Video games in the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom has the largest video game sector in Europe.^[1] By revenue, the UK had the second-largest video game market in Europe in 2022 after Germany, and the sixth-largest globally.^[2] By sales, it is Europe's largest market, having overtaken Germany in 2022.^[3] The UK video game market was worth £7.16 billion ($9.81 billion) in 2021, a 2% increase over the previous year.^[4]

While the North American and Japanese markets were thriving in the early 1980s with arcade and home console games, the UK's game industry grew out of amateur "bedroom coders" on home computers, in part due to the government's initiative, through the BBC to teach computer programming to students. Subsequently, many larger developers and publishers were established in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Many major video game franchises are developed in the UK, including Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider, Burnout, LittleBigPlanet, Wipeout and Dirt, making Britain the third-largest producer of video game series behind Japan and the United States. The best-selling video game series made in the UK is Grand Theft Auto (primary developed by Rockstar North in Edinburgh), which has sold over 150 million copies as of September 2013; the most recent instalment Grand Theft Auto V became the fastest-selling video game of all time by making $815.7 million (£511.8 million) in sales worldwide during the first 24 hours of the game's sale.^[5] Another major British contribution to the game industry was the ZX Spectrum home computer, released in 1982.

The organisations responsible for rating video games in the UK are the British Board of Film Classification and PEGI, the latter of which was elected to rate British games in 2009 and subsequently began doing so in July 2012.^[6] The United Kingdom's video game industry is estimated to employ 20,000 people.^[7]

History

Early history (1950s–1960s)

Main article: Early history of video games § Initial games

 

Christopher Strachey's Draughts is the first verifiable video game to run on a general-purpose computer.

The United Kingdom had been a key participant in the 18th and 19th century history of computing, in both its theoretical underpinnings (e.g. George Boole's Boolean algebra) and especially its practical application, including the first computing device. Notable figures like Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace created both a fundamental computer, the mechanical-based difference engine, and a primitive programming language, respectively. As computers transitioned to electronic and digital elements in the mid-20th century, Alan Turing established the foundation of modern computer science and the concept of artificial intelligence. The UK's involvement in World War II also pushed forward advances in computing, particularly in cryptography, such as the Colossus computer, to help decipher enemy messages, all of which helped to create a widespread drive to improve computers and computing after the war, most prominently at several academic institutions, including the University of Manchester and Cambridge University. Wider use of computers for general-purpose applications became more common in the late 1960s and early 1970s.^[8] In the 1980s, British engineers spawned the now-ubiquitous, de facto reference implementation of the reduced instruction set computing paradigm, the ARM architecture family, which would play a large role as the heart of later games consoles (e.g. the Nintendo Switch) and mobile gaming.^[9]

Christopher Strachey's Draughts, completed around 1951, is the first verifiable video game to run on a general-purpose computer, developed at the British National Physical Laboratory.

Early arcade video games (1970s–1980s)

Up until the 1970s, British amusement arcades typically had mechanical arcade games, electro-mechanical games and pinball machines. Arcade video games arrived with the 1973 release of Pong by Atari, Inc. Pong and other similar sports video game clones became popular in British arcades up until their popularity declined a year later in 1974, after which video games were dismissed as a fad. Atari's Breakout (1976) later drew a significant following, but enthusiasm for the game had also waned shortly after. A major breakthrough for video games came with the 1978 release of Taito's shoot 'em up game Space Invaders, which began the golden age of arcade video games. In order to keep up with high demand for Space Invaders, Taito licensed distribution rights to Midway Manufacturing. By 1979, Space Invaders had sold 85,000 arcade cabinets in the United Kingdom, installed across locations such as arcades, pubs and public buildings.^[10][11]

Space Invaders was the first video game to attract political controversy when a 1981 Private Member's Bill known as the "Control of Space Invaders (and other Electronic Games) Bill", drafted by British Labour Member of Parliament (MP) George Foulkes, attempted to allow local councils to restrict the game and those like it by licensing for its "addictive properties" and for causing "deviancy". Conservative MP Michael Brown defended the game as "innocent and harmless pleasure", which he himself had enjoyed that day, and criticized the bill as an example of "Socialist beliefs in restriction and control". A motion to bring the bill before Parliament was defeated by 114 votes to 94 votes; the bill itself was never considered by Parliament.^[12][13][14]

Space Invaders was followed by other hit arcade video games, including Namco's shoot 'em up Galaxian (1979) and maze game Pac-Man (1980), the scrolling shooters Scramble by Konami and Defender by Williams Electronics, Nintendo's platform game Donkey Kong (1981), and Namco's racing game Pole Position (1982) distributed by Atari.^[10] One of the earliest video game magazines, Computer and Video Games, began publication in the United Kingdom in 1981.

Early home video games (early 1980s)

Some of the first generation of video game consoles like dedicated Pong consoles were imported into the UK but did not gain much traction.^[15] Home video games were popularized in the United Kingdom during 1982–1984.^[16] There was a short-lived home console market in the United Kingdom during the early 1980s.^[17] The success of Space Invaders in the arcades generated demand for the Atari VCS, which had an official home version of Space Invaders released in 1980. The Atari VCS sold 125,000 units in the United Kingdom that year along with 500,000 game cartridges, becoming the best-selling console in the UK up until then. Portable LCD games also gained popularity the same year, including Space Invaders clones such as Atari's Galaxy Invaders and Casio's MG-880 calculator game, as well as the Sharp PC-1211 pocket computer sold by Tandy under the Radio Shack TRS-80 brand.^[18]

The home console market crash of 1983, whose effects primarily impacted North America, was offset in the UK by the simultaneous transition to a market dominated by microcomputers and LCD games.^[17] The switch towards microcomputers, and the more transient fad of LCD games, was already an apparent, emergent trend by the time of the crash, which, in the UK, merely accelerated an inevitable transition to microcomputers.^[19] The home computer market and concomitant domestic game production took off so rapidly during 1983 and thereafter that the UK market, in totality, not only withstood the crash but immediately began growing, albeit almost entirely in the new direction of microcomputers.^[19] Pre-dating and then becoming concurrent with the console market's troubles, the arrival of affordable home computers in the early 1980s, with graphical capabilities matching or exceeding the second-generation consoles, such as the Atari VCS, dealt a severe blow to consoles in the UK. Home computers offered significantly cheaper software compared to the more expensive console game cartridges.^[20] By 1984, computer games had overtaken both consoles and LCD games as the largest sector of the UK home video game market.^[17]

Microcomputer popularity (1980s)

 

The popularity of the ZX Spectrum was instrumental in driving the start of the UK home computer game industry.

Whereas the North American and Japanese home video game markets boomed with console games, the UK market for home video games was grown out of home computers (also known as microcomputers), specifically the BBC Micro from Acorn Computers in 1981, and the ZX Spectrum from Sinclair Research (alongside Sinclair's earlier ZX80 and ZX81 systems) and the Commodore 64 by Commodore International in 1982.^[21][22] In the early 1980s, the UK home computer game industry initially began with British programmers developing unofficial ports and clones of arcade games for home computers, followed by original computer games.^[10] The saturation of home computers immunised the UK against the effects of the North American video game crash in 1983, after which the microcomputer game market continued to grow, with significant levels of domestic game production taking place. In 1984, computer games replaced console and LCD games as the largest sector of the UK home video game market.^[17]

Computer literacy had been seen by the UK government as a key skill that Britain's children should possess to help improve the technology savvy of the nation in the future.^[23] While home computers did exist in the UK market like the Commodore PET and Apple II (both released in 1977), these were comparatively expensive for broad use across the population.^[24] The BBC worked with Acorn to create the low-cost BBC Micro home computer alongside a set of broadcast programming to help teach fundamentals of computers for school-aged children. This was used in up to 80% of the schools in the UK at the time, and led to creation of the Spectrum and Commodore 64 to help meet growing demand for the systems.^[23] Additionally, youth of the United Kingdom at that time were tinkerers, taking apart and repairing devices including electronics, and the nature of computer programming felt within this same scope.^[25]

The United Kingdom had already had a history with board games prior to this revolution, as well as laying claim to starting the fantasy literary genre through J. R. R. Tolkien's works, a major point of inspiration for the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop role-playing game.^[26] Thus, with the ability to program their own games through these early home computers, the UK developed an initial home computer game market. Throughout most of the 1980s, British games were typically made by only one person with no formal experience in computer programming attempting to realise a singular vision (these developers were known as "bedroom coders"; some of them achieved a status akin to rockstars within the tech market, and even popular culture more broadly).^[15][27] As there were few game stores in the UK at that time, most of these coders turned to mail order, sending out copies of their games on cassette tape for use in the computer's tape drives. A market developed for companies to help such programmer sell and distribute their games.^[24] This industry took off after the release of the ZX Spectrum in 1982: by the end of 1983 there were more than 450 companies selling video games on cassette compared to 95 the year before.^[24] An estimated 10,000 to 50,000 youth, mostly male, were making games out of their homes at this time based on advertisements for games in popular magazines.^[25] The growth of video games in the UK during this period was comparable to the punk subculture, fueled by young people making money from their games.^[25]

One of the earliest such successful titles was Manic Miner, developed and released by Matthew Smith in 1983, sold by Bug-Byte, one of the first publishers in this market. While a loose clone of the United States-developed Miner 2049er, Manic Miner incorporated elements of British humour and other oddities.^[24][28] Manic Miner is considered the quintessential "British game" for this reason, and since then, inspired similar games with the same type of British wit and humour through the present.^[26][28][29] Another key title from this period was Elite, developed by David Braben and Ian Bell and released in 1984. A non-linear space exploration, trading and combat game, Elite established many of the principles of the open world gameplay concept that are used in most space simulation games today as well as influencing the Grand Theft Auto series, itself a pinnacle of open-world design.^[30][31]

The popularity of video games on home computers within the UK drew sales away from other video game formats.^[15] Despite the lack of exposure to the North American crash of 1983, the UK industry of this period still had its notable failures. The success of Imagine Software, formed by former members of Bug-Byte, drew the attention of the BBC as part of a documentary series Commercial Breaks that had been examining successful businesses in new industries. During 1983 and 1984, Imagine had tried to expand its capabilities beyond game programming as well as push the idea of "megagames" that stretched a computer's hardware limits and would be sold at a higher cost, but these efforts backfired, costing Imagine staff and money. By the time the BBC began filming for this episode of Commercial Breaks, Imagine was in a downward spiral, which was notoriously documented by the BBC.^[32] A short-term collapse of the computer market occurred from the end of 1984 into 1985. Rival companies Sinclair Research and Acorn Computers began entering a price war on competing systems ahead of end-of-year holidays sales, which created a consumer perception that these systems were nothing more than toys rather than productivity tools. In early 1985, financial institutions became wary of investments into computer companies due to other activities they had made as well. Acorn was acquired by Olivetti over 1985, while Sinclair Research was sold to Amstrad in 1986.^[33][34]

The 32-bit 1987 Acorn Archimedes computer was influential. David Braben's 1987 3D video game Zarch, for the Acorn Archimedes computer, is the word's first (solid) 3D video game; with lighting effects and shadowing, from before computers had special-purpose hardware (GPUs) for such. It started out as the Lander demo packaged with the Archimedes, and was later ported to other computers, such as the Amiga, under the name Virus in 1988, without such lightning support. It was also ported to the Atari ST where it won game of the year 1988 awards.^[35] Braben had previously made the 1984 wire-frame 3D game Elite, with Ian Bell, also a first with a 3D graphics technique.

BBC BASIC on the Archimedes was considered as a vehicle for cross-platform game development by David Braben. The BBC Micro was also a development host for the Commodore 64 version of Elite.

Arrival of 16-bit computers (1985–1995)

 

The Amiga 500

The more advanced 16-bit Commodore Amiga and Atari ST machines typically required a full team of developers to build games for; the bedroom coders of the previous years began to fade away as development companies formed to build games on these new systems.^[36] First released in 1985,^[37] the more expensive hardware and software stifled the uptake of both machines.^[38] The cheaper but less powerful Atari ST became the more popular of the two computers; in 1988 it accounted for nearly one in ten of all UK personal computer sales, more than double that of the Amiga.^[39] Although chart company Gallup reported in February 1989 that Amiga games had begun to outsell ST games for the first time, the combined sales for both platforms were still less than 10% of the total UK games market.^[40] The cheaper eight-bit machines like the ZX Spectrum were continuing to sell well, particularly with parents buying their first computer, with stocks of the Commodore 64 running out over Christmas 1988.^[41]

For the following Christmas period, Commodore allowed Ocean Software to bundle Batman, their first game specifically designed for the sixteen-bit machines,^[42] with their Amiga 500 computers to create the "Batman Pack".^[43]: 58 Launched in October 1989 with a TV advertising campaign, it became one of the most successful hardware/software bundles of all time^[42] selling over 186,000 units by the end of the following year.^[44]

The Amiga's more powerful graphics capabilities enabled game developers to experiment more^[37] and helped to expand the demoscene in the UK, which in turn brought in more developers to stretch the capabilities of the computer.^[45] A number of influential British companies emerged during this period:

• Psygnosis was formed in 1984 after the closure of Imagine Software, and sought to bring the brightest programmers of the day to produce games that they would then publish, along with other in-house developed titles. Psygnosis' catalog has a number of highly praised titles such as Shadow of the Beast and Obliterator. The publisher was eventually acquired by Sony Interactive Entertainment to develop the Wipeout series among other titles, and while the studio was shuttered in 2012, most of its activities had been adsorbed into the Sony structure.^[37]
• Sensible Software, founded by Jon Hare and Chris Yates in 1986, was already a successful 8-bit developer prior to success across Europe with Amiga hits like Sensible World of Soccer, Cannon Fodder and Mega-Lo-Mania topping the UK all formats games charts for 52 weeks from June 1992 to 1995. Sensible World of Soccer was the only European-developed game entered into the game canon, a list of 10 video games created by Stanford University for preservation by the Library of Congress. The New York Times called the creation of this list "an assertion that digital games have a cultural significance and a historical significance".^[46] Sensible Software was acquired by Codemasters in 1999.
• DMA Design, among whose first titles was the best-selling Lemmings in 1991. DMA Design, after several more titles, would go on to produce Grand Theft Auto in 1997, and would lead them to ultimately be acquired by Take Two Interactive and rebranded as Rockstar Games, with the original studio renamed as Rockstar North.^[37]
• Bullfrog Productions was founded by Peter Molyneux and Les Edgar, with one of their first titles being Populous, the title that established the god game genre. Bullfrog developed several other influential titles, including the Dungeon Keeper series, the Syndicate series, and Theme-related titles including Theme Park and Theme Hospital. Though Bullfrog was ultimately acquired and shuttered by Electronic Arts, the Bullfrog team went on to establish other influential UK studios, including Molyneux's Lionhead Studios, Media Molecule, Hello Games, and Two Point Studios.^[37]
• Team17 was initially born out of the demoscene, but produced a number of successful Amiga games, finding success in the Worms series in 1995. Today, Team17 also now serves as a video game publishers for many independent studios.^[37]

During this period, video game consoles from the fourth generation, including the Sega Mega Drive and Super Nintendo Entertainment System, began to gain interest in the UK.^[15] Such interest led to more corporate structure around video game development to support the costs and hardware needed to develop games on these platforms, and caused a decline of the popularity of the bedroom coder by 1995.^[15][25] However, the bedroom coders had seeded the necessary elements as to gain interest from United States companies looking for talent around this time, leading to various acquisitions and partnerships between US and UK game companies around this time.^[15]

Console systems (1987–present)

During the late 1980s to early 1990s, there was a gradual transition in the UK home video game market from home computers to video game consoles, with the arrival of 8-bit third-generation consoles and then 16-bit fourth-generation consoles. By 1991, home consoles had overtaken home computers as the larger sector of the UK home video game market.^[17] The growth of consoles in the UK was largely driven by Sega consoles, the Master System (1987 release) and Mega Drive (1990 release); they exceeded the graphical capabilities of 8-bit and 16-bit home computers, respectively, while being more affordable.^[20] Computer and Video Games magazine credited the success of Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog in particular as "one of the main reasons for the popularity of" console video games in the United Kingdom.^[47] Other popular console systems followed in the UK, including the Nintendo consoles, Game Boy (1990 release) and Super NES (1992 release), and then 32-bit fourth-generation consoles including Sony's PlayStation (1995 release) and the Nintendo 64 (1997 release).^[37]

By 1992, Sega and Nintendo were earning more than £700,000,000 or $1,230,000,000 (equivalent to $2,700,000,000 in 2023) from annual video games sales in the United Kingdom,^[48] while British video game magazines had a circulation of 1 million copies per month.^[49] In 1992, the UK games market was led by the Mega Drive, followed by the Amiga and Super NES, and then IBM-compatible PC.^[50] During the early 1990s, Sega and Nintendo dominated the UK video game market, which led to both companies coming under investigation by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission (MMC) for alleged monopolistic business practices.^[17]

With the increasing power and popularity of consoles, more UK developers targeted console platforms in the 1990s.^[26] As noted above, some of those that were instrumental in Britain's contribution to consoles included Psygnosis (developing Wipeout for the PlayStation) and DMA Design (Grand Theft Auto for the PlayStation). Others included Rare, which brought many titles to Nintendo consoles, Argonaut Games which helped to bring 3D graphics to the Super NES via Star Fox, and Core Design which brought the Tomb Raider series to the PlayStation console. Other software houses, like Ocean Software, Codemasters, and U.S. Gold expanded into console games as well.^[36]

Video game sales and revenue (1980–1995)

Annual UK home video game revenue (1980–1993)^[17]

Annual UK home video game revenue (1980–1993)^[17]

Year	Game consoles	Computer games	LCD games	Annual (£)	Annual (US$)	Inflation (US$)
1980	£33,000,000	—	£12,000,000	£45,000,000	$105,000,000	$388,000,000
1981	£46,000,000	—	£20,000,000	£66,000,000	$133,000,000	$446,000,000
1982	£46,000,000	—	£34,000,000	£80,000,000	$140,000,000	$442,000,000
1983	£36,000,000	—	£45,000,000	£81,000,000	$123,000,000	$376,000,000
1984	£25,000,000	£100,000,000	£40,000,000	£165,000,000	$219,000,000	$642,000,000
1985	£16,000,000	£105,000,000	£35,000,000	£156,000,000	$200,000,000	$567,000,000
1986	£13,000,000	£105,000,000	£6,000,000	£124,000,000	$182,000,000	$506,000,000
1987	£10,000,000	£110,000,000	£8,000,000	£128,000,000	$209,000,000	$561,000,000
1988	£24,000,000	£112,000,000	£21,000,000	£157,000,000	$279,000,000	$719,000,000
1989	£47,000,000	£115,000,000	£17,000,000	£179,000,000	$293,000,000	$720,000,000
1990	£87,000,000	£138,000,000	£20,000,000	£245,000,000	$435,000,000	$1,014,000,000
1991	£298,000,000	£125,000,000	£22,000,000	£445,000,000	$785,000,000	$1,756,000,000
1992	£578,000,000	£132,000,000	£20,000,000	£730,000,000	$1,281,000,000	$2,781,000,000
1993	£547,000,000	£148,000,000	£19,000,000	£714,000,000	$1,071,000,000	$2,259,000,000

Annual UK highest-grossing arcade video games (1984–1992)

Year	Top arcade video game	Manufacturer	Genre	Cabinet sales	Coin drop earnings	Ref
1984	Track & Field	Konami	Sports	Un­known	Un­known	^[51]
1985	Commando	Capcom	Run and gun	Un­known	Un­known
1986	Nemesis (Gradius)	Konami	Scrolling shooter	Un­known	Un­known	^[52]
1987	Out Run	Sega	Driving	Un­known	Un­known	^[53]^[54]
1988	Operation Wolf	Taito	Light gun shooter	Un­known	Un­known	^[55]^[56]
1991	Street Fighter II: The World Warrior	Capcom	Fighting	10,000	£130,000,000+ ($229,000,000+)	^[57]
1992				Un­known	£260,000,000 ($459,000,000)

Annual UK best-selling home video games (1984–1995)

Year	Top home video game	Developer	Publisher	Platform(s)	Genre	Sales	Ref
1984	Jet Set Willy	Software Projects	Software Projects	ZX Spectrum	Platformer	Un­known	^[58]
1985	The Way of the Exploding Fist	Beam Software	Melbourne House	Home computers	Fighting	Un­known	^[59]
1986	Yie Ar Kung-Fu	Konami	Imagine Software	Home computers	Fighting	Un­known	^[60]
1987	Out Run	Sega	U.S. Gold	ZX Spectrum	Driving	350,000	^[61]^[62]
1989	RoboCop	Data East	Ocean Software	ZX Spectrum	Action	Un­known	^[63]
1992	Sonic the Hedgehog 2	Sega	Sega	Sega Mega Drive	Platformer	1,000,000+	^[64]^[65]
1993	Mortal Kombat	Midway	Acclaim Entertainment	Game consoles	Fighting	400,000+	^[66]
1995	FIFA Soccer 96	Extended Play Productions	EA Sports	Multi-platform	Sports	Un­known	^[67]

Indie gaming (2010–present)

While large British studios continued to develop high-profile games for consoles and computers, a new hobbyist interest arose around 2010 in independent game development. The indie game model of development started to become popular in the late 2000s, with games like World of Goo, Super Meat Boy, and Fez showing the success of the small indie team model and the means to distribute these via digital channels rather than retail. This in turn rekindled the hobbyist programmer mindset in the United Kingdom, starting a new wave of individual and small team British developers.^[68] In 2009, the profits of Britain's video game industry exceeded those from its film industry for the first time.^[69]

Industry

The UK video game market was worth £5.7 billion ($7.6 billion) in 2018, a 10% increase over the previous year.^[70] From this, £4.01 billion was from the sales of software (+10.3% increase over 2017), £1.57 billion from the sales of hardware (+10.7% increase), and £0.11 billion from the sales of other game related items.^[71] In the software market, the data showed a significant increase in digital and online revenues, up +20.3% to a record £2.01bn.^[72] £1.17 billion of software sales came from mobile games. In 2017, the number of players was estimated at 32.4 million people.^[73]

The Video Games Tax Relief (VGTR) was established in 2014 to help support creativity in the UK games industry. According to TIGA,^[74] prior to this, the UK Games industry was lagging behind other countries where game developers benefitted from substantial tax breaks and government grants: "Between 2008 and 2011, employment in the [games industry] fell by over 10 per cent and investment fell by £48 million". Thus the UK VGTR aims to ensure the UK games industry's competitiveness on the global stage, promotes investment and job creation and encourage the production of culturally British video games. The key benefit of the tax relief is that qualifying companies can claim up to 20% of their "core expenditure" back, provided that expenditure has been made in the European Economic Area.^[75] In 2015 the UK Government provided £4m to launch a games prototype fund, the UK Games Fund and a graduate enterprise programme called Tranzfuser.^[76] The UK Games Fund and Tranzfuser programmes are run by UK Games Talent and Finance Community Interest Company (UKGTF)^[77][78] Further funding of £1.5m for the UK Games Fund and Tranzfuser was announced by the UK Government in 2018.^[79] Further funding of £8m for the UK Games Fund and Tranzfuser was awarded by the UK Government in 2022^[80]

In recent years, Northern Ireland has made increasing contributions to the United Kingdom's video game industry.^[81]

Best-selling video game franchises (1995–2021)

Best-selling video game franchises in the UK (1995–2021)^[82]

Rank	Video game franchise	UK debut year	Franchise owner(s)
1	FIFA	1993	Electronic Arts
2	Call of Duty	2003	Activision Blizzard
3	Mario	1981	Nintendo
4	Grand Theft Auto	1997	Take-Two Interactive
5	Lego	1997	The Lego Group
6	Star Wars	1983	Lucasfilm Games
7	The Sims	2000	Electronic Arts
8	Pokémon	1999	Nintendo / The Pokémon Company
9	Assassin's Creed	2007	Ubisoft
10	Need for Speed	1994	Electronic Arts

Media

In 2000, Channel 4 produced a documentary, Thumb Candy, on the history of video games.^[83] It includes footage from old Nintendo commercials.^[84]

Video game conventions

• EGX (expo)
• UK Games Expo

Game ratings and government oversight

Prior to 2012, video games in the UK would be rated through the Video Standards Council (VSC), which had been established in 1989 under the government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The VSC worked initially with the UK video game trade group known as the Entertainment Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) at the time but later renamed to the UK Interactive Entertainment Association (Ukie). The VSC and ELPSA developed a set of ratings in 1993, and used a combination of voluntary suggestions from publishers and their own reviews to establish a game's rating.^[85] With the introduction of the Pan European Game Information (PEGI) system in 2003, the VSC standardized its ratings on PEGI's classification system. The VSC system was voluntary at this point, though most UK retailers would respect the ratings marked on boxes to avoid selling mature games to children.^[85] The only facet of the UK ratings system for video games set in law were for titles deemed to have excessive violent or pornographic content; such titles were required to be reviewed by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), a non-government body designed in law to review film and television content, if such a designation was determined by the VSC. Legal penalties existed for publishers and retailers that attempted to sell such games without the BBFC's review. The BBFC had the authority to outright ban sale of a video game if deemed so, though such bans could be challenged.^[85] Up to 2012, only two such games had been temporarily banned by the BBFC due to rating: Manhunt 2 and Carmageddon, both which were later cleared after changes had been made by their publishers.^[86]

The Byron Review, released in March 2008 under a 2007 order from Prime Minister Gordon Brown to the Department for Children, Schools and Families, made numerous suggestions for how the government could take steps to protect children in the digital environment like the Internet.^[86] Among the suggestions were related to video game ratings, which the report found that parents often mistook as difficulty ratings, and instead urged that the BBFC become involved. By May 2008, the BBFC had proposed a new voluntary ratings system for digital video games, paralleling their existing rating systems for film and television.^[87] The VSC and other groups felt the BBFC's system for video games was too forgiving and was based on a system designed around linean content rather that non-linear content such as video games,^[88][89] and urged the government to adopt a system based on an enhanced PEGI categorization system they were working on.^[90] Reports had found that the PEGI system tended to rate games more conservatively - issuing the game a stricter age rating - compared to what the BBFC would issue for the same title; the VSC stated that 50% of the games they had rated "18+" on the PEGI since 2003 had received a more lenient rating from the BBFC.^[91]

The DCMS issued a following report in June 2009 to address several points of the Byron Review, among which included the intent to standardized video game ratings on the PEGI system.^[86] The Video Recordings (Labelling) Regulations act was passed in May 2012 and came into force on 30 July 2012.^[92] With it, it eliminated the BBFC's oversight of video games with limited exceptions on excessively pornographic titles, as well as for games with limited interactivity (such as interactive DVD games) and for any direct video content on the game disc.^[93] Instead, all published video games in retail marketplaces were required to be rated under the PEGI system by the special Games Ratings Authority (GRA) within the VSC. Retailers were bound to prevent sales of mature games (PEGI ratings of 12, 16, or 18) to younger children under this law, with both fines and prison time should they be found guilty of such sales.^[94][86] The VSC also became the only body that could ban sale of a game in the UK.^[93] Ukie continues to work alongside the VSC to help UK developers and publishers prepare for the VSC process and prepare educational and advocacy material to make the UK public aware of the ratings system.^[93]

The VSC ratings only apply to retail titles; digitally distributed titles are not regulated under UK law, through the VSC urges developers, publishers, and storefronts as a best-practice to use the low-cost self-ratings services of the International Age Rating Coalition to assign their game an appropriate PEGI rating for the digital service.^[95]

Legacy

The Royal Mail issued a limited postal stamp series in 2020 featuring games that represent the United Kingdom's early video game industry. The series featured Elite (1984), the Dizzy series (1987–1992), WipeOut (1995), the Worms series (1995–present), Lemmings (1991), Micro Machines (1991), Populous (1989), and the Tomb Raider series (1996–present).^[96]

The interactive film Black Mirror: Bandersnatch is loosely based on the early period of the United Kingdom's video game industry, and makes allusion to Imagine Software, a major publisher in the early 1980s which gained notoriety when it fell into bankruptcy in the midst of being filmed as part of a documentary for the BBC. Jeff Minter, one of the earlier game developers in the UK's industry, has a cameo role within the movie.^[97]

See also

• List of game companies in the United Kingdom
• Video game journalism
• The Gamechangers

References

1. "About the UK Video Games Industry - TIGA". TIGA. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
2. "Top Countries & Markets by Game Revenues". Newzoo. from the original on 16 December 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
3. Dring, Christopher (12 January 2023). "European console and PC game sales fall 7.1% in 2022". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
4. Powell, Steffan (31 March 2022). "The UK video games market is worth a record £7.16bn". BBC News. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
5. "Grand Theft Auto 5 breaks 6 sales world records". Guinness World Records. 8 October 2013.
6. . The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment. 30 July 2012. Archived from the original on 28 October 2012. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
7. "Creative Industries Economic Estimates: Focus on..." Department for Culture, Media and Sport. 9 June 2016. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
8. "A brief history of British computers: the first 25 years (1948–1973)". BCS - The Chartered Institute for IT. 1 September 2010. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
9. "How an obscure British PC maker invented ARM and changed the world". 20 December 2020.
10. "After Pong". ACE. No. 6 (March 1988). 4 February 1988. pp. 29–32.
11. Meades, Alan (25 October 2022). Arcade Britannia: A Social History of the British Amusement Arcade. The MIT Press. doi:10.7551/mitpress/12420.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-262-37234-3.
12. "30 Great Gaming World Records". Computer and Video Games. ComputerAndVideoGames.com. 14 February 2009. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
13. Haddon, L. (1988). "Electronic and Computer Games: The History of an Interactive Medium". Screen. 29 (2): 52–73. doi:10.1093/screen/29.2.52. In the UK, the Labour MP George Foulkes led a campaign in 1981 to curb the 'menace' of video games, maintaining that they had addictive properties. His 'Control of Space Invaders (and other Electronic Games) Bill' was put to the Commons and only narrowly defeated.
14. "Control of Space Invaders and Other Electronic Games". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. 20 May 1981. col. 287–291.
15. Izushi, Hiro; Aoyama, Yuko (2006). "Industry evolution and cross-sectoral skill transfers: a comparative analysis of the video game industry in Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom". Environment and Planning A. 38 (10): 1843–1861. Bibcode:2006EnPlA..38.1843I. doi:10.1068/a37205. S2CID 143373406.
16. "Where every home game turns out to be a winter". The Guardian. 6 March 1986. p. 15. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
17. "Market size and market shares". Video Games: A Report on the Supply of Video Games in the UK. United Kingdom: Monopolies and Mergers Commission (MMC), H.M. Stationery Office. April 1995. pp. 66 to 68. ISBN 978-0-10-127812-6.
18. "Technology: The games that aliens play". New Scientist. Vol. 88, no. 1232–1233. Reed Business Information. 18 December 1980. p. 782. ISSN 0262-4079.
19. Baker, Chris (8 June 2010). "Sinclair ZX80 and the Dawn of 'Surreal' U.K. Game Industry". Wired. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
20. "The man with £9 million to spend!" (PDF). Sega Power. No. 20. United Kingdom: Future Publishing (published 6 June 1991). July 1991. pp. 17–23. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
21. Stewart, Keith (24 February 2017). "10 most influential games consoles – in pictures". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
22. "Commodore 64 turns 30: What do today's kids make of it?". BBC News. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
23. Hormby, Thomas (8 February 2007). "Acorn and the BBC Micro: From education to obscurity". Low End Mac. from the original on 3 March 2007. Retrieved 1 March 2007.
24. Baker, Chris (6 August 2010). "Sinclair ZX80 and the Dawn of 'Surreal' U.K. Game Industry". Wired. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
25. Mardsen, Rhordi (25 January 2015). "Geeks Who Rocked The World: Documentary Looks Back At Origins Of The Computer-games Industry". The Independent. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
26. "How British video games became a billion pound industry". BBC. December 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
27. "Death of the bedroom coder". The Guardian. 24 January 2004. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
28. Donlan, Christian (26 July 2012). "Manic Miner 360: Revisiting a Classic". Eurogamer. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
29. Orr, Lucy (7 July 2011). "Bug-Byte Manic Miner". The Register. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
30. Braben, David (31 December 2005). "Towards games with the wow factor". BBC News. Retrieved 27 December 2009.
31. "Gamasutra - Gary Penn interview". 31 January 2011.
32. Kean, Roger (December 1984). . Crash. Newsfield Publications Ltd. Archived from the original on 5 January 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2008.
33. Dale, Rodney (1985). The Sinclair Story. London: Duckworth. pp. 171–180. ISBN 0-7156-1901-2.
34. "Sinclair: a Corporate History". Planet Sinclair. Retrieved 30 April 2008.
35. "Virus". Atari Mania. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
36. The Rise and Fall of Britain's Bedroom Coders. Game Maker's Toolkit. 1 October 2020. Retrieved 1 October 2020 – via YouTube.
37. Stuart, Keith (23 July 2015). "Commodore Amiga at 30 – the computer that made the UK games industry". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
38. "Thumbs up for Amigas following A500 launch". Popular Computing Weekly. No. 12. Sunshine Publications. 20 March 1987. p. 5.
39. "Computer Boom Gathers Pace". New Computer Express. Future Publishing. 29 April 1989. p. 4. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
40. "Amiga Edges Ahead in 16-Bit War". New Computer Express. Future Publishing. 25 March 1989. p. 4. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
41. "Bundle Boost for Commodore 64". New Computer Express. Future Publishing. 17 June 1989. p. 4. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
42. Robert Mellor. "The Making Of Batman The Movie". Retro Gamer. No. 41. pp. 64–67.
43. Wilkins, Chris; Kean, Roger M (2013). Ocean - The History. Revival Retro Events.
44. . Film Stories. 25 September 2020. Archived from the original on 21 October 2020. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
45. Reunanen, Markku; Silvast, Antti (2009). "Demoscene Platforms: A Case Study on the Adoption of Home Computers". History of Nordic Computing 2. History of Nordic Computing. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology. Vol. 303. pp. 289–301. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-03757-3_30. ISBN 978-3-642-03756-6.
46. Chaplin, Heather (12 March 2007). "Is That Just Some Game? No, It's a Cultural Artifact". The New York Times.
47. "16-Bit Systems". Computer and Video Games. No. 182 (January 1997). 11 December 1996. p. 18.
48. "The debate over video games". New Straits Times. 8 May 1993. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
49. Warr, Simon Morgan (22 August 1992). "Game war heroes: Sega v Nintendo". The Independent. Archived from the original on 17 August 2022. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
50. "Games role of PC grows in UK market". Screen Digest. Screen Digest Limited: 248. 1993. IBM-compatible personal computers are now fourth most important games format in UK market after Sega Mega Drive, Amiga and Super NES according to surveys by Gallup
51. "Commando: Soldier of Fortune". Your Sinclair. No. 1. January 1986. p. 54.
52. "1986 Top Ten Coin-Ops". Sinclair User. No. 59 (February 1987). 18 January 1987. p. 96.
53. Prisco, Jacopo (18 September 2021). "How Out Run changed video games forever". Wired UK. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
54. "Burn Rubber". Computer and Video Games. No. 75 (January 1988). 15 December 1987. pp. 50–1.
55. Carroll, Martyn (April 2016). "Operation Wolf". Retro Gamer. No. 153. pp. 34–41.
56. "Reviews: Operation Wolf". Computer and Video Games. No. 86 (December 1988). November 1988. pp. 20–5.
57. "The making of Street Fighter 2 - a video game legend" (PDF). Mega. No. 10 (July 1993). 17 June 1993. pp. 14-35 (18-21).
58. The Year's Top 10 Games. EMAP. p. 88. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
59. "News Desk: Exploding Fist tops Gallup 1985 charts". Popular Computing Weekly. 20 March 1986. p. 4.
60. "Yie Ar tops charts for 1986". Popular Computing Weekly. 12 February 1987. p. 6.
61. "OutRun". Computer and Video Games (80). EMAP: 30–1. June 1988. ISSN 0261-3697.
62. "Game of the Year". Your Sinclair. No. 28 (April 1988). 10 March 1988. pp. 64–5.
63. "The Best Games of '89". Computer and Video Games. No. 98 (January 1990). 16 December 1989. p. 9.
64. "Can Mega Drive Street Fighter 2 Live Up To All The Hype?" (PDF). Mega. No. 10 (July 1993). 17 June 1993. p. 22.
65. "Sonic: A brief history". MegaTech. No. 26 (February 1994). United Kingdom: Maverick Magazines. 20 January 1994. p. 24.
66. "Top-Selling Video Game Titles In UK — 1993 (All Formats)". Screen Digest. Screen Digest Limited: 110. 1994. nb sales level at number 5 = 400,000 units, at number 9 = 250,000 units, at number 10 = 200,000 units
    Source: Gallup-ELSPA/Electronic Arts/CTW
67. "Appendix B: Top 10 software" (PDF). Unlimited learning: Computer and video games in the learning landscape. European Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA). 2006. p. 51. Retrieved 16 October 2021. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
68. Stuart, Keith (27 January 2010). "Back to the bedroom: how indie gaming is reviving the Britsoft spirit". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
69. Rosenberg, Dave. (2009-12-31) Video games outsell movies in U.K. | Software, Interrupted - CNET News. News.cnet.com. Retrieved on 2011-05-07.
70. "UK consumer spend on games grows 10% to a record £5.7bn in 2018". ukie.org.uk.
71. "UK gaming market worth record £5.7bn". BBC. 2 April 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
72. Luke, Hebblethwaite (2 April 2019). "UK consumer spend on games grows 10% to a record £5.7bn in 2018". UK Interactive Entertainment Association. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
73. "Top 10 Best-Selling Video Games of All Time - IGN". 19 April 2019.
74. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 January 2016. Retrieved 6 May 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
75. "Pollen VC | Funding for Mobile App and Game Developers". pollen.vc.
76. "£4m fund to kick-start the next 'Tomb Raider'". GOV.UK. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
77. "UK Games Fund". UK Games Fund. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
78. "Home". Tranzfuser. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
79. "Creative industries: Sector Deal". GOV.UK. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
80. "£50 million of Government investment announced for creative businesses across the UK". GOV.UK. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
81. "The changing face of NI's video gaming industry". BBC News. 25 May 2010. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
82. "The video games of our lives: GfK publishes UK's top 30 best-selling computer games since 1995, with all games grossing £26.3bn in 27 years". GfK. London. 29 March 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
83. Thumb Candy. Thumb Candy - The history of computer games 2000. YouTube. Published by QLvsJAGUAR. Published on 12 February 2011. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
84. Gaming Life UK. IGN. Published 24 June 2002. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
85. "Rated and Willing: Where Game Rating Boards Differ". Gamasutra. 15 December 2005. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
86. "BBC News: UK enforces PEGI video game ratings system". BBC. 30 July 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
87. "BBFC ratings go online". The Guardian. 21 May 2008. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
88. Hartley, Adam (23 June 2009). "Interview: ELSPA boss explains PEGI age ratings". TechRadar. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
89. Waters, Darren (8 July 2009). "Divide on games industry ratings". BBC. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
90. "Games ratings row gets colourful". BBC. 28 October 2008. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
91. Sassoon Coby, Alex (18 June 2009). "Spot On: British game-ratings changes broken down". GameSpot. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
92. "Video Standards Council to take over games age ratings". BBC. 10 May 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
93. Minkley, Johnny (26 June 2012). "VSC: "PEGI is stricter than the BBFC. We're not ashamed of that"". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
94. "MCV: PEGI ratings come into force today". MCV/Develop. 30 July 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
95. Robertson, Andy (14 March 2019). "Digital Minister calls on all video game providers to use age ratings online - and parents agree". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
96. Phillips, Tom (7 January 2020). "Royal Mail is putting Dizzy, Lemmings, and Elite on stamps". Eurogamer. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
97. Chapman, Tom (6 September 2019). "Black Mirror: Bandersnatch – What's it about, who's in the cast and can I watch it on Netflix?". Radio Times. from the original on 4 June 2020. Retrieved 20 June 2020.

Further reading

• Tsang, Denise (17 November 2021). "Innovation in the British Video Game Industry since 1978". Business History Review. 95 (3): 543–567. doi:10.1017/S0007680521000398. ISSN 0007-6805. S2CID 244134761.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Video gaming in the United Kingdom.

• UK Interactive Entertainment