Mapping The UK Gaming Ecosystem

This blog post aims to give a general overview of the current UK Gaming ecosystem by mapping out the industry in 15 different categories. As this is my first extensive piece of content (and hopefully the first of many) covering the Gaming sector, I’d like to briefly introduce the history of this fascinating industry. If you consider yourself a gaming expert, you are more than welcome to jump straight to point 2.😎

1. Short History of Gaming 📜

Gaming as an industry has been around for decades since Physicist William Higinbotham created the first video game in 1958. We have seen the gaming industry go through many different phases throughout the years, from arcade and home console gaming to, most recently, mobile and VR/AR gaming.

Gaming has always been a growing industry, but it also had its up and downs. At the very beginning, from about 1970 to 1983, the industry grew exponentially, mainly thanks to the vast adoption of arcade machines. In fact, in the early ’80s, the gaming industry was already generating more revenue than the pop music and movie industries combined.

In the last 15 years of the millennium, from 1985 to 2000, the industry suffered some minor setbacks and reinvented itself. Arcade gaming wasn't generating as much revenue as it once was, as new accessible home consoles were available on the market. Players such as Nintendo, SEGA and Sony all entered the market. Competition forced old and new gaming companies to innovate and bring to market high-quality video-games and hardware. This period is often called “The Tech Advancement Race”.

However, the gaming industry's real exponential growth didn't happen until the beginning of the new millennium. Home consoles were becoming more popular and affordable, more and more households had PCs, and the Internet was officially mainstream. These factors allowed several companies to launch new online gaming products to market, such as Microsoft in 2001 with the Xbox Live online gaming platform and Blizzard in 2004 with World Of Warcraft, the first popular Massive Multiplayer Online Game that, at its peak, counted 14m monthly paying subscribers.

Everything changed again when, in 2007, Apple released the iPhone. Smartphones now allowed the gaming industry to reach an even bigger audience of potential customers and launch games to market with various revenue opportunities.

The Internet and the global mass adoption of consoles, PCs and smartphones and, more recently, streaming technology also paved the way for a subsector of the gaming industry to grow massively from early 2000 until now: competitive gaming, better known as Esports.

2. Mapping the UK Gaming Ecosystem 🇬🇧

The UK is home to some of the best gaming studios globally: Rockstars North, Codemasters, Criterion and Creative Assembly are just a few great examples. However, the strengths of the UK Gaming Ecosystem relies on its ability to diversify itself in multiple different ways. In fact, the UK is also home to many other gaming companies that support the ecosystem, from offering Fan Engagement solutions and Talent Platforms to Infrastructure based services.

But, when searching for exciting and innovative businesses in the Gaming industry, I realised that I couldn't find any resource or content that could easily map out the UK Gaming Ecosystem. So I decided to write this blog post.

3. Methodology 🔬

As I wanted to create an easy-to-understand mapping of the UK Gaming ecosystem, I didn't want to go down a rabbit hole and include every possible company. Therefore, I based my research on several rules.

Rule 1️⃣
I only included businesses that have their HQ in the UK. I also excluded businesses that are owned by companies located overseas, except for Esports teams.

Rule 2️⃣
Some of the businesses I listed offer multiple services and products in various categories. I decided to include them in one specific category only to keep the mapping clearer.

Rule 3️⃣
As mentioned, this mapping is not intended to include every single gaming business in the UK. The selection was mainly based on the familiarity and interest I have with each particular company.

If you prefer to have a quick look at the companies I have included in my mapping, you can have a look at this spreadsheet that I have put together. It includes the name of the businesses listed, a link to their website, the amount they have raised in funding, the investors that backed them and the stage these companies are in.

4. The UK Gaming Ecosystem 🎮

I have divided the Gaming ecosystem into 15 different categories and included some of the businesses that I find interesting for one reason or another. Below, you can find a short description of each of the 15 categories and a brief introduction to all 63 businesses listed.

1.Esports Teams 🏅
When competitive gaming became mainstream thanks to the Internet, to the mass adoption of Gaming Hardware (Consoles, Smartphones, PCs) and the rise of streaming technology, Esports teams were born. Some Esports teams nowadays count millions of fans and generate revenue through competitions, brand endorsements and merchandising. Some notable examples include:

• Fnatic: Founded in 2004, Fnatic now counts 55m global fans. The team competes in many different games but is mainly known for being a key team competing in League of Legends and Counter Strikes competitions.
• London Spitfire: Founded in 2017, London Spitfire is one of the founding members of the Overwatch League, the official competitive league of the game that carries the same name.
• Excel Esports: Better known now with their new name XL, the team mainly competes in League of Legends competitions. In January 2020, BT became the lead sponsor of the team.
• London Royal Ravens: Only launched in 2019, the team is already competing at the highest level in the Call of Duty League.
• Veloce Esports: Veloce is not just an esports team but a company that has racing innovation at its core. The company competes for both gaming racing and traditional racing. The Esports teams compete in the F1 and Gran Turismo racing games. In May 2020, McLaren announced a partnership with Veloce, where Veloce will develop and manage McLaren’s esports team.
• Diabolus Esports: The team initially played in the League of Legends competitions but most recently decided to switch to World of Warcraft and compete in the “Deathbowl” league.
• Endpoint: The organisation competes in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Rocket League, Quake and Rainbow 6 Siege. Endpoint as a team is best-known for being the most decorated UK Counter-Strike team ever.

2. Mobile Game Studios 📱
Mobile Gaming is currently overtaking console and PC gaming as Smartphones become more accessible and more powerful. Because of this, more and more gaming studios are focusing their efforts to create and publish mobile-only games. Some notable examples of Mobile Game Studios include:

• Bravo Company: The studio is best known for its game “Forces of Freedom”, a real-time 5vs5 multiplayer. The game has been downloaded more than 25m times, but in February 2020, the company announced that it would discontinue the game due to financial difficulties. However, Bravo also announced that the company is planning to release a premium offline game. Bravo also raised a further £800k ( on top of the £7.3m already raised in the past) in September 2020, so hopefully, we will soon see their most recent gaming creation.
• Playdemic: This studio made its fortune with one game: Golf Clash. The game was downloaded more than 10m times and won 3 major awards in 2018, including Best Game of the year at the BAFTA Awards. Brtish company TT Games now owns the studio.
• Team17: A PLC since 2018, Team17’s games have been played by millions of people around the globe. The most famous titles include Worms, Overcooked and My Time at Portia.
• Zillion Whales: The Studio it’s known for one game, in particular, Mushroom Wars. Millions of people played the game, and in 2017 it won several awards and was featured by Apple in the list“Best of 2017 on the App store”.
• Supersolid: Backed by leading VCs Initial Capital and Index, Supersolid launched to market several popular games, including Food Street and Snake Rivals. The latter won “Best Casual Game” at the 2019 TIGA’s awards.
• Viker: Viker develops a range of mobile games, focusing on puzzle games. The Studio also created the official “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” daily win the game. Players can show off their trivia knowledge by competing in daily quiz tournament and win real money.
• Another Place: The Studio focuses its efforts on creating role-play style games but also develops pure casual games. Another place made more than 80 mobile games so far, including titles such as BattleHand, Nail Hit! and Gun Runner!.

3. PC/Console Game Studios 🕹️
The UK always had a fantastic reputation with Traditional PC/Console game studios. Rockstar North (Rockstar Games), Codemasters (EA) and London Studio (Sony) are a great example of studios that became so successful that eventually got acquired by multinational companies. Below instead are some notable examples of fully UK based studios:

• 4J Studios: Scotland based 4J Studios focuses its development efforts on console games. Despite creating lots of games, including Start Trek Encounters, the studio is best known for creating the game Minecraft, console editions.
• PQube: The company creates, publishes and distributes games. PQube is widely known for creating captivating Indie games, mainly for consoles. Some well-known titles include GalGun, Chaos Child, Valkyrie Drive, Cat Quest, White Day and MotoGP.
• Bossa Studios: Backed by London Venture Partners, Atomico and NetEase, this studio started in 2011 to create games to be played on Social Media only. Slowly, the studio first shifted to mobile gaming to then focus its efforts on Console and PC games. The most popular game of Bossa Studios is Surgeon Simulator.
• Sumo Digital: a heavyweight of the gaming industry ( no pun intended😊), has been around since 2004 and now counts more than 1000 employees. The studio created several iconic console and PC games, including Forza Horizon 4, Crackdown 3 and Hitman 2.
• Flavourworks: This relatively new studio has one mission; to create the most interactive video-based game experiences in history. Their first game, “Erica”, was released in 2019 by Sony Interactive Entertainment.

4. VR/AR/ Immersive Game Studios 🕶️
After Arcade, Console, PC and Mobile, a new way of gaming has recently arrived: Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality & Immersive gaming. The concept is relatively easy ( the technology is not). Players are not detached from the game by a screen, but they are inside it. As technology is improving and Internet speed increases, new gaming studios are now creating games tailored for this new medium. Some notable examples of studios doing so include:

• Apache: The studio is s an industry-leading VR, AR & MR development studio. The company has worked for many years with many Hollywood film studios to adapt blockbuster movies to the AR & VR universe. In 2018, Apache released its first IP owned game, “Bardo”, a VR archery gaming experience.
• Dream Reality Interactive: Founded in 2017, DRi creates immersive experiences using a combination of virtual reality, augmented reality and artificial intelligence technologies. Their latest game, “Singheads”, allows players to appear as their Bitmoji avatars on their mobile and sing along to a carefully curated, constantly updated carousel of karaoke classics, current sensations and undiscovered gems.
• Maze Theory: This London based develops VR games, focusing on storytelling and immersion. In November 2019, the Studio launched its first major project, “Doctor Who-The Edge Of Time”. It’s currently working on many other projects, including “Peaky Blinders-The King’s Ransom”.
• Ndreams: Specialising in virtual worlds and virtual reality, Ndreams develops and publishes computer and console games. The studio has been around since the early 2000s but only started to focus on VR games in 2013. Since then, Ndreams has launched hundreds of games and currently employs more than 100 people. In June 2020, Ndreams launched their latest game, which is probably also the masterpiece of this studio: “Phantom: Covert Ops”.
• FitXR: Fitness with a twist, VR Gaming. That’s how it is probably best to describe FitXR. The company develops and publishes software designed to simulate a gym using VR technology, focusing on Boxing and Dancing training.
• Unrd: Differently from other gaming studios, Unrd doesn’t create animations. The whole concept of the company is to develop games that offer a multiplayer real-time entertainment experience. Players can play immersive crime, romance and horror stories with thousands of other people through the Unrd app.

5. Video/Streaming 📺
One thing that always lasted throughout the different gaming phases is the vital community aspect of the industry. Gamers always felt like being part of a big family, where they could share their passion for gaming ( or a particular game). As traditional video and streaming services such as Youtube didn't offer products tailored around the gamers’ needs, more and more option such as Twitch started to be launched. Below there are some notable examples of video and/or streaming services in the UK.

• Fruitlab: FruitLab Media operates a website that allows users to share gameplay videos with other users. The company also allows users to take part in community-based challenges and read about the industry's latest news.
• Dingit TV: The company operates a platform for broadcasting and watching video games. Dingit TV focuses on premium highlight content from some of the world's greatest Esports teams and players.
• Ginx TV: Ginx TV has created video-gaming TV channels around the world, branded Ginx, as well as individual shows and formats for syndication aimed at video-gaming fans.

6. Player 2 Player Betting 🤑
Betting is part of every competitive activity on the planet. And this includes gaming and esports. However, some companies are building products and services that allow gamers to bet against other gamers or themselves. Some notable P2P Betting companies in the UK include:

• Gamerpro: The company has developed an esports experience for mobile gamers to compete with one another to win real money prizes directly on their Smartphones. On top of that, Gamerpro sells its services to mobile game publishers, allowing them to integrate the offering in their games.
• Stakester: Stakester develops a mobile app that enables users to compete in video game tournaments for money. Gamers can pick from various games such as Fifa or Call of Duty and set a betting prize. They can then find an opponent on the Stakester community to challenge.
• GamerWager: Recently launched, GamerWager is an app that allows players to compete against each other for money on various games. Instead of taking a percentage of each win, this company charges a monthly subscription fee.

7. Online Betting 💸
Unlike the companies listed above, the betting industry also entered the gaming sector by creating platforms that would allow anyone above 18 to bet on professional esports competitions. The following are some notable examples of online betting companies in the UK.

• Metabet: About-to-launch Metabet platform allows users to watch and bet on esports live events. Standard match markets are available alongside a ‘Player View’ feature, focusing on individual pro performance.
• Puntt: The company operates an esports betting website where users can bet on the outcome of pro-league international Counter-Strike Global Offensive games. The main difference from other services is that Puntt runs a pool betting system.
• Sharp Gaming: Backed by Fred Done, founder of BetFred, Sharp Gaming is a high-end platform for the gambling industry. The company allows businesses that operate in the gaming betting sector to function thoroughly. Sharp Gaming does integrations with all the top gaming providers and can deliver a sports betting trading & risk management platform capable of processing 250 bets per second.
• Midnite: Midnite operates a website and mobile app for Esports live streaming and betting. On top of being able to bet, users can also watch live esports events, both from their mobiles and PCs.
• Betable: The company provides Gaming developers with a full-stack platform for frictionless market entry and the creation, distribution and consumption of Gambling entertainment.

8. Infrastructure 🏗️
As with any other industry, some companies create the foundations on which other businesses can build product and services. Some notable examples of infrastructure-based companies include:

• Heroic Labs: This company has developed a backend platform for game developers, which allows them to easily add features without the need for a server backend.
• Improbable: Backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Softbank and NetEase, to name some of the VCs that invested in this venture, Improbable develops software that simulates the behaviours of large numbers of entities within a given environment. Its first product, SpatialOS, is a software development kit primarily aimed at integrating with game engines to facilitate large-scale multiplayer capabilities.
• Spirit AI: Founded in 2016, Spirit AI develops middleware, called Ally, that uses machine learning to monitor player conversations in computer games and detect any abusive or harassing behaviour.
• Gfinity: At its core, Gfinity is a media company. However, throughout the years, the business launched several services and products to support the broader ecosystem. These include a proprietary tournament platform that is game and channel-agnostic and the Gfinity Arena that offers fans, players, talent and partners an unrivalled purpose-built esports environment.
• Flexion Mobile: Flexion created an open and global distribution platform for android games. Game developers can now easily reach the whole market without integrating and operating multiple channels at a prohibitive cost.

9. Adtech & Analytics 📈
Gaming companies base their operation on data analysis. On top of that, a popular revenue model in the gaming industry is to offer free or freemium products and services. Therefore, gaming companies need to find alternative ways to generate revenue and, advertisement is one of them. Below are some notable examples of Adtech and Analytics companies:

• Admix: This Adtech company allows gaming developers to add advertisement to their games with a code-free building system. Admix uses a plugin that displays advertising inside games, allowing gaming developers to increase their revenue without impacting the users’ experience.
• Aggero: This company combines analytics and marketing in one single product. In fact, Aggero allows esports and gaming companies to analyse marketing campaigns' data, including sponsorship and influencer campaigns.
• Geeiq: Like Aggero, Geeiq develops an analytical tool designed to connect advertisers with gaming live streams and sponsorship opportunities.
• Gscience: Based in Belfast, Gscience are pioneers in esports health and performance. The company provides sports science and data analytics to develop healthier, happier and more successful gamers.

10. Player vs Player and Tournament Platforms 🏟️
As gaming is also competition, the industry has created several options for players and teams to find, compete and play with opponents. Some notable options in the UK include:

• European Gaming League: EGL has developed a social network for online gamers to meet and compete against one another. The company also hosts free to enter tournaments for all competitive gamers of any skill level.
• Faceit: Used by more than 15m players, Faceit runs an interface for players to log into third-party online games and compete in leagues, collecting points that can be redeemed for prizes. The platform also integrates anti-cheat software and a skill progression system for players to track their improvements.
• Teams: Instead of matching players with opponents, Teams does precisely the opposite. This early-stage startup allows players to quickly and easily discover other players and connect with ideal teammates to play with.

11. Fan Engagement 📢
Competitive gaming is becoming so popular that Esports teams now have millions of fans. Thus, new businesses are rising to the scene to help companies and teams engage with fans. Some notable examples include:

• Espo: This early-stage startup is a new, multi-team fan engagement platform for the esports community. Espo has designed a unique platform that rewards collaboration between world-class esports teams, pro players, content creators, fans and brands.
• Polystream: Backed by Initial Capital and London Venture Partners, Polystream built a Fantom In-Game Spectator (IGS) Engine that allows developers to give spectators presence and agency from within a game to create amazingly versatile, socially immersive, freshly interactive experiences that drive gaming beyond gaming.
• Epics: This company provides a different way for esports fans to engage with their favourite team. Epics allow users to collect, trade and build collectable cards of professional esports players.

12. Cloud Gaming 💭️
With computing and internet power becoming more powerful, a new method of playing games is now available to gamers; cloud gaming. Now gamers can play without having to download or install any games on their devices. All the world's biggest tech companies launched their version of cloud gaming: Google launched Stadia, Sony released PlayStation Now, and Microsoft launched Xbox Cloud Gaming. Tech giants aside, the UK also has some notable examples of cloud gaming companies:

• Antstream: Backed by Tencent and Hambro Perks, Antstream offers gamers an ever-expanding arcade games library that includes classics of all genres. Gamers can play retro games on their computer, console or mobile device. No downloads needed.
• Unit2Games: Despite being a gaming studio, Unit2Games deserves to have a special mention in the “Cloud Gaming” category. Unit2Games has developed a collaborative game creation and publishing platform called Crayta on Google Stadia. Crayta is available for free in Stadia Pro and allows players to create and play multiplayer games across TVs, laptops, desktops, and select tablets and phones.

13. Media 📰
Because millions of people worldwide are genuinely passionate about gaming and esports, more and more media companies focus their content creation efforts on this industry. Some notable example in the UK include:

• GGRecon: This media company is an Esports news network created by Esports fans for Esports fans. First launched in December 2019, GGRecon presents industry-leading Esports news articles, features, and interviews across the most significant titles.
• Dexerto: Dexerto develops a website for gamers that allows them to connect with one another and read gaming-related content on the site.
• Esports Insider: Esports Insider is an events and media company, as well as a daily source of esports business news and opinion. The company not only has a news website but also regularly organises events in the Esports industry. One of them is ESI Digital Spring, a B2B Esports conference that will run in March 2021.
• Esports News Uk: Established in late 2015, the company features the latest stories, match reports, interviews and videos covering the UK esports scene. Esports News predominantly focuses on League of Legends and covers other games like FIFA and Overwatch and articles and news from the wider gaming community.

14. Talent Recruitment ✍️
In 2020 there were around 27,000 people employed in the Gaming industry in the UK. On top of this, employment is expected to triple within the next five years. Because of the growing demand, some companies now focus only on talent recruitment within the gaming industry. Some notable examples include:

• Hitmarker: With over 11,000 active listings from more than 50 countries, Hitmarker operates a job listings website for the Esports and Gaming industries.
• Games Jobs Direct: This company is an independent job board for the video games industry. The website is accessible to all within the industry; large studios, indie studios, recruiters and future games industry candidates.
• OpmJobs: Actively working with 110+ games companies worldwide, OpmJobs provides a unique service acting as an intermediary between employers and job seekers in the computer games and associated industries worldwide.

15. Non-profit organisations ❤️
The Gaming industry's growth in the UK is also due to the extensive support that, throughout all these years, was given by non-profit organisations to the broader ecosystem. Some notable examples of great UK gaming non-profit organisations include:

• British Esports Association: The British Esports Association is a not-for-profit national body established to promote esports in the UK, increase its level of awareness, improve standards and inspire future talent.
• UKIE: This organisation is a trade association for the UK’s games and interactive entertainment industry, a not-for-profit, representing businesses from micro studios to multinationals, developers, publishers and service companies. UKIE works across a wide range of initiatives and activities, from education to policy, from events to investment, helping support the UK games industry.
• TIGA: TIGA is the network for games developers and digital publishers and the trade association representing the video games industry. The core purpose of TIGA is to strengthen the games development and digital publishing sectors.

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Thanks for reading my Blog Post. If you think there are some other notable examples of UK Gaming companies that should feature in this mapping, please let me know by leaving a comment.

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