Government Backs World Investment Boost for Guildford’s Gaming Boom

Published on: 31 Oct, 2019
Updated on: 2 Nov, 2019

EA Games in Onslow Street a world-leading IT company in the gaming sector

Westminster plans to boost Guildford, now the thriving British centre of the video games boom, into international recognition and investment, backed by the Department for International Trade (DfIT).  

The government will promote the gaming industry overseas to attract foreign investment through its High Potential Opportunity Programme.

Cllr Caroline Reeves, leader of Guildford Borough Council, said: “Guildford has more than 30 years of history in the games industry and we are committed to supporting this dynamic sector in every way we can, along with partners at the University of Surrey and the EM3 Local Enterprise Partnership.

Kenny Young, winner of the 2019 Guildford Games Festival Creative award.

“Our town is an epicentre for the UK games industry, with more than 70 studios and 1,500 people, 10% of the UK games industry workforce, directly employed in the sector.

“The impact of gaming technologies in other fields such as healthcare (“gamification”) is making advances here too.

“Working with the Guildford games community, including EA, Media Molecule, Playsport, Arrogant Pixel, Opozo, nDreams, Supermassive Games, we recently held our first Guildford Gaming Festival.

“That highlighted the industry in our area and provided a chance for students to meet developers and college lecturers and talk about careers.”   The UK gaming sector is forecast to grow from £5.7bn in 2018 to more than £7bn by 2021.