LONDON, 31 January 2023 /PRNewswire/ — TIGA, the trade association representing the video game industry, today released a Business Opinion Survey (BOS) showing that while 86 percent of respondents expect their spending to increase in 2023, 75 percent plan to increase its workforce of the organization during the year. The TIGA study was conducted in December 2022 and January 2023. The study is based on a sample of 36 gaming businesses, including small, medium and large firms developing games for mobile/tablet, VR, PC and consoles.
THREE Business Opinion Survey 2022-23 includes the following key findings:
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Costs: 86 % of respondents expect that their company’s expenses (eg labor, equipment, electricity, etc.) are likely to increase in the next 12 months. 11 percent expect them to stay the same and 3 percent expect their costs to decrease.
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Optimism: 40 percent of respondents said they were more optimistic about their company’s prospects than 12 months ago (this compares with a figure of 53 percent in the previous BOS). 30 % report being neither more nor less optimistic. 30 percent said they were less optimistic (compared to 12 percent in the BOS last year).
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Investment: 31 % of respondents said the outlook for investment in their business (eg R&D, training, new game development, etc.) is more optimistic than 12 months ago. This compares with a figure of 47 percent in the previous BOS. 50 per cent said the outlook was unchanged. 19 percent said the investment outlook was less optimistic (compared to 9 percent in the BOS last year).
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Employment: 75 % of respondents plan to increase their organization’s workforce in the next twelve months. 19 percent expect to keep their organization’s workforce at current levels. 6 percent think their organization’s workforce will shrink slightly.
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Iconomical sphere: 67 % of TIGA survey respondents believe the economic and business climate is favorable for the video game industry. 11 % consider that the environment is neither favorable nor unfavorable for the sector, 19 percent thought it was unfavorable. 3 100% didn’t know.
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Productivity: 75 % of respondents report that their company is performing either “very well” or “good”. 22 percent said their company was performing “neither well nor badly.” 3 percent report that their company is performing “poorly” or “very poorly.”
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Obstacles to success: 52 percent cite skills shortages and skills gaps as the biggest obstacle to their business success (up from 40 percent last year). 14 the percent discoverability cited (down from 19 percent last year). 22 % refer to limited access to financing. 6 per cent note the disruptions caused by the pandemic. 6 % identified “Other” barriers.
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Brexit: 83 % of respondents say that leaving the EU has had a negative impact on their business; 11 % reported no impact; 6 % did not know if there was an impact.
Dr Richard Wilson OBE, THREE executive directorssaid:
“The UK video game development and digital publishing sector is operating in an inflationary environment which is increasing business costs and reducing discretionary spending for both consumers and businesses. 86 percent of our survey respondents expect their spending to increase in 2023. Only 40 percent of respondents are more optimistic about the investment outlook for their business compared to 12 months ago, while 30 percent are less optimistic.
“However, 75 percent of our survey respondents plan to increase employment in the next year, and 75 percent report that their company is performing either ‘very well’ or ‘well.’
“The government can boost the growth of the sector by taking three actions. First, it strengthened the Video Games Tax Credit (VGTR) to encourage investment in the industry. Second, it introduced a video game investment fund (VGIF) to improve studios’ access to funding. VGIF will make funding of up to £500,000 available to gaming businesses on a matched funding basis. Thirdly, promoting training in the sector through a skills investment fund and introducing an industrial secondment program to strengthen skills development in video game training.’
About TIGA:
TIGA is the trade association for the UK video games industry. Our vision is to make the UK the best place in the world to develop video games. Our main goal is to strengthen the game development and digital publishing sector. To this end, we focus on three strategic objectives:
For more information contact TIGA:
Website: www.tiga.org
Twitter: www.twitter.com/tigamovement
Facebook: www.facebook.com/TIGAMovement
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/tiga
See original content: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tiga-research-shows-uk-games-developers-investing-in-employment-despite-rising-costs-301734958.html
SOURCE THREE