Grants worth £28.5 million are being made available for UK video game developers.
The government is providing the funding to the UK Games Fund which was set up in 2015.
The new funding will be allocated as follows:
- Entry Track: Grants of up to £20,000 to newly formed companies with limited track records but strong potential for growth.
- Emergent Track: Grants of up to £100,000 for prototyping new games.
- Expansion Track: Grants of up to £250,000 to take games forward to completion and enable studios to scale up.
The UK is home to more than 2,000 gaming companies and has created global hits including Grand Theft Auto, Fable, PowerWash Simulator and No Man’s Sky.
Around £8.8 billion is spent by UK gamers per year, and the sector has strong footholds in areas including Dundee, Leamington Spa and Guildford.
The new funding was announced at the start of the 2026 London Games Festival. The government also said it is providing £1.5 million to the festival over the next three years “to help ensure the UK remains at the centre of the sector globally”.
Creative industries minister Ian Murray said:
“Video games are not only great fun, they are big business – and for too long their value to the British economy has been overlooked.
“That is why the government has thrown its full support behind the sector with new funding. This will turbocharge the careers of some of our most talented game developers, creating more jobs and economic growth right across the country as their ideas come to fruition.”
Dr Richard Wilson, CEO of the Independent Game Developers’ Association (TIGA), said:
“Access to finance is a persistent challenge for many game developers. TIGA has previously called for more prototype and content funding to enable studios to access the investment they need to make great games.
“Today’s announcement of an increase in grant funding for newly formed companies, prototype funding and expansion funding is great news for studios, the games industry and the wider UK economy.”