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]