Government pledges £28.5m for UK Games Fund to boost industry

• Funding for the UK Games Fund has doubled.
• The Fund will be split into three tracks depending where indie developers are in their lifecycle.
• £1.5m has been pledged to the London Games Festival over the next three years.

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The UK Government has pledged £30 million in funding to support the next generation of games developers in the country.

The UK Games Fund will offer a £28.5m pot to help games studios grow. An Entry Track will provide up to £20,000 for newly formed companies with limited track records. Meanwhile, the Emergent Track offers grants of up to £100k for prototyping new games and the Expansion track makes available up to £250k to take games to completion and help them scale.

Applications for the Games Growth Fund will open from April 14th, 2026.

The Government is also investing £1.5m into the London Games Festival over the next three years.

A statement said the move, part of its Creative Industries Sector Plan, represents a doubling in funding for the UK Games Fund.

Additionally, £20m has been provided by the government to Tay Cities Region – which includes Angus, Dundee, Fife and Perth and Kinross – to back creative technologies like games and virtual reality.

The UK’s £30m Games Growth Package was announced earlier this year.

Industry engagement

Alongside the funding initiatives, a Government statement said it has commissioned the Chartered Trading Standard Institute to develop new guidance to help consumers understand their rights when purchasing games. A consultation will launch in the coming months.

Meanwhile, the Government said it will engage with the newly-established, UKIE-led UK Esports Advisory Panel to help ensure the country “remains a world leader in this industry”.

“We welcome the Government’s Games Growth Package as a strong vote of confidence in the UK games industry,” said UKIE CEO Nick Poole.

“We have been pleased to work with the DCMS team to help shape this package of support, ensuring it reflects the needs of studios across the country. Targeted support across the development pipeline will help studios start, scale and stay globally competitive.

“As we look ahead to a defining year for games made in the UK, we will continue working closely with government to support growth, drive innovation, and create high-quality jobs across the country.”

TIGA CEO Richard Wilson commented: “Access to finance is a persistent challenge for many game developers. TIGA has previously called for more prototype and content funding to enable studios to access the investment they need to make great games.

“Today’s announcement of an increase in grant funding for newly formed companies, prototype funding and expansion funding is great news for studios, the games industry and the wider UK economy.”

Creative Industries Minister Ian Murray added: “Video games are not only great fun, they are big business – and for too long their value to the British economy has been overlooked.

“That is why the government has thrown its full support behind the sector with £30 million of new funding. This will turbocharge the careers of some of our most talented game developers, creating more jobs and economic growth right across the country as their ideas come to fruition.”

UK Minister of State for Trade Policy Chris Bryant, UKIE CEO Nick Poole and members of the UK Video Games Council were in attendance at Pocket Gamer Connects London in January – an event that saw a record number of attendees.

PGC will return to London next year. In the meantime, the conference series will be exploring other industry hubs at events such as PGC Summit Malmö on May 27th to 28th, PGC Barcelona on June 15th and 16th, PGC Summit Shanghai on July 29th and PGC Nordics on October 20th to 21st.