Seven-day city-wide celebration starts today as Ukie’s newly released industry figure reveals the UK video games market reached a record high in 2025
LONDON, UK – 13th April 2026 – The annual London Games Festival returns to the capital today, with a number of consumer and business events taking place across the city and online. The significance of the UK games industry continues to capture headlines both locally and globally, as industry governing body Ukie today reveals the UK video games market reached a record high of £8.7bn in 2025.
Ukie’s annual Consumer Games Market Valuation, released to coincide with the London Games Festival, includes additional market data revealing digital console and mobile sales increased year-on-year by 9.2% to £2.49bn, and 7.9% to £2bn respectively. Growth areas outside of the games themselves include games related film, tv and soundtrack sales up 70% to £159m, and toys and merchandising up 43% to £333m from last year.
London is the third-largest global hub for games makers, sitting just behind Los Angeles and San Francisco, and 2026 visitor numbers to the festival are set to exceed last year’s with over 100,000 attendees expected over the coming week, including 5,000+ industry professionals from over 30 countries.
The business of gaming continues to take centre stage at the festival with initiatives, announcements and investment opportunities all confirmed for the week ahead. The Mayor of London has been supporting the London Games Festival since 2016, his continued investment of over £4m has built an internationally recognised ecosystem attracting global attention and has generated an economic boost of over £60m.
The Mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan, said: “Over 40m people in the UK play video games and I am proud that London is the number one city in Europe for gaming. The London Games Festival is a big part of that success, attracting thousands of visitors to the city each year to celebrate video games, culture and interactive entertainment. We’re expecting even more gamers this year, confirming London’s position as a global gaming capital, as we continue to build a better London for everyone.”
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 £30 million of 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.”
This strong result comes at the perfect moment, with London Games Festival running from today until 19 April. Partners include Opening Night sponsor Coutts, who support the UK’s interactive entertainment sector through the festival.
Key London Games Festival business events such as the Games Finance Market (14-15 April) sees leading investors and dignitaries choose London to make deals happen. This year’s event has a record £247m of potential finance on the table from visiting investors looking to fund new games.
Launched in 2025, the festival now runs its own annual consumer-facing games showcase, New Game Plus, where the general public can play new and next game releases, and have the opportunity to meet the talent behind their favourite games. The two-day event takes place later this week at Exhibition White City between 16th-17th April.
London is proud to be one of the most diverse cities on the planet, and the festival mirrors this with opportunities for underrepresented artists and game makers to be celebrated and supported. The annual Ensemble cohort and Games London programmes like Game Changer ensure talent gets to shine and succeed regardless of barriers faced. This year’s Ensemble line-up can be seen today at Trafalgar Square and later in the week at New Game Plus.
Global gamers unable to attend in person, can head to Apple and Steam, who continue to support the festival with partnerships that feature British talent and LGF programmes such as its Official Selection.
London’s creative and cultural industries continue to support proceedings, with the BAFTA Games Awards and Screen Play at the BFI all happening within the festival window.
In addition to the physical events, London Games Festival also announces three major new resources are launching to support the wider industry workforce and success sustainability, made possible by support from the BFI Innovation Challenge Fund.
The Games Insights Database (GIDB) is a new free platform that maps the UK games industry using data that hasn’t previously been pulled together in one place. Built in partnership with Games Jobs Live, Into Games, and Birds Eye View, it helps with career planning and hiring through its Workforce Data Hub and Jobs Framework, covering salary benchmarks and progression routes across art, design, and code.
The Self-publishing Toolkit, developed by Games London, is a free online resource aimed at indie studios wanting to release and market their own games. It’s designed to make the market more accessible, especially for developers from underrepresented backgrounds, with practical guidance on everything from community management to production.
The UK Video Games Impact Framework is a landmark study from OKRE, delivered in partnership with Ukie, that sets out a shared way of measuring the industry’s social and cultural contributions. It looks at the impact of games on health, education, and social engagement, giving policymakers and researchers a common foundation to work from as they look to make the most of what the sector has to offer.
For regular updates from London Games Festival and Games London, sign up for the weekly newsletter at www.games.london or follow @londongamesfest. For partnership enquiries contact partnerships@games.london
For further press information, please contact:
The London Games Festival team at Indigo Pearl
E: LGF@indigopearl.com
About London Games Festival & Games London
London Games Festival is delivered by Games London, a groundbreaking programme from Film London, the capital’s screen industries agency. Games London is backed by the Mayor of London with over £1m funding over four years and supported by the UK Government via the Video Games Growth Package, part of the Creative Industries Sector Plan.
Games London delivers a number of initiatives designed to make London the games capital of the world. These include the London Games Festival and its tentpole events and programmes including Ensemble, the Games Finance Market and New Game Plus. Other activity includes inbound and outbound trade missions, accelerator schemes for business founders, and work supporting games development skills in London.
Since 2016 Games London has helped facilitate over £110m worth of completed investment deals and software sales for games studios, which has led to the creation of nearly 1,000 jobs. In that time London has grown to become the No.1 city for games in Europe and a top 3 games cluster globally.
