Only 10 percent of UK games industry workers want to return to the office full-time

Only 10 percent of UK games industry workers want to return to full-time office work in the wake of the pandemic.

That's according to the latest UK Games Industry Census, which quizzed over 3600 people in the UK games in duster about their backgrounds and working lives.

Out of those respondents, 82 percent had been working in the games industry prior to the pandemic, with the vast majority working in an office.

When asked where they'd like to work moving forward, however, just 10 percent said they'd like to return to the office in a full-time capacity. 52 percent said they would prefer a hybrid model that combined remote working and office work, while 38 percent said they would prefer to work from home exclusively.

There are plenty of other tidbits scattered throughout the census. For instance, 83 percent of UK games workers felt their employers were committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace, despite the UK games industry still being overwhelming dominated by men.

On the topic of gender representation specifically, the census found that 67 percent of people working in the UK games industry identified as men, 30 percent identified as women, and 3 percent identified as non-binary.

There was a similar lack of racial diversity, with 66 percent of people selecting their ethnic group as white British, 24 percent as white other, and 11 percent as black, asian, mixed, or other. Those figures are roughly the same as those reported in 2020.

The census also indicated the pandemic has had a negative impact on mental health, with 38 percent of people reporting having anxiety or depression -- an increase of 7 percent on the pre-pandemic census.

The full census, which was conducted by the University of Sheffield with assistance from UK trade body Ukie, can be downloaded on the Ukie website.