“If I had to start a 100 person studio today in games, I wouldn’t do it here in the UK”

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The UK’s games industry lacks the same support of other countries, say members of the newly formed UK Video Games Council.

Members of the council took part in a panel at Pocket Gamer Connects London today, including UKIE CEO Nick Poole, The Games Angels founder Nick Button-Brown, JECO co-founder Emily Bailey, Miniclip CEO Saad Choudri and Chucklefish CEO Donna Orlowski.

The UK Video Games Council was set up – apparently “a little bit rushed” – to build closer connections between the industry and policy makers in government on key issues.

Choudri, who has been at Miniclip for nearly 15 years and is the firm’s CEO, said the reality of the UK games industry today is it has the talent, but none of the support other regions in the world have. That’s despite nurturing talent and having hubs of creativity for film, TV and technology, alongside games, all in one place.

The UK has people that have built studios that helped the country’s industry grow wildly over the last 30 years – but said none of us should give the government credit for that, he said. “They did absolutely nothing.”

Choudri used the example of Türkiye, which offers support for its games companies, including a cash rebate worth up to $1 million to support user acquisition funding. The UK could do something similar, he stated, but the government “isn’t even close to setting up something like that”.

Choudri said that hubs in Canada, Vietnam, Israel, and China don’t just emerge without that support. He also cited government support schemes in Portugal, Italy and the Netherlands.

“Absolutely shocking”

JECO co-founder Emily Bailey echoed these sentiments. She said she wants developers to get more access to finance, but said the UK is “absolutely shocking”.

She highlighted one country with a much smaller economy that is about to open a prototype funding scheme giving out up to $100k.

Choudri stated that if he was starting a 100-person studio in gaming today, he would not do that in the UK. It’s a “damning indictment” of where we are today in the UK, he said. Miniclip is one of the UK’s most successful games companies – it ranked fifth in our Top 50 UK Game Makers 2025 list.

Bailey added that she wouldn’t start a two-person game development studio in the country.

UKIE CEO Nick Poole said he’d heard that one of the reasons the games industry doesn’t get the same recognition as other sectors is “they don’t turn up”.

Bailey said the industry needs to find a loud, collective voice as the sector looks to gather more government support – even without the backing of famous names like a Christopher Nolan for film.