TIGA, the network for games developers and digital publishers and the trade association representing the games industry, has stated that the UK video games industry will increase investment and expand employment in 2017.

“The UK video games development and digital publishing sector is set to grow in 2017. Our survey shows that games businesses in mobile, VR, PC and console are planning to increase investment and employment. This growth is being driven by three factors.” Said Dr Richard Wilson, TIGA CEO.

The report was based on a survey of 50 games businesses including small, medium and large firms, developing games across mobile/tablet, VR, PC and console.

The survey’s main findings:

Employment

88% of respondents plan to grow their organisation’s workforce over the next year (up from 72% a year ago).

Investment

50% of respondents to the TIGA survey said that the outlook for investment in their business (for example, in R&D, training, new games development, etc) was more optimistic than compared to 12 months ago. 30% said that the outlook was unchanged.

Performance

72% of respondents reported that their company was performing well. Just 6% reported that their company was performing badly.

Profits

64% of respondents to the TIGA survey forecast that the trend in their company’s net profits over the next 12 months would be up.

Costs

70% of respondents anticipate that their company’s costs are likely to increase over the next 12 months (up from 56% a year ago).

Prices

40% of games businesses in our survey expect that their prices for customers will increase over the next 12 months.  60% expect that their prices will remain the same.

Obstacles to success

34% of the respondents to the TIGA survey said that the principal obstacle holding back their businesses was limited access to finance.  A further 34% cited discoverability as the biggest obstacle. 16% identified skills shortages and skills gaps.  The remaining respondents identified various obstacles including: scaling business operations; lack of VR hardware; diversity; peaks and troughs in work; management capacity; and the challenge of localisation.

Edited from press release by Jordan Platt.