Britain’s video games sector is going from strength to strength, helped by the rise in online gaming – which is in turn boosting the UK stock market.
The number of games firms listed on the stock market has grown significantly in recent years.
“Companies range from Keywords Studios, which performs outsourcing services to games developers, to publishers of their own games, such as Frontier Developments and Codemasters,” John Hudson, co-manager of the Premier UK Growth Fund for Premier Asset Management, told Investment Week.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
“Sumo Digital and Team17 also recently listed on the market and have performed strongly since.”
Smaller games firms are also thriving, largely due to the rise of online gaming. Web-based sales platforms such as Steam, which have grown in popularity with the rise of fast broadband and smartphones, allow games publishers to operate with less risk.
This is particularly important for small publishers, which would not have had the clout to secure shelf space in high-street games stores. With space at a premium, games had to sell well within a month of release or shops would de-stock them.
Now games can have a much longer “shelf life”. Fortnite, possibly the biggest game in the world at the moment, was a sleeper hit – and, says Hudson, might have disappeared without trace if it had been released a decade ago.
Take our survey for your chance to win £100 John Lewis vouchers
-
The Week Unwrapped: Has Donald Trump secured his Nobel Peace Prize?Podcast Plus, what does the use of North Korean and Indian labour tell us about the Russian war economy? And why have we all gone crazy for pickles?
-
Hurricanes are not exclusive to Earth. They can happen in space.Under the radar These storms may cause navigational problems
-
Crossword: August 15, 2025The Week's daily crossword
-
Labour shortages: the ‘most urgent problem’ facing the UK economy right nowSpeed Read Britain is currently in the grip of an ‘employment crisis’
-
Will the energy war hurt Europe more than Russia?Speed Read European Commission proposes a total ban on Russian oil
-
Will Elon Musk manage to take over Twitter?Speed Read The world’s richest man has launched a hostile takeover bid worth $43bn
-
Shoppers urged not to buy into dodgy Black Friday dealsSpeed Read Consumer watchdog says better prices can be had on most of the so-called bargain offers
-
Ryanair: readying for departure from LondonSpeed Read Plans to delist Ryanair from the London Stock Exchange could spell ‘another blow’ to the ‘dwindling’ London market
-
Out of fashion: Asos ‘curse’ has struck againSpeed Read Share price tumbles following the departure of CEO Nick Beighton
-
Universal Music’s blockbuster listing: don’t stop me now…Speed Read Investors are betting heavily that the ‘boom in music streaming’, which has transformed Universal’s fortunes, ‘still has a long way to go’
-
EasyJet/Wizz: battle for air supremacySpeed Read ‘Wizz’s cheeky takeover bid will have come as a blow to the corporate ego’
