UK Games Fund re-opens applications for two funds, offering grants of up to £150,000

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The UK Games Fund has re-opened applications for its Content Fund and Prototype Fund.

This follows renewed support from the UK government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), which has contributed a further £5 million in an initiative to drive growth and build talent in the UK.

The Content Fund will offer £50,000 to £150,000 in commercial games grants while the Prototype Fund will offer up to £30,000 to support early-stage ideas.

Content credibility

To receive financing from the Content Fund, an applicant is required to already have a prototype of their game in place and that game cannot feature gambling elements. They must also be able to evidence an understanding of the target audience and show credible scalability.

The UK Games Fund would prefer for successful applicants to spend the funding over six to 12 months.

Notably, the total cost of the project must be at least double that of the requested grant.

Submissions are expected to stay open until March 31st, 2026 based on the current level of government funding, though this is subject to change depending on demand.

Applicants hoping to receive a share of the funding must be developing games in the UK, with UK-based founder-directors as significant shareholders. They must also have PAYE employees in the UK.

Prototype preferences

Meanwhile, the latest Prototype Fund is iterating upon learnings from more than previous 15 rounds with offerings tailored to companies’ needs. As a result, the fund will offer financial support as well as help with refining business skills and creative projects.

The fund supports games on all platforms with past grantees including mobile developers Leviathan Games and Tag Games, which used the funding to develop Starbeard and Misfits vs Monsters, respectively. Tag Games was later acquired by Scopely.

More recently, 532 Design has used the Prototype Fund to launch its first game Crowd Legends on the App Store and Google Play.

“As the UK Games Fund edges closer towards the monumental anniversary of being in operation for 10 years, the portfolio of funded companies continues to grow as ever more early-stage indie development studios based across the UK ready for submitting an application for grant support,” the UK Games Fund said.

“With hundreds of companies in our portfolio, the UK Games Fund has played a small but often significant role in the sustained growth of the UK’s early-stage games development ecosystem.”