40% of UK Games Companies Considering Relocation in the Wake of Brexit

The UK is the sixth largest games market in the world in terms of revenues and there are quite a handful of games companies based within the country. More than 57% of these games companies rely on labor and talent from EU countries and many have found themselves considering relocation in the wake of Brexit. The numbers comes from a survey by The Association for UK Interactive Industry (UKIE) who also found out that 98% of these companies surveyed believe that EU nationals who have the necessary skills should be given rights to work in the UK as there is a shortage of skilled UK candidates for the jobs.

There are over 2000 games companies with 12,100 full-time employees within the UK and the UK games market is steadily increasing now reaching £4.33 billion in revenue, up 1.2% from the previous year. Brexit is leaving the future of one third of the games sales market uncertain as those still rely on physical sales may be subject to tariffs once the separation with EU is complete. According to Bossa Studios Co-founder CEO Henrique Elifiers, he is considering whether there is still a future for his company in the country as some of the best and brightest European talents he employs are refusing to resettle in the UK. Some companies also find their funding affected, especially those who rely on European programmes such as Creative Europe for funding. These companies include multi-BAFTA award winning The Chinese Room, creator’s of Dear Esther and Everbody’s Gone to the Rapture.

“The Triggering of Article 50 signals the beginning of the end of the uncertainty we’ve all been facing since the Referendum last June,” according to UKIE CEO Dr Jo Twist. “Ukie will continue to work with government across departments to ensure the industry’s needs are met, particularly around global talent, data and investment in homegrown innovation and creativity.”