Ukie 2021 Annual Review

2021
annual review

2 | Annual Review 2021
DR JO TWIST OBE
CEO
Ukie
STUART DINSEY
Ukie Chair
Chairman, Curve Digital
ADAM CAMPBELL
Director of Product
Azoomee
RANJANI NATARAJAN
Senior Producer
Robot Teddy
NINA COLLINS
Production Manager
Auroch Digital
HARINDA SANGHA
Operations Director
Sumo Digital
JONATHAN EDWARDS
Head of Sales
Warner Bros
KIRSTY RIGDEN
Operations Director
Futurlab
KATHERINE BIDWELL
Co-Founder
State of Play Games
MARIA SAYANS
CEO
ustwo games
ANDY TOMLINSON
Electronic Arts
Director of Public Policy
TIM WOODLEY
Head of Publishing
Hello Games
HELEN BURNILL
Founder
EMP
LI MA
Director of UK and Ireland
Tencent
GISELLE STEWART
Director, UK Corporate Affairs
Ubisoft
CONTENTS
04
Chair’s Report
06
CEO’s Report
08
Your voice in Parliament: Policy & Public Affairs
10
Telling Our Story
12
Data driven stories: Insight & Innovation
16
At your service: Membership & Commercial
18
Protecting your business: Intellectual Property
20
#RaiseTheGame
22
Tackling climate change and sustainability

24
Levelling up skills: Education
26
Member Groups
27
Your Ukie Team
OUR INITIATIVES
BOARD MEMBERS
Front cover – Designed by Atomhawk
DAVE GOULD
Ukie Vice Chair, Snr Director of
Sales UK & Export, Take 2 Interactive
DEBBIE BESTWICK MBE
CEO
Team17
SEAN BRENNAN
European Managing Director
ZeniMax Bethesda
JAMES BUTCHER
Xbox UK and Ireland
Category Director, Microsoft
MARK COX
European Director of Brand
Riot Games
ANDY DAVIS
Commercial Director
Capcom Europe
ANGELA DICKSON
GM, UK and Ireland
Activision Blizzard
LIZ FITZGERALD
Ukie Treasurer, Director of Finance
and Operations, Sony UK
DES GAYLE
Founder and Producer
Altered Gene
THOMAS HEGARTY
Production and Finance Director
Roll7
PHIL MANSELL
CEO
JAGEX
PAUL METCALFE
eCommerce Director
Nintendo

4 | Annual Review 2021 Annual Review 2021 | 5

This is my final report as chair of the Ukie board. I’ve served
as chair for two years and on the board for seven years,
which means it’s time for me to step down. But whilst it’s
sad to leave this role, I do so knowing that Ukie is in a strong
position, in capable hands and effectively representing our
fantastic sector.

The two years I’ve served as chair have been eventful to say
the least. After over three decades in the games industry, I
know there’s never a dull moment. But never have external
influences affected us all so much.

My term began as the DCMS Select Committee Inquiry
into Immersive and Addictive Technologies published
its findings on loot boxes, which will conclude with the
publication of a Call for Evidence around them.

The repercussions of coronavirus have shaped everyone’s
lives and businesses, making it a uniquely challenging
time. This has been reflected in Ukie’s operations. The
cancellation of global B2B events and reduction in normal
domestic activity has reduced overall revenue. But industry
engagement and breadth of initiatives has widened to
provide extra values to members.

Revenue to March 31st 2021 reduced by 11% year-on-year,
whilst profit increased from a marginal loss to a
£130,154 profit. This is forecast to reduce again in
FY22 with uncertainty around the long-term
impact of both the pandemic and increased
numbers of mergers and acquisitions in
the sector.

It’s satisfying, however, that the industry
emerged from the crisis with credit.
Games companies didn’t just face up to
the challenges of Covid; they rode them
out in a way that
no other sector could imagine possible.

We all benefited from increased consumer
interest in games, with the wider market in the
UK reaching £7bn in 2020 as a new generation of
players took up the hobby during lockdown. The ability to
create great work from our homes, grow our businesses and
continue to entertain players through a miserable time for
most has put wind into the industry’s sails.
Alongside this growth, I’m pleased to say that Ukie
membership has exceeded over 500 companies for the
first time in its history, rising from 496 members to 526 at
the time of writing. This is testament to the hard work of the
team, delivering services of real value and appeal to games
businesses of all sizes and specialisms.

Serving such a large membership means it’s more important
than ever that our talented board members can provide
guidance, advice and accountability to Jo and all of her
team throughout the year.
That support has been provided by a number of board
members whose terms end alongside mine. I’d like to extend
thanks to Andy Davis, David Gould, Helen Burnill, Katherine
Bidwell, Kirsty Rigden, Mark Cox, Paul Metcalfe and Sean
Brennan for their efforts on behalf of Ukie and the
wider membership.
It’s essential that we have a strong trade body that’s capable
of speaking on behalf of all members and the entirety of our
diverse industry. I feel proud to have been able to play my
own small part in helping Ukie be that strong voice of the
industry and I wish my successor the very best in
continuing that work in the coming years.
Chair’s Report
Stuart Dinsey – Chairman, Curve Digital
Games companies
didn’t just face up
to the challenges of
Covid; they rode them
out in a way that no
other sector could
imagine possible.
STUART DINSEY – CHAIRMAN, CURVE DIGITAL

6 | Annual Review 2020 Annual Review 2020 | 7

Dr. Jo Twist OBE – CEO, Ukie
Has the games industry ever had a year like the last one?
I know that in previous editions I’ve spoken about how fast
moving the industry can be, but the last 12 months have
been some of the busiest I’ve seen in my time as CEO.
It’s impossible to reflect on this time without thinking about
the pandemic’s impact on our lives. Our review last year
covered the first lockdown; the past twelve months saw the
country go through two further lockdowns, with roughly a
third of that time spent indoors under the strictest
of conditions.
This led to a boom in the consumer market for games. For
companies across the UK, this was positive news. But the
boom coincided with a number of wider developments that
could shape the industry for many years to come.
First, the new console generation arrived. The release of the
PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S ignited the imagination of
players across the country (and kept them refreshing their
web browsers on many mornings).

We saw a wave of mergers and acquisitions
across the UK industry as the value
of our sector was recognised in
an unprecedented way. Both the
acquisition of Codemasters and Sumo
Digital by EA and Tencent made the
headlines as the business clout of our
industry was finally recognised.
We continued to engage with politicians
on some of the key regulatory issues
of the day as interest in the sector
grows. Alongside actively supporting the
Government’s call for evidence around loot
boxes, we’ve fought for the industry’s voice to be
heard on everything from online safety to the way
influencers shape the modern economy.

And we maintained our usual programme of activities, even
during a strange period for us all. As well as continuing our
work in promoting industry careers, producing world class
data and insight and supporting business growth , we also
maintained our approach to fostering safe and sensible
play, building a more diverse industry and even added
environmental responsibility to our work.

For all this, I must extend my thanks to the Ukie team.
They’ve worked extraordinarily hard under trying
circumstances to do the best for a sector that they clearly
love and working with such passionate people is a privilege.
I also must thank our outgoing board members and
particularly our outgoing chair, Stu Dinsey. He has been a
firm champion for the industry and a source of immense
support – and reassuring challenge – during the past
two years.
But most of all, I have to thank you, our members, for the
role you play in supporting our work. Your hard work, the
support you provide to your communities and the backing
you give to us makes our job of showcasing the UK as the
best place to make, play and sell games both easy and,
regularly, a delight. We’re grateful as ever for your support
and look forward to calling upon it further in, hopefully, a
slightly more normal year next time round.
DR JO TWIST – CEO UKIE
CEO’s Report the last 12 months
have been some of the
busiest I’ve seen in my
time as CEO.

8 | Annual Review 2021 Annual Review 2021 | 9
These are indeed strange times. This
time last year we were reflecting on
the previous twelve months. Twelve
months in which the world was
turned up-side down.

The industry had embraced a whole
new way of working, seemingly
overnight, and at Ukie we were making
new relationships with policy makers
as the landscape continued to shift.
Since then, we have gone through one
of the most intense periods of work for
some time.

Games have provided millions around
the world with entertainment, offered
connection with the outside world,
forged new relationships, provided
the basis for education and home
schooling and generally brought
people together – but with this
increased focus new challenges
and scrutiny has followed.
The Government has been developing
an Online Safety Bill for some time
and Ukie first responded to the green
paper consultation in 2019.

A white paper followed in 2020
with the Government publishing its
findings in December. The process is
currently in pre-legislative scrutiny as
it prepares to make its way
through Parliament.

The Online Safety Bill will have
significant impact on the sector. In
Ofcom we will have a new regulator
to work with and the draft legislation
imposes a duty of care on digital
service providers to moderate user-
generated content in a way that
prevents users from being exposed to
illegal and/or harmful material online.

We have also seen the Age-
Appropriate Design Code from the
ICO (Information Commissioners
Office) enter its implementation
period before becoming fully live
in September.

Ukie have developed a strong
relationship with the ICO over recent
months organising briefings, webinars
and assisting with developing
draft guidance to support games
companies with complying with the
code. The 15 principles within the code
will also have implications for how the
Online Safety work progresses.
In September 2020 the Department
for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
(DCMS launched a call for evidence
on the impact of loot boxes. The call
ran until November and attracted
over 30,000 responses, which was a
surprise to the DCMS.

What was less of a surprise was the
fact that not all of the responses were
positive. Through our Policy Group
and a specially established Loot Box
Group, working closely with PEGI and
ISFE and other trade bodies, Ukie has
and continues to liaise with DCMS,
including meeting with ministers,
to develop a position which aims
to address some of the concerns
emerging from the evidence.
Ukie continue as the Secretariat
for the APPG for Video Games and
Esports and we were delighted to
confirm at the AGM in April that Alex
Sobel MP would be continuing in his
role as Chair. We were also pleased to
welcome new members to the group
as well as those returning.
The full line up is now: Alex Sobel MP
(Chair), Daniel Zeichner MP, Jonathan
Gullis MP, Sharon Hodgson MP, Matt
Western MP, Owen Thompson MP,
Dehenna Davison MP, Fleur Anderson
MP, Christian Wakeford MP, Lord
Clement-Jones, Lord Taylor of
Warwick, and Lord Vaizey of Didcot.
The APPG held its first meeting of
the new term focussing on the impact
of the industry, both economically,
regionally, and culturally, setting the
scene for future sessions of the group
and as we build towards the return of
Westminster Games Day, which will
now be a week long, in the Autumn.
In addition to our work through the
APPG, Ukie continue to engage with
MPs, peers, and policy makers at the
highest level. Over the course of the
year, we have met with MPs and peers
from all the major parties covering
topics from local growth to console
scalping, trade deals, player safety,
loot boxes, education and skills,
public funding and the importance
of Video Game Tax Relief, R&D tax
reliefs and the UK Games Fund. We
have sat down with ministers from
DCMS, Trade, Business and Treasury
briefing on the significant role the
games industry has in our economy,
particularly post pandemic and how
Government policies can best
support us.

We have also continued to engage
with officials across the key
departments and regulators, forging
new relationships as well as building
on existing ones. Through the Policy
Group we have provided guest slots
for the Gambling Commission, Ofcom,
the ICO, DCMS, Unicef, Home Office
and the National Crime Agency.

We also represented games through
a series of forums including the
Creative Industries Council (and
its many working groups), and the
Government’s Trade Advisory Group.

As we move towards the Autumn,
we look forward to delivering a long
overdue Westminster Games activity
which will focus on the key issues
impacting the sector as we (hopefully)
emerge from a covid and
Brexit hangover.
Over the last 12 months
we have responded to the
following consultations
and inquiries:
• Petitions Committee – Tackling
online abuse
• Treasury Select Committee – Tax
after Coronavirus
• Labour Party – Our Digital Future
• Committees on Advertising
Practice (CAP) – In-game
purchasing guidance
• BEIS – Subsidy Control – designing
a new approach for the UK
• DCMS – Loot box Call for Evidence
• HM Treasury – R&D Tax Reliefs
• Migration Advisory Committee
(MAC)
• Covid-19 Committee – Living online:
the long-term impact of wellbeing
• Competition and Market Authority
(CMA) – Green Claims
draft guidance
• House of Lords EU sub-services
Committee – Inquiry into Trade
in Services
If you’d like to find out more about
the work of the policy team, please
get in touch with Tim and Grace
through tim@ukie.org.uk and
grace@ukie.org.uk respectively.
Online Safety, loot boxes
and the Children’s Code
All-Party Parliamentary Group
for Video Games and Esports
Introduction
Your voice in Parliament:
Policy & Public Affairs
with this increased
focus new challenges and
scrutiny has followed

Annual Review 2021 | 11 10 | Annual Review 2021
The practicalities of lockdown life, and the exhortations across society to stay
at home, meant that games became a central part of existing and new players
alike – helping to bring comfort and strengthen social connections across the UK.
For all the challenges posed by the past 12 months, it’s
difficult to understate how much the past year has seen
a positive shift to the perception of games within the UK.
Telling Our Story
Following the successes of our
campaigns in the first lockdown, the
industry redoubled its efforts to bring
players support and comfort through
the worst of the crisis.
Games companies provided extensive
support for mental health charities
and campaigns. An animated Captain
Tom strode round the BT Tower for the
#LetsTalkLoneliness activity, thanks
to work from Ukie member AtomHawk
(who also designed this year’s Annual
Review front cover). Games com –
panies inserted Every Mind Matters
messaging into games in January to
help sign post players to mental health
resources with the onset of the third
wearisome lockdown.
We also worked with Mediatonic and
a wealth of big names across the
industry, such as Troy Baker, to raise
thousands of pounds for mental health
causes including Safe in our World
and the Campaign Against Living
Miserably (CALM).

The benefits of
responsible play

We also continued our work to make
games a source of safe fun for players
of all ages. Our Get, Set, Go! cam –
paign, an offshoot of our ongoing Get
Smart About PLAY campaign, advised
families on how to activate spending,
content and screen time controls
on new consoles.
Alongside this, we continued to work
closely with journalists on a range of
topics that can prove challenging to
address including gaming disorder,
loot boxes and wider concerns
about spending. There has also been
ongoing additional investment into
askaboutgames.com to ensure it is
truly a hub of information for par –
ents. Andy Robertson, our resident
family games expert, has helped us
significantly broaden our advice on
using family settings on devices and
provided deeper dives into the games
that families are talking about.
We’ve also continued to support
the Family Game Database. Initially
launched in beta during the first
lockdown, Ukie support for the site
has helped the resource to evolve
to provide extensive details on age
ratings, accessibility and like for like
recommendations for over
1000 games.
As ever, approaching these concerns
passionately, informing players of
measures they can take already to
protect themselves but still listening
closely to worries remains the best
way to deal with these problems
Games on the up

With our consumer games market
valuation showing the industry has hit
a record value of £7bn in 2020 and
becoming the focus of a lengthy piece
celebrating that on the BBC News, it’s
clear that games are on the up in
the UK.
Our aim in the communications team
is to continue to demonstrate that
without losing sight of our shared
values and responsibilities as a sector.
As we step out from some regulatory
challenges, we’re looking to celebrate
in the coming months our industry’s
regional economic success story, its
continued responsibility on equality,
diversity and inclusivity and the care
we have for our players.
But we’re also looking forward to
telling new and, as always with the
industry, rapidly evolving stories. The
industry’s burgeoning commitment
to battling climate change, as shown
by our associate membership of the
UN’s Playing for the Planet initiative,
demonstrates the ways that we’re
constantly looking for new ways to
show the part games play in society.
Most importantly of all, we can’t do
this alone. While we represent games
businesses collectively, creating great
partnerships with specific companies,
charities or organisations helps us to
turn disparate trends or narratives
into understandable stories that can
resonate with people across
the country.
Naturally, the Ukie team is here to
help do that. We were pleased to
welcome Louisa Keight as our new
Communications and Content Officer,
following on from the work of John
Parry who has moved onto
pastures new.
But if you’d like to help us tell those
stories, please contact George
Osborn, our Head of Campaigns
and Communications, at
george@ukie.org.uk

A force for good
during COVID
it’s clear that games are
on the up in the UK

12 | Annual Review 2021 Annual Review 2021 | 13
As we all know, games have been
an essential support and lifeline for
many people during the last year. Even
so, few of us would have predicted
the unprecedented figures we saw
in Ukie’s annual consumer market
valuation, showing that in 2020 the
overall UK games market grew a
staggering 30% from the previous
year to reach a record £7bn in
consumer spend.
A combination of housebound
customers, a new console generation,
a shift to hybrid work / leisure PC
setups, new VR headsets and a wealth
of new innovative games saw booms
across virtually every aspect of the
sector, with even physical software
sales growing as consumers turned to
mail order as high streets closed.

Game software sales increased by
18% to £4.6bn, hardware soared 61%
to £2.3bn and our wider measurement
of game “culture” – game-related
products and events – reached a new
high of £199m thanks to the inclusion
of streaming revenues for the
first time.
With the need for improved industry
data, much of the last 12 months has
been spent developing larger projects
to tackle forthcoming data challenges.
Having launched the original UK
Games Map in September 2016, five
years later it’s time for a revamp, and
so we’ve been steadily developing
a new, improved map that seeks to
address many of the difficulties that
became apparent in the original
version. Funded via the BFI, the new
Games Map data has already been
a critical component of our work on
those key economic figures around
employment, contribution to GDP and
productivity that are crucial assets in
the story of the UK industry’s success.
As well as those wider industry figures,
this data also feeds in to work to
assess the economic impacts and
benefits brought by the Video Game
Tax Relief and our continued efforts to
sustain and improve the relief for
UK businesses.
Assets like the Games Map are
essential in reliably measuring our
sector, partly due to the relatively
poor way the industry is supported by
official measures such as Standard
Industrial Classification codes. While
official business classification is
perhaps one of the driest and most
bewilderingly complex subjects
around, Ukie has undertaken
significant work with other creative
sectors, DCMS and ONS (Office of
National Statistics) to propose a new
structure for SICs to better serve the
games industry in future.
That kind of cross-sector
collaboration is also a core part of our
work, to build bridges and support the
broader creative and tech industries,
share insight and knowledge and,
where possible, to act with a single
voice around key issues. The Ukie
Insight team are long-standing
members of many cross-sector
working groups and boards, including
the BFI’s Research and Data Advisory
Group, the Creative Industries
Council R&D Working group and
the StoryFutures and StoryFutures
Academy boards.
We’ve also expanded our roster of
academic partnerships over the last
12 months, with new Inclusivity and
Onscreen Representation projects
underway with the University of York
and Teesside University respectively.
As you would expect, these projects
aim to provoke meaningful change in
our sector and join the University of
Sheffield-led biennial Industry Census
in our continuing work to improve our
insight into these areas.
However, as we look to the years
ahead, we must recognise that the
games industry is only going to grow
and diversify, with new technologies,
social change, evolving business
models and innovative content driving
us forward and expanding our already
substantial horizons.

From a research point of view, the
challenge therefore will be to continue
to expand our remit to meet these
needs, to improve the ways we collect
and maintain data about our sector
and to find new and different ways to
tell the myriad stories our industry has
to offer.

It’s certainly a challenge we relish,
but it’s not one we can meet alone
– support, data, participation and
commitment from our members will
be critical in that journey. The future,
as they say, is in your hands.
The insight and data we hold about
our sector not only tells us about
the games industry today but is an
essential guide to how we shape
its future.

Robust evidence is critical to our
political and policy work and forms
the basis of our influence with
Government, whether local
or national.
Our members rely on the insights we
can provide and regularly come to us
with questions ranging from where in
the UK they should open a new studio,
through to what spicy detail they can
add as that final finishing touch to a
pitch deck.
As well as those essential economic
and market figures, Ukie’s research
also looks inward at the industry,
whether to understand the
classification of business data in
official sources, the make-up of the
UK games workforce such as our
biennial Industry Census, or to lend
our resources to new research into
important areas such as inclusivity
or representation.

To meet these ever-expanding
challenges, we were excited to be
able to expand our insight team in
2020, bringing in Colm Seeley as
an extra pair of extra hands (and,
importantly, brain) to help us deliver
against these important objectives.
Data driven stories:
Insight & Innovation
much of the last 12 months has been spent
developing larger projects to tackle
forthcoming data challenges

14 | Annual Review 2021 Annual Review 2021 | 15
International trade
Despite the restrictions on travel, the
demand to meet and engage with
overseas partners and to distribute
into new emerging markets has never
been stronger. Like many industries
we have been forced to move to a
series of digital solutions to facilitate
these connections.
Through our partnerships with
MeetToMatch and Gather.Town, Ukie
has been able to steer and support its
members to high quality, high-return
events where serendipitous meetings
still flourish alongside the
planned schedule.

Indeed, by embracing virtual events
we have been able to start new
programmes to help UK companies
access the opportunities that exist in
Japan and Latin America.

When physical events return, Ukie will
blend major physical trade shows with
a virtual offering using the skills and
knowledge we have gained.
National trade programme

The reduction in physical international
trade shows has also driven Ukie to
expedite and expand the delivery of
its national trade programme. This
exciting series of business support
services and events ensures UK
games businesses are ready and able
to access and maximise the impact of
investment and partnerships.
The Hub Crawl 2021 ,
themed around the lifecycle of a
games business, set new landmarks
for engagement. We had an incredible
1,150 unique attendees throughout
this 12-date series of events. The
video content published online after
the events also greatly exceeded all
previous Ukie event viewing numbers.
Our brand-new Games Scale Up
programm e, delivered in partnership
with Creative England has quickly
become the benchmark for the
industry. The games sector is growing
fast, but access to expert business
knowledge remains a challenge.

This outstanding new programme
was run in stealth mode in 2020
and helped 15 UK games companies
accelerate their business capacity and
build essential business knowledge.

Its success has led to additional
expansion and investment in the
programme, with two further cohorts
of businesses at differing stages of
development set to be supported
in 2021.

The commercial team had some fun
with our new events UK Game of
the Show and EuroPlay towards the
end of 2020 and have dovetailed this
series for 2021 into the expanding
Dev:Pub service.
Dev:Pub is entirely focussed on
showcasing the amazing output from
UK games makers and ensuring it
is presented to publishers and
platforms for collaboration and
commercial deals.

A new series of quarterly showcases,
supported by pitching opportunities
and one to one introductions, will give
UK developers the perfect platform
for promotion whilst giving publishers
and platforms access to a raft of the
best UK made content.
Innovation and
communication
We have expanded our agreement
with GSD (Games Sales Data) and
now supply games sales data for eight
major markets, whilst also giving many
Ukie members access to digital sales
data for the first time. In Q2 2021 we
launched a new Retail Price Tracking
tool to help companies assess retail
and promotional pricing of their, and
their competitors’, games.
Our Intellectual Property products
have more member users than ever
(this is a free service for members)
and our currency exchange service
doubled its customer base in the
past 12 months. Our membership
team have also changed the way we
communicate with our members. Our
virtual drop-ins and cohort meetings
proved to be extremely popular and
will be expanded in 2021-22.

Our new monthly summary
newsletter, which collates all the
weekly communications, has been a
vital catch-all, single-read summary
for members. Expect to see a
continued evolution in our members
communications as we add podcasts
and more dynamic tools in the
year ahead.
For more information on
these services, and any other
membership activity, please
contact sam@ukie.org.uk and
leon@ukie.org.uk
At your service:
Membership &
Commercial
The incredible innovation and ambition of the people and
companies we are fortunate enough to support through
membership has driven our own team, who directly
service you as members with services and products,
to new heights this past year.
Over the last 12 months, we have trialled new products and services,
experimented with different delivery methods and engaged with members
across a raft of new and varied platforms. It has not all worked out perfectly
first time, of course. However, the team have iterated and experimented
until we have found processes that work for our members.

16 | Annual Review 2021 Annual Review 2021 | 17
Over the last 18 months there was a
significant increase in people visiting
websites making available all forms
of infringing content. People at home
were not only looking for content
to play, watch and listen to, but also
in game items, mods and cheats,
resulting in a surge of site traffic which
has, fortunately, slowly decreased as
people return to working from
an office.
The IP Scanning service has been
vital in helping members protect
their IP during this period. With traffic
to most of the popular illegal game
download sites up by 30-50%, more
people than ever were looking to play
without paying. Sites quickly realised
new visitors wanted both new and
old titles, which meant an increase in
the volume of links removed over the
12-month period.

We took down over half a million
infringing links at an overall takedown
rate of 80%, which is higher than
for other content types across the
creative industries. In addition to
removing links, we also shut down
websites through takedown requests
and rapid removal of game
files – depriving users of games to
download and encouraging them
to turn away from those providers.
We also monitored marketplaces
for the unauthorised selling of
digital goods and account sharing.
We removed over 25,000 listings
– preventing the sale of items and
accounts valued at over £150m; an
enormous effort to protect
members’ IP.
Members have also used the YouTube
scanning service to identify videos
claiming to offer free downloads or
posting leaked content. Accessed via
the Content Manager tool, videos are
removed in seconds rather than hours
to prevent the uploader profiting from
ad revenue or clicks to
infringing websites.

This also stops players downloading
malware or spyware bundled game
files from such sites, preventing harm
for them and preserving the brand of
the game.
Ukie is ensuring that the games sector
is represented, and the UK is leading
the global fight against IP theft to
ensure all major platforms are free
from infringement and safe
for consumers.
To find out more about the work we
do or want to sign up for the Scanning
service, contact mo@ukie.org.uk
Protecting your business:
Intellectual Property
Challenging year with an increase
in traffic to infringing websites
we took down over half a million
infringing links at an overall
takedown rate of 80%

18 | Annual Review 2021 Annual Review 2021 | 19
he 2021 London Games Festival ,
in its 6th edition, was delivered
as an online, digital event from
19 – 28 March.

Over 10 days, the festival put together
its most diverse and accessible
programme yet, with 100s of games
creators from around the world
participating across the business
and consumer strands with free
talks, events and video programming
available online to the public. This
year saw the inclusion of a brand new
LGF Official Showcase featuring
40 games from around the world
representing quality, innovation and
diversity focused on four themes:
Made In London, Narrative Excellence,
International Innovators and
Pick Up And Play.

The games were presented through a
dedicated showcase and World Stage
site with an accompanying short doc
developer commentary for each
team presenting.
A year of remote working through
lockdown provided an opportunity
to catch up with the 20/21 Ensemble
cohort, as Games London ran a series
of one-to-one interviews with the
key talent in its exhibition focusing
on Black, Asian and marginalised
ethnicities working in games.
The Ensemble Salons were refreshed
and re-aired for the festival with a live,
interactive exhibition taking place
across two sites in the City of London
through August 2021.
The London Games Festival brought a
focus on the climate crisis – a very real
challenge the industry like the world
is facing. In partnership with Playing
for the Planet and industry-leading
contributors, Games London and Ukie
launched the Green Games Guide ; a
first step effort to inform and highlight
how the games sector can commit to
change and become more sustainable.

Once again, the festival included key
partner events observing the wide-
ranging content the games sector has
to offer with the return of Now Play
This – delivered digitally and featuring
25 games reflecting the climate crisis.
The annual BAFTA Games Awards
was broadcast during the festival –
free to view online, celebrating the
achievements of outstanding titles
released over the past year.

The public-facing LGF content was
also underpinned by a major business-
to-business offer that saw hundreds
of professionals log on for video
meetings, pitches to investors
and networking.
The Games Finance Market featured
60+ major global funds and publishers
meeting pre-selected studios from
London, UK and around the world
looking to get new games financed.
The London Games Festival is part of
Games London, an initiative delivered
by Film London and Ukie and funded
by the Mayor of London.
its most diverse and
accessible programme yet
Celebrating the capital:
London Games Festival

20 | Annual Review 2021 Annual Review 2021 | 21
#RaisetheGame
Ukie’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) work,
which aims to ensure the industry is as accessible and
inclusive as possible for everyone, has truly come into
its own and expanded during the last year.
The release of the UK Games Industry Census has
made waves in the industry. As well as being a first of
its kind resource, creating a firm foundation of data
about diversity within the industry, its findings have
influenced companies to look at their EDI efforts and
consider how they can incorporate it into everything
they do.
Ukie’s flagship EDI initiative, the #RaiseTheGame
pledge , has only gone from strength to strength, even
amidst the challenges of the pandemic, thanks to the
support of the Founding Pledge partners – Electronic
Arts, Facebook Gaming, Jagex, King and Xbox and
more industry partners coming on board.
Raise the Game has thrived by putting on a range
of accessible activities and virtual events, raising
awareness around different diversity dimensions
through content as well as supporting organisations
with advice and guidance behind the scenes.

Much of this was reflected in the one year on report,
which demonstrated how the pledge was leading to
practical changes in businesses. And the value of the
pledge can be seen in the number of companies which
have recognised its worth , with over 140 companies
supporting the initiative.
This demand has meant there has been a natural
need for a dedicated resource to support the pledge.
This year we welcomed Dom Shaw to the team to be
full-time EDI Coordinator so we can invest dedicated
effort, focus and time to all this work and to give
members a firm anchor of support around important
matters associated with EDI.

Ukie’s partnership with Into Games has also yielded
further opportunity to improve industry diversity.
Schemes like the Video Game Ambassador initiative
and Kickstart have helped inspire change and broaden
routes of entry into the industry.

We have also worked with a range of partners to
ensure that credible EDI related training can be
offered to the games industry at affordable rates. This
helps companies to foster inclusive cultures, further
deepening diverse practices in the sector.

Ukie aims to continue and expand its EDI work to
support our overall mission is to make the UK games
industry the best place to make, sell and play games.
If you’d like to support our efforts, please email
Dom Shaw at dom@ukie.org.uk for more
information on how.
the value of the pledge can be seen in the
number of companies which have recognised
its worth , with over 140 companies
supporting the initiative.

22 | Annual Review 2021
Tackling climate change
and sustainability
The games industry, with its boundless creativity, its constantly
evolving interaction with technology and its ability to reach and
inspire a global audience of billions has the potential to make a
significant impact on both how climate change is perceived by
the global games playing community and in how we tackle it.
We’re already seeing evidence of the
impact of global warming in the form
of increased ice sheet melt, flooding or
forest fires, and the UN and the wider
science community are clearly saying
that 2030 is now a key date by which
the planet must have had a significant
reduction in CO2 output.
Last year, we established a dedicated
sustainability work strand to help
companies think about how they can
be more sustainable, reduce their
emissions and inspire games players
to think about climate change.
As a starting point to demonstrate our
commitment to this invaluable work,
Ukie is committing to going carbon net
zero by the end of 2022, by reducing
our carbon emissions and offsetting
what we can’t cut or avoid, and we
want to help the wider industry think
about how they can do this by
2030 too.
And to help encourage individual
games businesses to reduce their
carbon emissions, we have produced
our Green Games Guide to show them
ways that they can do this, both in
areas that they directly control, such
as their offices, and those that they
indirectly impact, such as the energy
use of their games being played.
Our sector’s commitment to changing
how we make, sell and provide ways
for people to play games is vital.
But we also have the opportunity to
influence the ways that billions of
games players around the world view
the environment and the impact that
they have on it.
The goals above are key elements
of the UN’s Playing For The Planet
Alliance and that’s why we’ve joined
them as Associate members as a sign
of our commitment to change and
as another way to start discussions
on a wider global level to collectively
making a difference.
And we’re doing more work to raise
awareness of the role that the games
sector can have in tackling climate
change by hosting an international
Green Games Summit in October
and by having a presence at COP26
climate change summit.
Our Sustainability Group is the place
where members can come together
and shape this important work. Please
contact daniel@ukie.org.uk if you
want to join the conversation about
games and sustainability.
There is a need for urgency!
Ukie is committing to going carbon
net zero by the end of 2022

24 | Annual Review 2021 Annual Review 2021 | 25
September 2020 saw the official
launch of the Ukie Education identity
and along with it the launch of the
new Ukie Education Member Group.
Since then, our education work has
grown from strength to strength, with
each of our initiatives continuing
to work together to support young
talent in what must be one of the most
challenging years in the history
of education.
The Ukie Education Member Group
has already tackled several key issues
in its first year. With over 60 members
from both industry and education,
the group has talked about accessible
education, effects of the pandemic,
creative education and the skills and
policy agenda amongst many others.
The Devices For All campaign
launched successfully in February
and seeks to encourage the video
games industry to donate their unused
technology to support underprivileged
schools and families. If you haven’t
signed up yet, then we sincerely
encourage you to do so.
The Ukie Student Membership
programme is now in its eighth year
and continues to adapt in order to
ensure students from both FE and HE
receive the best possible insights
and opportunities.

The student member count grew
30% this year, now catering to over
3,900 students from across 36 of
the UK’s foremost games courses.
The programme provides students
with exclusive opportunities such
as events, resources, insights, video
content, discounts and access to
industry internships to help them
move into their first role in industry.

The shift to digital events this year
has meant that on top of our core
programme events such as the
student conferences and student
game jams, students have been able
to be part of core industry events such
as the Ukie Hub Crawl.

This year, the programme was
supported by Hi-Rez Studios and
long-time partner Epic Games. In
addition to this, Ukie Student received
overwhelming support from industry
in providing speakers for both
conferences and mentors for both
game jams.
Digital Schoolhouse (DSH) together
with Nintendo UK, has reached
7,873 pupils, 765 teachers and 158
schools this year. Our network of
Schoolhouses continues to positively
impact young people through our
hybrid model of teaching virtual
and physical workshops, as well as
participating in international game-
making challenges such as the Mobo
Game Jam.
Delivered in collaboration with
Kucheza Gaming, the game jam
attracted over 1,000 registrations
from the UK and Nigeria and secured
over 1,200 public votes in the virtual
final. The international event was
a catalyst for cultural exchange by
promoting inclusivity, sustainability
and humanity in contenders’
game ideas.
The finale of 2020’s DSH Super Smash
Bros. Ultimate Team Battle took place
online, in November. Hosted by Alysia
Judge, Nimmz and Bowie, the event
vibrated with excitement, where we
debuted our first careers panel in
Animal Crossing: New Horizons. We
reached 10,000 students, 1,100 teams
and 69 schools across the UK.
Levelling
up skills:
Education
UkieEdu Ukie Students
Digital Schoolhouse The Video Game Ambassadors
programme has seen major
growth since its relaunch in 2020,
in partnership with Into Games.
The programme now boasts 503
members, making it the UK’s largest
active volunteer network for games
industry staff supporting educational
institutions directly in the delivery of
career talks, mentorship programmes,
game jams and one-off masterclasses.

Since our last report, we have seen
a rise of 460% in schools and other
educational institutions using the
platform to seek help, giving the
VGAs a reach to over 100,000 young
people. The VGAs are now a core part
of the delivery process for dozens of
college game design courses, being
called, “invaluable” and “essential” by
a number of institutions in our most
recent impact assessment.

In May we launched the VGA 1K
campaign, to get to 1000 members by
the end of 2021. Our diversity statistics
continue to be above the current
industry levels, with VGAs from
underrepresented genders
representing 42.7% of our members,
while 16.2% are from Black, Asian,
and minority ethnic backgrounds.
As we progress into 2022 we hope to
improve these statistics even further.

If you’d like to find out more
about the scheme and sign
up as an ambassador, head to
gamesambassadors.org.uk
Video Game Ambassadors
Digital Schoolhouse
(DSH) together with
Nintendo UK, has
reached 7,873 pupils,
765 teachers and 158
schools this year

26 | Annual Review 2021 Annual Review 2021 | 27
Communications
The Communications group looks
at Ukie’s communications output,
with particular focus on how the
organisation interacts with press
and manages publicity campaigns.
Administered by: George Osborn
Contact: george@ukie.org.uk

Education
The Education group helps to
steer Ukie’s education initiatives.
Membership is open to people in
games interested in education, as well
as practitioners in schools
and universities.
Administered by: Shahneila Saaed
Contact: shaneila@ukie.org.uk
Equality, Diversity
and Inclusion (EDI)
The EDI group is dedicated to
improving equality, diversity
and inclusion within the industry
and shapes Ukie’s approach on
EDI matters. It also supports the
#RaiseTheGame pledge work.
Administered by: Dom Shaw
Contact: dom@ukie.org.uk
Esports
The esports group shapes Ukie’s
position on the growing sector. The
group’s priorities are to drive the
commercial success of esports in the
UK, promote the unique contribution
of the companies that operate within
it and to support and shape
policy recommendations.
Administered by: Sam Collins
Contact: sam@ukie.org.uk

Human Resources (HR)
The HR group helps provide Ukie with
guidance on a range of personnel and
operational matters.
Administered by: Grace Shin
Contact: grace@ukie.org.uk
Intellectual Property (IP)
The IP group supports Ukie’s work
protecting the Intellectual Property of
games businesses operating in the UK.
Administered by: Mo Ali
Contact: mo@ukie.org.uk
Mixed Reality (MR)
The Mixed Reality group explores
Ukie’s work within the Virtual Reality
(VR) and Augmented Reality
(AR) sectors
Administered by: Leon Cliff
Contact: leon@ukie.org.uk
Mobile
This group helps provide unique
insight for Ukie from the mobile games
industry, helping shape specific
approaches for mobile only issues and
ensuring a voice for the
sector elsewhere.
Administered by: Leon Cliff
Contact: leon@ukie.org.uk

Policy and Public Affairs
The Policy and Public Affairs group
feeds into Ukie’s work with policy
makers and provides information
about developments in industry policy
Administered by: Tim Scott
Contact: tim@ukie.org.uk
Sustainability
The Sustainability group meets
to discuss, share information and
drive forward the UK games sector’s
response to climate change
and sustainability.
Administered by: Dan Wood
Contact: dan@ukie.org.uk
Member Groups
Ukie’s member groups allow Members to contribute ideas and oversight on
key areas of the organisation’s work. Run by individual team members, and
chaired by members, these groups provide regular communications and host
regular meetings to keep you informed – and allow you to participate – in
relevant discussions, debates and activities.
YOUR UKIE TEAM
DR JO TWIST
CEO
jo@ukie.org.uk
doctoe
KATIE DAVIES
Accounts and Finance Officer
katie@ukie.org.uk
@ukielex
SAM COLLINS
Head of Commercial
and Membership
sam@ukie.org.uk
ukiesam
@ukiesam
GEORGE OSBORN
Head of Campaigns
and Communications
george@ukie.org.uk
ukie_george
TIM SCOTT
Head of Policy & Public Affairs
tim@ukie.org.uk
ukietim
SHAHNEILA SAEED
Director Head of Education
Programme Director Digital Schoolhouse
shahneila@ukie.org.uk
shahneila1
@ukielex
LUKE HEBBLETHWAITE
Insight & Innovation Manager
luke@ukie.org.uk
ukieluke @ukieluke
LEON CLIFF
Member’s Relations Manager
leon@ukie.org.uk
ukieleon
LAURA MARTIN
Communications & Programme Manager
Digital Schoolhouse
laura@ukie.org.uk
ukielaura
GRACE SHIN
Policy and Public Affairs Manager
grace@ukie.org.uk
ukie_grace
SOPHIA AKER
Programme Coordinator
Digital Schoolhouse
sophia@ukie.org.uk
ukiesoph
ESTELLE ASHMAN
Curriculum Content Developer
estelle@ukie.org.uk
compsci_geek
MO ALI
Intellectual Property Co-ordinator
mo@ukie.org.uk
ukieluke
DOMINIC SHAW
EDI Co-ordinator
dom@ukie.org.uk
dominicshaw94
DANIEL WO O D
Special Projects Lead
daniel@ukie.org.uk
damelw
@DamelW
LOUISA KEIGHT
Communications and Content Officer
@ukie_louisa
KIRSTIE RUSSELL
Office Manager
kirstie@ukie.org.uk
ukiekirstie
COLM SEELEY
Industry Analyst

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