The UK’s Emerging Gaming Companies 2024
The gaming industry has been hard-hit now that the highs of Covid-19 have worn off. And with news like Humble Games shutting down, which happened just last week, it remains a turbulent time in gaming — particularly for indie gaming companies.
But are the rumours true? Is the indie gaming industry dying? Or is there still investment going into UK gaming companies? We explore the UK’s gaming industry and bring you the UK-based developers and publishers that are currently gaining momentum.
Methodology for this article
- Headquartered in the UK
- Active on Companies House
- In the ‘video games’ industry
The history of UK gaming companies
Across the gaming industry, it’s no secret that it’s been hard hit in recent years but the UK has a rich gaming history with some major gaming companies starting up here. Rockstar North (Rockstar Games), Codemasters, and Creative Assembly were all founded in the UK. That means some of the world’s most famous games hail from the UK — Tomb Raider, Grand Theft Auto and global racing games such as F1 2022.
In 2023, it was reported that the UK’s gaming industry was worth £7.82b, a 4.4% net increase from 2022 — and from our data, we’ve seen a steady rise in the number of active gaming companies in the UK.
*The graph above includes companies that have been dissolved.
But looking at active companies, we can see the majority are in their seed stage — 42.7%. Out of the active companies, 22.8% are in the venture stage, and 6.7% are in the growth stage. This shows us that the market is represented by relatively nascent companies. Should these companies continue to gain investment, we could see a groundswell of innovation in UK game development.
Challenges facing the UK’s gaming industry
Cross industry collaboration
Cross-industry collaboration in the UK’s gaming industry has become a significant driver of innovation and growth for the UK market.
Partnerships between game developers and other sectors such as film, television, music, education, and even healthcare can lead to new and exciting avenues for both parties. For example, collaborations with the film and television industry allow game developers to incorporate advanced storytelling techniques and cinematic visuals into their games.
One example of this from Evercast, is Fortnite: Save the World, where you learn more about the world as you progress as opposed to a classic levelling up game structure.
The music industry also plays a crucial role, with artists contributing original soundtracks that enhance the gaming experience. The Royal Albert Hall also has several events every year dedicated to video game music.
In the education sector, games are increasingly used as tools for learning and training, leveraging gamification to teach subjects ranging from history to science and even soft skills like teamwork and problem-solving.
Similarly, in healthcare, games are being developed to support mental health, physical rehabilitation, and therapy, demonstrating the therapeutic potential of interactive media.
One key element of this is the production and introduction of artificial intelligence, AR and VR.
AR and VR
Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) have become huge components of modern gaming.
Artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and augmented reality are rapidly transforming the gaming landscape. Collaborations with tech firms allow game developers to integrate cutting-edge technologies into their products, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in interactive entertainment.
Companies such as Improbable, Blippar, and nDreams are leading the way in AR and VR development, creating innovative experiences and solutions.
Looking at solely the virtual reality and augmented reality industries, we can see a sharp increase in active companies in the UK since 2015. In 2015 there were 489 active companies and as of the end of 2023 there were 1,421 active VR and AR companies active in the UK.
*The graph once again includes companies that have been dissolved.
What is artificial intelligence?
The UK’s gaming creative hubs
London came in first place for the number of active gaming companies (37.3% of all the companies found in the UK), with a large proportion of those being located in the City of London and the City of Westminster.
The South East has the second highest number of active gaming companies — 14.4%. The highest concentration of those were based in Brighton & Hove which is home to 116 gaming companies. Brighton is also home to one of the world’s biggest gaming conferences: Develop.
The East of England makes up 8.1% of UK gaming companies, and the South West comprises 6.6% of companies, 66 of which are based in Bristol which is often accredited as a creative hub for gaming companies.
Across the British Isles, Scotland equated to 4.8% of total gaming companies, with 255 active companies. Wales came in third place, making up 3.4%, and Northern Ireland is home to 1.3% of all UK gaming companies.
Up-and-coming gaming companies
10.
Maintain Altitude
Location: London
Date of latest fundraising: 20th March 2024
Amount raised in latest fundraising: £155k
Maintain Altitude runs a games studio in London, developing mobile games that incorporate music streaming.
This seedling company, which was only incorporated in October 2022 and has fewer than five employees, secured £155k in March this year.
09.
Alive
Location: London
Date of latest fundraising: 12th July 2024
Amount raised in latest fundraising: £200k
Alive develops AI software for creating skins in video games. The software can be used by both studios and individual players.
In its first fundraising event which happened in July, the company raised £200k. The company was founded by Paloma Jimenez in April this year (2024) and is the only female-founded company on our list.
08.
Meaning Machine
Location: Bristol
Date of latest fundraising: 31st May 2024
Amount raised in latest fundraising: £250k
Meaning Machine operates a game studio, developing generative AI for producing real-time and contextual dialogue with characters. The company has used this to create a conversation-based game, due to release in the second half of 2024, where you interact with characters to solve a mystery.
Also a relatively new company, Meaning Machine was founded in 2022, and has raised £250k through one fundraising campaign.
07.
Freeaim Technologies
Location: London
Date of latest fundraising: 18th June 2024
Amount raised in latest fundraising: £250k
Freeaim Technologies is developing wearable VR shoes that you can wear during gameplay to create a more full-body experience. It is aiming to release its product in 2025.
Oldendorff and other investors contributed £250k to the company in June 2024, in the company’s first-ever funding round.
06.
Existent
Location: London
Date of latest fundraising: 7th June 2024
Amount raised in latest fundraising: £300k
Existent runs a virtual reality software platform. The concept is to be able to have all virtual people, places and things working together in one online space — meaning people can free-roam and physically interact with each other and objects in a VR environment.
The company has raised a total of £2.05m — most recently, it secured £300k in June earlier this year, with its largest raise of £1.75m at the end of 2022.
05.
Sunscorched Studios
Location: Lincolnshire
Date of latest fundraising: 15th March 2024
Amount raised in latest fundraising: £350k
Sunscorched Studios designs and distributes dark horror video games. The company launched in 2019 after a successful debut at EGX Rezzed.
This indie game developer has had a total of two fundraising events, the most recent in March 2024, where the company raised £350k — bringing its total raised to £750k.
It also hit our Social & Governance Signal for having age diversity in the company’s director team.
04.
chaotic works
Location: Devon
Date of latest fundraising: 15th April 2024
Amount raised in latest fundraising: £1.4m
chaotic works is developing a multiplayer action video game, and while there is very little information about what the company is developing right now (apart from the concept of the games being set in “beautiful but devastating environments”), you can join the discord chat to find out more.
The company was founded in 2023 and since then has raised £1.4m in just one funding round in April this year.
03.
Soccerverse
Location: London
Date of latest fundraising: 26th March 2024
Amount raised in latest fundraising: £2.4m
Soccerverse, lending to its name, has created a multi-player online ‘soccer’ management game. It is a community-driven game, and users are able to maintain and develop the game as they play.
This soccer management game company has raised a total of £3.12m since its establishment in 2022.
02.
ForthStar
Location: Manchester
Date of latest fundraising: 22nd January 2024
Amount raised in latest fundraising: £7.9m
ForthStar is developing mobile video games that will be free-to-play. The company was founded by the Playdemic founders, Paul Gouge and Alex Rigby, after the commercial success of Playdemic’s Golf Clash game.
US-based Griffin Gaming Partners invested £7.9m ($10m) at the beginning of 2024, with ForthStar set to release its first game in 2025.
01.
Red Rover Interactive
Location: Newcastle upon Tyne
Date of latest fundraising: 16th April 2024
Amount raised in latest fundraising: £12m
Red Rover Interactive is the gaming company that raised the most money this year, from our list. It has also raised the most money in total with a huge £16m — particularly impressive considering the company was only founded in February 2023.
This Newcastle-based business is a game development studio that focuses on multiplayer survival games.
Sustainability and diversity in the UK’s gaming industry [ESG data]
Out of the 5,280 companies we looked at, 136 hit one or more of our Social & Governance Signals. This was overwhelmingly due to age diversity in the directorial team (112 companies), which is unsurprising given the intergenerational nature of the industry. Only 17 companies hit our signal for having gender equality across the directorial team, and just four companies hit our signal for having gender pay equality (including Sony Interactive Entertainment and Ubisoft Reflections).
From our data, just six companies hit one of our Environmental Signals. Fam Studio was the only company to have both an Environmental Signal and a Social & Governance Signal for its environmental accolades and gender equality across its board of directors.
As we noted in our up-and-coming gaming companies list, just one had a female founder, and we can see there’s a landslide majority for male founders across this industry as a whole. According to our data, 76.9% of the active gaming companies in the UK right now have an all-male director team and 5.4% are majority male. Just 6.6% of gaming companies are run by an all-female team, and 10.3% have an equal split.
A producer we spoke to said she’d found the games industry was often male-dominated, especially in tech teams, but was seeing an increasing number of non-men in other areas of the gaming industry such as production, art and design. She also told us that she hardly ever saw women or non-binary people on the team of startup indie gaming companies.
“My assumption for this is because often studios like these are formed by developers from another company who have already worked together and have done so since when the games industry was even more male-dominated.”
Where to find this data…
We use data directly from the Beauhurst platform to produce articles like this one.
On Beauhurst, you can find data on over 4.6m companies across 225 industries.
If you’re already a Beauhurst subscriber, you can easily find UK gaming companies like the ones featured in this article using the platform. Click the button below, and your search will be automatically populated with the criteria we used to find the UK’s emerging gaming companies.
