Number of UK game dev freelancers triples amid layoffs and studio closures
At a glance:
The number of freelancers working in the games industry in the UK has tripled in between April 2023 and May 2024.
That's according to UK trade body TIGA's latest research, which shows that there were 3,625 game developers working as contractors in the UK as of May 2024, versus 1,102 in April 2023.
The total games workforce has increased too, the Making Games in the UK 2024 report showed, but not at the same rate. Around 28,516 people worked in UK games as of May 2024, compared to 25,026 in April 2023, which represented a 13.9% rise.
Putting the numbers in perspective, TIGA estimated that 12.7% of the UK games workforce were freelancers in May 2024, an increase from 4.4% in April 2023.
The number of full time roles as of May 2024 was 25,419, which TIGA noted represents the lowest annualised rate of growth in the UK games industry since 2012, at 4.8%.
Overall, company closures and downsizing were outweighed by growth across games firms, with TIGA noting: "400 extant companies shed 2,353 full time development jobs between April 2023 and May 2024, but 678 companies grew over the same period, adding 3,932 full time development jobs. 1,070 extant companies neither grew nor shed staff."
The number of trading games companies fell down slightly from 2,175 in April 2023 to 2,148 in May 2024. The wide majority of these were game studios, with 1,697 developers trading as of May 2024.
"248 companies closed down or exited the games industry during the survey period, the highest ever recorded," TIGA added.
Looking at the regional distribution of game roles, London was the fastest growing cluster with 468 new staff in the 12 months to May 2024, followed by the North East (280 new employees), and North West (247 new staff).
TIGA CEO Richard Wilson commented: "The sharp rise in freelancers in the UK games development industry has been caused by a number of factors. Many studios and publishers have been downsizing and restructuring their workforces, releasing staff into the
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