Video games tax relief supported over £860m spent on development in 2019
28% of games development supported by the VGTR would not have happened without it
A report from Screen Business published by the BFI revealed that the UK's video games tax relief supported £860.4 million of development expenditure in 2019.
This represented a 22.8% growth compared to the £700.8 million it had supported in 2017, and 31% of the total estimated turnover of the UK industry that year, which was £2.77 billion.
Every pound of video games tax relief generated £1.72 of GVA (gross value added) in 2019.
"When all impacts are taken into account, the overall economic contribution of VGTR supported games rises to £1.07 billion in GVA, 15,130 FTEs of employment and £247.7 million in tax revenues," the report read. "In 2019, an estimated £295.7 million or 28% of video games development supported by the tax relief would not have occurred in the absence of the tax relief, i.e. the rate of additionality generated by the tax relief."
The report also included a few facts about the size of the UK games industry, with comprises 2,286 companies, and has corporate investments amounting to £756 million between 2017 and 2020.
In 2019, games made in the UK accounted for £468.9 million in digital consumer sales in the UK and £79 million in physical sales.
VGTR is a simple way for studios to reduce the monetary risk they take when developing a game in the UK, as it offers a rebate against production spend. The GamesIndustry.biz Academy has a series of guides dedicated to the incentive if you're unfamiliar with how it works.