Written question asked by Bill Olner (Labour) on Thursday, 24 January 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 28 January 2008. It was answered by Malcolm Wicks (Labour) on Monday, 18 February 2008 on behalf of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.

Video Games

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what estimate he has made of the market share of UK computer games developers in (a) the UK, (b) the US and (c) Europe in 2006-07.

Answer: The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform does not currently have access to figures giving the share of UK games developers of markets in Europe and the US in 2006-07. However, we are aware the market analysts ChartTrack estimate that in 2007 UK developers' share of the UK video games market was 19.2 per cent.To help address the lack of reliable data available on the UK computer games industry, in October 2007 UK Trade and Investment published ““Playing for Keeps””, a report by independent consultants Games Investor which includes a range of valuable new data on the competitiveness of the UK games sector compared to key competitor territories including the US and Canada. This research confirmed that the UK had the second largest number of games development studios, after the US, and was the fourth most revenue generative games development market in the world.

Secondary information