New £5m grant scheme for UK gaming companies opens for applications

Games studios in the UK can now apply for grants of £50,000 - £150,000 as a result of extra funding provided by the government.

The UK Games Fund (UKGF) Content Fund was created following £5m of new finance announced earlier this year in the government's creative industries sector vision, which outlined an ambition to grow the sector by £50bn of gross value added and support a million extra jobs by 2030.

The new grants are aimed at getting games already in development ready for market.

The UK video games consumer market was valued at £7.05bn in 2022, a figure that has more than doubled since 2013.

Internationally best-selling video games made in the UK include the Tomb Raider and Grand Theft Auto series, Little Big Planet and Lego: Star Wars.

Speaking at video games trade body Ukie's annual general meeting in London, creative industries minister John Whittingdale said:

"Our plan is to grow the creative industries by an extra £50bn by 2030 - and we can only do that if we maximise the potential of our world-class video games industry.

"The UK’s reputation for creating video games is second to none. We want to build on that success and I’m calling on talented developers and early-stage studios to apply for the support they need to make more groundbreaking titles which thrill gamers around the world."

Alongside the new Content Fund, UKGF has a Prototype Fund which regularly provides grants of up to £25,000 to help young video game developers and early-stage studios turn their ideas into working prototype games.

Businesses can apply for the UKGF Content Fund here.

Information about the UKGF Prototype Fund is here.