The United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 has the largest video games market in Europe, with sales of $6 billion in 2008. In 2009, the British video game industry outsold the film industry for the first time. Many major video game franchises are developed in the country, such as Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto (series)

Grand Theft Auto is a multi-award-winning British video game series created in the United Kingdom by Dave Jones, then later by brothers Dan Houser and Sam Houser, and game designer Zachary Clarke. It is primarily developed by Edinburgh based Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games...

, Tomb Raider

Tomb Raider series

Tomb Raider is a media franchise consisting of video games, comic books, novels, theme park rides and movies, centring around the adventures of the fictional British archaeologist Lara Croft...

, LittleBigPlanet

LittleBigPlanet (series)

LittleBigPlanet is a puzzle platformer video game series created by Media Molecule. The series was launched in 2008 with the PlayStation 3 game, LittleBigPlanet which was followed in 2009 by a PlayStation Portable version of the same name developed by SCE Cambridge Studio. The sequel to the...

and Dirt

Colin McRae: Dirt

Colin McRae: Dirt has received largely positive reviews, IGN UK and U.S. awarding it a 9.0 and a 8.4, respectively. It has also received 9.0 from Official Xbox Magazine, 8.3 from GameSpot for the Xbox 360 and PC versions and 8.5 for the PlayStation 3 version, and 8 from Edge...

. The main industry group for publishers in the country is the ELSPA where as the main one for developers is Tiga

The Independent Games Developers Association

TIGA is the national trade association representing the business and commercial interests of video and computer game developers in the UK and Europe...

. The country's rating organizations are the British Board of Film Classification

British Board of Film Classification

The British Board of Film Classification , originally British Board of Film Censors, is a non-governmental organisation, funded by the film industry and responsible for the national classification of films within the United Kingdom...

 and PEGI

Pan European Game Information

Pan European Game Information is a European video game content rating system established to help European parents make informed decisions on buying computer games with logos on games boxes. It was developed by the Interactive Software Federation of Europe and came into use in April 2003; it...

, the latter of which was adopted by law in 2009 and was expected to replace the BBFC from April 2011, although this has now been put on hold indefinitely.
In the country, the industry employs a total of 7,000 people. One of its largest contributions to the worldwide industry was the release of the ZX Spectrum

ZX Spectrum

The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...

 home computer in 1982. Northern Ireland is a growing place for video games growth.

UK-based games companies

• Alten8
  Alten8
  Alten8 Limited is a British video game developer and publisher, with offices in Luton. It produces both licensed retro games and current format video games...
  
  
• Argonaut Games
  Argonaut Games
  Argonaut Games plc was a British video game developer. Founded as Argonaut Software by teenager Jez San in 1982 the company name is a play on his name and the movie title Jason and the Argonauts. It had its head offices in Edgware, London....
  
   (defunct)
• Atomic Planet Entertainment (defunct)
• Automata UK
  Automata UK
  Automata UK was a software house which developed and published ZX Spectrum video games between 1982 and 1985. Significant releases included My Name Is Uncle Groucho, You Win A Fat Cigar and Deus Ex Machina .-History:...
  
   (defunct)
• Beautiful Game Studios
  Beautiful Game Studios
  Beautiful Game Studios is a computer game development studio based in London, England. The studio is an internal development team within Square Enix and was set up in late 2003 by Eidos Interactive to develop the Championship Manager series...
  
  
• Bizarre Creations
  Bizarre Creations
  Bizarre Creations was a video game development studio, best known for their racing titles: Metropolis Street Racer and the followup Project Gotham Racing series . The company has also developed games in other genres, including the Geometry Wars arcade series, plus third-person shooters Fur...
  
   (defunct)
• Bug-Byte Software Ltd.
  Bug-Byte
  Bug-Byte Software Ltd. was a company founded in 1980 by Tony Baden and Tony Milner, two Oxford chemistry graduates. It was one of the first to develop a range of 8-bit computer games during the early 1980s, for Sinclair, Commodore and other home computer brands, particularly for the Spectrum...
  
   (defunct)
• Bullfrog Productions
  Bullfrog Productions
  Bullfrog Productions was a UK computer game developer that was founded in 1987 by Les Edgar and Peter Molyneux. The company achieved recognition in 1989 for their third release, Populous....
  
   (defunct)
• Codemasters
  Codemasters
  The Codemasters Software Company Limited, or Codemasters is a British video game developer founded by Richard and David Darling in 1986...
  
  
• Confounding Factor
  Confounding Factor (games company)
  Confounding Factor was a British video games company founded in 1997 by Toby Gard and Paul Douglas, both of Core Design, and based in Bristol, UK. The company only released a single title during its lifetime, called Galleon, which went on sale in 2004 for the Microsoft Xbox console...
  
   (defunct)
• Core Design
  Core Design
  Core Design was a British video game studio best known today for creating the popular Tomb Raider series.-History:Based in the city of Derby, England, Core Design was set up in 1988 by Chris Shrigley, Andy Green, Rob Toone, Terry Lloyd, Simon Phipps, Dave Pridmore, Jeremy Heath-Smith and Greg Holmes...
  
   (defunct)
• Criterion Games
  Criterion Games
  Criterion Games is a Guildford, England based British video game developer. It is best known for its work on the award-winning, multi-platform Burnout series, the PS2, Gamecube and Xbox first-person shooter Black.Criterion Software Ltd was created in 1993 to commercialise 3D...
  
  
• Crytek UK
• Data Design Interactive
  Data Design Interactive
  Data Design Interactive was a United Kingdom based video game developer and video game publisher. It was founded in 1983, became a limited company in 1999 and ceased trading in 2009. It developed games on the multiple games platforms including PC and consoles...
  
  
• EA UK
• Eidos
  Eidos Interactive
  Eidos Interactive Ltd. is a British video game publisher and is a label of Square Enix Europe. As an independent company Eidos plc was headquartered in the Wimbledon Bridge House in Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton....
  
  
• Eurocom
  Eurocom
  Eurocom is a British video game developer founded specifically to develop games for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Since then Eurocom has expanded to several other platforms including handheld game systems and most major video game consoles.The company was once famous for its arcade to console...
  
  
• Eutechnyx
  Eutechnyx
  Eutechnyx is a computer and video games developer, founded in 1987 as Zeppelin Games and also briefly known as Merit Studios Europe. They are based in Dunston, Gateshead in the United Kingdom...
  
  
• FreeStyleGames
  FreeStyleGames
  FreeStyleGames Ltd. is a British video game development company with approximately 100 staff based in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. The company was originally formed by Ex-Codemasters and Ex-Rare staff in late 2002, and has developed over the last 5 years into a well-respected development...
  
  
• Firefly Studios
  Firefly Studios
  Firefly Studios is a computer game developer that has offices in London, England and Canton, Connecticut, with a QA department in Aberdeen, Scotland. The Company was formed in August 1999 by Simon Bradbury, Eric Ouellette and David Lester who had worked together on numerous titles such as the...
  
  
• Firebrand Games
  Firebrand Games
  Firebrand Games is a video game development company with studios in Glasgow, Scotland, Florida, USA, and Baton Rouge, USA. The team specialises in the production of racing games. Firebrand Games was founded and is run by Mark Greenshields who has been in the games industry his entire career...
  
  
• Frontier Developments
  Frontier Developments
  Frontier Developments is a video game developer based in Cambridge, England. It is a private limited company and was incorporated in January 1994. The company is still headed by David Braben, in the position of Chairman....
  
  
• Games Workshop
  Games Workshop
  Games Workshop Group plc is a British game production and retailing company. Games Workshop has published the tabletop wargames Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40,000...
  
  
• Gremlin Interactive
  Gremlin Interactive
  Gremlin Interactive was a British software house based in Sheffield and working mostly in the home computer market.- History :...
  
  
• Headfirst Productions
  Headfirst Productions
  Headfirst Productions was a British video game studio established by father and son Mike and Simon Woodroffe in 1998. The studio was an independent developer of games for both the console and PC market.- Games :...
  
   (defunct)
• Intelligent Games
  Intelligent Games
  Intelligent Games was a UK-based video game developer. The company was founded by Matthew Stibbe in 1988. He left IG in July 2000. The company closed at the end of 2002.- Published titles :* Imperium * Nam 1965-1975...
  
   (defunct)
• Introversion Software
  Introversion Software
  -History:The company was founded in 2001 by three friends, Chris Delay; Mark Morris; and Thomas Arundel, who met when they were undergraduates at Imperial College London...
  
  
• Jagex
  Jagex
  Jagex Games Studio, based in Cambridge, is the UK’s largest independent developer and publisher of online games. Jagex is best known for RuneScape, the world's largest free-to-play MMORPG....
  
  
• Kuju Entertainment
  Kuju Entertainment
  Kuju Entertainment is an English computer and video game corporation consisting of three studios, two of which are located in the UK: Zoë Mode , Headstrong Games , and one in the Czech Republic: Vatra games...
  
  
• Lionhead Studios
  Lionhead Studios
  Lionhead Studios is a British computer game development company led by industry veteran Peter Molyneux, and acquired by Microsoft Game Studios in April 2006. Lionhead started as a breakaway from the developer Bullfrog, which was also founded by Molyneux. Lionhead's first game was Black & White, a...
  
  
• Llamasoft
• Media Molecule
  Media Molecule
  Media Molecule is a British video game developer based in Guildford in Surrey. The studio was founded in January 2006 by former Lionhead Studios employees Mark Healey, Alex Evans, Dave Smith, and Kareem Ettouney...
  
  
• Mythos Games
  Mythos Games
  Mythos Games is a defunct British video game developer company founded by Julian Gollop.-Games developed by Mythos Games:* Rebelstar II * Laser Squad * Lords of Chaos * Magic & Mayhem -External links:*...
  
   (defunct)
• nDreams
  NDreams
  nDreams, Ltd. is a video game developing company located in Farnborough, Hampshire in the United Kingdom. The company was formed in August 2006 thanks to former SCi/Eidos creative director, Patrick O'Luanaigh. nDreams was listed in Develop magazine as one of the hot companies to look for in 2008...
  
  
• Rareware
• Rage Software
  Rage Software
  Rage Software or Rage Games was a British video game developer. Formed in Liverpool in 1992, its games were marked by an emphasis on graphical effects with arcade gameplay....
  
   (defunct)
• Realtime Worlds
  Realtime Worlds
  Realtime Worlds Ltd was a video game developer based in Dundee, Scotland from 2002 until its closure in September 2010. Realtime Worlds was the largest independent game developer in Scotland with over 200 employees as well as a small Boulder, Colorado office....
  
   (defunct)
• Rebellion Developments
  Rebellion Developments
  Rebellion is a British computer games company, based in Oxford, who are most famous for the first Aliens vs. Predator computer game. It has published comic books since 2000 and launched its own book imprint, Abaddon Books, in 2006.-History:...
  
  
• Revolution Software
  Revolution Software
  Revolution Software Ltd. is a British adventure game company, based in York in northern England.The company was founded in 1990 by Charles Cecil, Tony Warriner, David Sykes and Noirin Carmody...
  
  
• Rising Star Games
  Rising Star Games
  Rising Star Games is a video games publisher formed as a joint business venture between Scandinavian distributor Bergsala and Japanese video game publisher and content developer Intergrow....
  
  
• Rockstar North
  Rockstar North
  Rockstar North is a British video game developer based in Edinburgh, Scotland, best known for creating the Grand Theft Auto and Lemmings franchises in its earlier guise as DMA....
  
  
• Rocksteady Studios
  Rocksteady studios
  Rocksteady Studios is a British video game developer based in Kentish Town in London. The studio's titles include Urban Chaos: Riot Response, Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City.-History:...
  
  
• SCE Cambridge Studio
• SCE London Studio
  SCE London Studio
  London Studio is an in-house Sony Computer Entertainment developer located in London. Established in 1993, London Studio is Sony Computer Entertainment Europe’s largest internal development studio, with staff working in a purpose designed 7-storey building located in London's Soho district...
  
  
• SCE Studio Liverpool
  SCE Studio Liverpool
  SCE Studio Liverpool is a video game development house head-quartered at Wavertree Technology Park in Liverpool, England. It is part of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios. Founded in 1984 as Psygnosis, the company is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment and...
  
  
• Sega Europe
• Sensible Software
  Sensible Software
  Sensible Software was a software house active during the 1980s and 90s, from the United Kingdom.The company was well-known for the very small sprites used for the player characters in many of their games, including Sensible Soccer, Cannon Fodder and Sensible Golf.- Early history :Sensible Software...
  
   (defunct)
• Slightly Mad Studios
  Slightly Mad Studios
  Slightly Mad Studios is an independent British video game company headquartered in London, England. On 12 January 2009, the company acquired the business and assets of Blimey! Games...
  
  
• Sports Interactive
  Sports Interactive
  Sports Interactive Limited is a computer games development company currently based in Old Street, Central London and owned by the Japanese software and video game company Sega. It is the developer of the popular games Football Manager, NHL Eastside Hockey Manager and Championship Manager Quiz, and...
  
  
• Superior Software
  Superior Software
  Superior Software is a video game publisher. It was established in 1982 by Richard Hanson and John Dyson, two graduates of the University of Leeds, England...
  
  
• Swordfish Studios
  Swordfish Studios
  Swordfish Studios was a British software development company based in Birmingham founded by Rage executive director Trevor Williams and Joan Finnegan in September 2002....
  
   (defunct)
• System 3
  System 3 (software company)
  System 3 Software Ltd is a British video game developer and publisher.Founded in 1983 by Mark Cale, the company has been responsible for many critically acclaimed videogame experiences, most notably The Last Ninja series, Myth: History in the Making, Impossible Mission, Constructor, Street Wars,...
  
  
• Team17
  Team17
  Team17 Software Ltd. is a video game company best known for developing the Worms series of games , but it has made many other games, notably Superfrog and the Alien Breed series. Most of its early releases were on the Amiga home computer system and featured trademark smooth scrolling, and detailed...
  
  
• Traveller's Tales
  Traveller's Tales
  Traveller's Tales is an English software house founded in 1989 and fully established in 1990 and based in Knutsford, Cheshire.It is part of the TT Games group—after the merger of publisher Giant Interactive and the developer Traveller's Tales—along with TT Games Publishing...
  
  
• Tynesoft
  Tynesoft
  Tynesoft Computer Software was a software developer and publisher in the 1980s and early 1990s.- History :The company was originally set up in 1983 to release educational software but soon moved into the video games market on which it concentrated for most of its time...
  
   (defunct)
• Ubisoft UK
• Vulcan Software
  Vulcan Software
  Vulcan Software is an independent computer games company founded in 1994 in the UK. Vulcan started creating software for the Amiga computer systems. Its first commercial game was Valhalla and the Lord of Infinity, which was notable for being the first ever Amiga speech adventure game. In January...
  
  
• Wayward Design
  Wayward Design
  Wayward Design was a United Kingdom-based computer game development company.Wayward was founded by Dominic Robinson and Andrew Walrond in 1994, and was based in Bristol.The company was purchased outright by Rage Software in 2000.-External links:...
  
   (sold to Rage Software
  Rage Software
  Rage Software or Rage Games was a British video game developer. Formed in Liverpool in 1992, its games were marked by an emphasis on graphical effects with arcade gameplay....
  
  )
• Zoo Digital
• Zoonami
  Zoonami
  Zoonami is a video game development company, founded in 2000 by Martin Hollis, the director and producer of GoldenEye 007. He left Rare shortly before Perfect Dark was released while other members of the GoldenEye 007 team formed Free Radical Design....
  
  

External links

• ELSPA website
• UK video game charts
• Official website of the London Games Festival
  London Games Festival
  The London Games Festival is an annual video gaming festival for both consumers and trade specialists. Many changes to the structure and management of the Festival have taken place since last year, making it easier to get involved and offering more PR and consumer-focused opportunities to...
  
  .