.
Mobile held second place at £2.07 billion (+7.9%), driven by improved monetisation across app stores rather than raw download growth. Mobile phones remain the most popular gaming device in the UK, with over a third of gamers using one as their primary access point.
The best-selling game of 2025 was EA Sports FC 26, which sold 1.97 million units across physical and digital formats — the only title to cross the 1.5 million mark for the year.
ERA’s separate count — which tracks consumer spend via NielsenIQ and GfK rather than including hardware — put total digital sales at £5 billion (+8%), noting that 45% of game revenue still came from outright purchases rather than subscriptions. By comparison, music ownership stands at 16.6% and video at 7.2%. Games, as ERA put it, remain “the last entertainment medium that values ownership over access to some degree.”
Hardware Sales — Switch 2 Lifts a Down Market
UK games hardware grew 3% overall to £2.17 billion in 2025, though the picture varied sharply by category. The standout driver was the Nintendo Switch 2, which launched on 5 June 2025 at £395.99 and immediately became the fastest-selling Nintendo console in UK history. Console hardware as a whole rose 12% to £811 million as a result.
| Category | 2025 Revenue | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|
| Console Hardware | £811m | +12% |
| PC Hardware | £790m | ~flat |
| Console Accessories | £420m | −9% |
| VR Headsets | £161m | −26% |
| Total Hardware | £2.17bn | +3% |
Console accessories fell 9% to £420 million and VR dropped 26% to £161 million — both continuing multi-year declines as the initial wave of peripheral enthusiasm fades. PC hardware held broadly flat at £790 million.
In terms of unit share, PS5 remained the dominant console with roughly 45–62% of UK hardware sales depending on the period. Xbox Series X|S had its worst year on record, down 39%. Nintendo Switch 2’s 23% share on Black Friday 2025 indicated a platform genuinely competing for second place.
Game Culture — Minecraft, Mario and the Transmedia Boom
Game Culture — UKIE’s catch-all for spending on game-adjacent products like toys, merchandise, film, and TV — grew 42% in 2025 to reach £566 million. It is now the fastest-growing segment in the UK games market.
- Toys & merchandise: £333m (+43%) — Minecraft, Mario, and Sonic all driving retail
- Film & TV: £159m (+70%) — led by A Minecraft Movie (£56.8m UK box office) and Sonic the Hedgehog 3
- Soundtracks and other: remainder of £566m total
In 2026, the Super Mario Galaxy Movie has already grossed $372.6 million globally in its first five days, suggesting game-IP film revenue will remain elevated through this year and into 2027.
UK Gaming Jobs — Growth on Paper, Cuts in Practice
The UK games market is growing at a record pace. The UK games development workforce is shrinking. Both things are true simultaneously, and understanding why requires separating consumer spending from studio economics.
| Metric | Figure |
|---|---|
| Total dev workforce (Sep 2025) | 27,347 |
| Total dev workforce (May 2024) | 28,516 |
| Net change | −1,169 |
| Companies that cut roles | 491 (3,655 jobs lost) |
| Studios that added roles | 513 (2,751 jobs added) |
| Active studios | 2,110 (peak: 2,175 in 2023) |
| Freelance contractors | 4,245+ |
TIGA attributes the decline to three factors: weak global game sales in 2024, poor early-stage financing for new studios, and post-pandemic restructuring at larger developers. Larger studios with more than 15 staff were hit hardest — nearly 1,800 redundancies in that bracket alone. Micro-studios (1–4 employees) actually grew by 3.2%.
New studio formation fell for the third consecutive year, dropping from 281 start-ups to 137 — a 15-year low.
TIGA is pushing the UK government to raise the Video Games Expenditure Credit (VGEC) to a 53% rate on 80% of qualifying costs for projects under £23.5 million. The trade body estimates this would add £482 million in GVA and create roughly 7,000 jobs. No government decision has been announced as of mid-2026.
The UK’s Place in the Global Games Market
The UK is the largest games industry in Europe, ahead of Germany and France, and London ranks as the world’s third biggest hub for games developers after Los Angeles and San Francisco. That status is built on a combination of major publisher offices, world-class universities producing games talent, and a strong independent studio scene.
Since 2016, UK games revenue has grown by 86% — against UK GDP growth of 12% over the same period, a 7.2× outperformance. ERA’s figures point to the sector having grown from roughly £2.9 billion in 2016 to £5.4 billion in 2025 on their narrower measure.
Globally, the games market reached $184.3 billion in 2024 (Newzoo), with consoles contributing $50.5 billion. The UK’s £8.76 billion represents approximately 4.1% of global spend — a significant share for a single national market.
What to Expect from the UK Games Market in 2026
UKIE CEO Nick Poole described 2026 as “genuinely defining” for UK-developed titles, pointing to a strong slate of new and returning IP from studios across the country. The macro picture supports that optimism — though the employment situation remains a concern.
- GTA VI (autumn 2026) — Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto VI is the biggest game release in years; Take-Two calls FY2026 “monumental.” Expect a PS5 hardware sales boost and the largest single-title UK revenue event since GTA V
- Super Mario Galaxy Movie — already £372m+ globally in its first week; transmedia revenue will remain a growth driver through 2026
- Switch 2 price rise (September 2026) — Nintendo raising prices by ~£30 across Europe; may pull forward purchases ahead of the hike
- VGEC reform campaign — TIGA’s push for a 53% development credit rate; a favourable government response could stabilise studio employment by late 2026
- Long-term CAGR 7.1% — the UK games market is projected to grow at 7.1% annually from 2025 to 2030, reaching an estimated $18.8 billion by 2030
