I just thought I'd write abit about the UK's games industry. It's often regarded as one of the smaller markets in gaming, yet it often challenges Japan (the second largest market) in sales.
Per person, the UK spends more money on gaming then anywhere else in the world. In fact, per person the UK
spends twice as much as Japan (that means that they're about the same in overall revenue, as Japan's
population is roughly twice the size of the UK's). Companies should also expect to sell many more copies
of they're games on non-Nintendo hardware.
The UK also has a much more even-spread of console sales than most other countries, and the current consoles market shares are somewhat more balanced than the other big markets (and the rest of Europe).
The UK is also the largest market in Europe, with sales sometimes reaching up to a third of the overall European
pie.
Videogames have also earnt themselves a special place in the highstreet. With many companies profitable in the
videogame market. There are two main chains fighting for highstreet territory in the UK and they are GAME, and
Gamestation (both of which are owned by EB). Once movie-specialist stores such as Blockbusters now also dedicate large sections of their selling-space to video games. Big supermarket chains such as Tesco and Sainsbury's now have larger videogame sections then they do movie or music sections.
Unlike other large markets in video games, the UK also has a very healthy PC game market. There also many
success stories in terms of online retailing such as Gameplay and Play, and the on-demand service Metaboli has had many successess.
And it's not just sales, the UK has also given birth to some of the most famous, and well respected franchises and companies in the gaming industry. Here's a list of just some of the companies functioning in the UK:
- Rockstar
- Realtime Worlds
- Lionhead
- BigBig Games
- Frontier
- Evolution Studios
- Rare
- Free Radical
- Codemasters
- Ninja Theory
- Bullfrog Games
Some UK franchises:
- Grand Theft Auto
- Smugglers' Run
- Crackdown
- Black and White
- Fable
- Pursuit Force
- Rollercoaster Tycoon
- Donkey Kong 64
- Diddy Kong Racers
- GoldenEye 64
- Banjo Kazooie
- Timesplitters'
- Haze
- Theme Hospital
- Theme Park World
- The Getaway
- Colin McRae
- Kung Fu Chaos
- Heavenly Sword
The UK has also given birth to some of the most famous game designers, possibly most famously: Peter Molyneux
and Chris Sawyer.
So, all-in-all, I believe that the UK has perhaps one of the largest, and most developed gaming industry in the world, even though it is often considered the underdog.
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