IS THERE A SKILLS CRISIS IN GAMES? TIGA ANSWERS THE QUESTION

TIGA :

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Skill shortages have declined, but not evaporated, according to the latest report by TIGA, the trade association representing the UK video games industry. At the same time, skill gaps in the games development workforce are limited.

 
TIGA’s research has revealed that, when asked if the industry faces a skill shortage, the responses were split – some 36% of respondents do not think that the industry faces a skills shortage, compared to 32% who do. 32% said they ‘don’t know’.

 
Over the past 12 months, 43 per cent of games businesses surveyed found it easy or very easy to fill vacancies. Conversely, 50 per cent of games businesses found it difficult or very difficult to fill vacancies in their workforce. This is significantly down on the TIGA survey in 2023, when 68 per cent of games businesses found it difficult or very difficult to fill vacancies.

 
Forces driving skill shortages
69 per cent of respondents who had experienced skills shortages over the last 12 months suggested that this was due to a shortage of applicants with the required skills, experience or qualifications. This is down from 93 per cent of respondents who took this view in the 2023 survey.

 
Type of skill shortages 
Of those games businesses that experienced skill shortages over the last year, the disciplines they experienced difficulties in filling vacancies were:
 

 
Impact of skill shortages
54 per cent of games businesses that experienced skill shortages over the last 12 months said that this had delayed the development of new products and services. 46 per cent said that skill shortages had hindered the growth of their organisation. 65 per cent noted that skill shortages had increased the workload for other staff. 50 per cent said that hard-to-fill vacancies had driven a greater need to outsource work.
 
TIGA’s Skills Report also looked at Skill Gaps, which refers to employees who are not fully proficient in their roles. 
 
Games businesses responding to the survey estimated that 90 per cent of their teams were fully proficient in their roles. This insight underlines the fact that the UK games development sector has a highly competent workforce.

 
Impact of skill gaps

68 per cent of games businesses reporting skill gaps amongst their existing teams over the last 12 months said that this had increased the workload for other staff. 45 per cent said that skill gaps had resulted in an increase in their company’s operating costs. 41 per cent noted that skill gaps had caused delays in developing new products and services. 


The nature of skill gaps

Among those employees who are not fully proficient at their jobs, the areas which need improvement include:
 

 
Meanwhile, the Skills Report also looked at Training and Recruitment.
 
All games businesses in the survey provided training for their employees. Almost two fifths of respondents (38 per cent) provide on-the-job training not leading to qualifications and a further 29 per cent provide formal courses not culminating in qualifications. 17 per cent of companies facilitated training leading to the acquisition of professional qualifications.
 
In a typical year, games businesses on average recruit 78 per cent of new hires from existing industry practitioners, 21 per cent are recent graduates and only two per cent are apprentices.
 
TIGA is calling on the UK Government to consider the following areas and issues as part of a campaign to enhance education, skills and training for the UK games industry:
 

Raise student attainment in key subjects such as Maths and English in primary and secondary schools. Only 61 per cent of pupils reached the standard expected of them in reading, writing and maths at Key Stage 2 in 2023-4. Additionally, 40.5 per cent of students failed to pass Maths GCSE and 38.1 per cent failed to pass English GCSE in 2024.
 
Additionally, the Government could examine how the Ofsted inspection framework can encourage creativity. The Government has removed the overall single word judgements by Ofsted when carrying out school inspections and committed to introducing a report card style judgement in September 2025.  The report card could identify the provision of creativity, including music and art, in schools. This would incentivise schools to provide for creativity in their curricular and extra-curricular provision.
 

Further Education Colleges perform a vital role in the English education system. Many provide BTEC courses relevant to the video games industry. FE colleges need to be adequately funded. The increase of £300 million in FE funding in the Autumn Budget is a positive step.
 

The Government could explore the case for establishing an Industrial Secondments Programme(ISP) to enhance skills development by enabling games lecturers to spend up to 12 months in a games development business.  
 

Micro and small businesses may underinvest in skills training in comparison to larger businesses because they have fewer resources. The Government could consider the case for fiscal incentives for smaller studios to invest in training, including for formal courses and qualifications. 
 

Funding for BTECs should be retained and suitable T-levels for the games industry should be developed. BTECs provide an important route into higher education, including for games courses.
 

The Apprenticeship Levy should be transformed into a general training levy, enabling employers to spend the money on any high-quality training programme. Games businesses could then respond to skill needs more quickly and invest in more industry relevant training. 
 

The Government should ensure that the UK’s migration system enables games businesses to effectively recruit highly skilled people from overseas.
 
TIGA’s CEO Dr Richard Wilson OBE, who authored the Skills Report, said:
 
“Skill shortages in the UK games industry have declined, but not evaporated. An undersupply of experienced specialists and the creation of new roles driven by technological and commercial developments for which relatively few people can fill, combine to generate skills shortages in the UK games industry. For certain roles there is a shortage of applicants with the required skills, experience or qualifications.
  
“UK games businesses have taken steps to address this challenge. Studios have invested in training. TIGA enhances education and skills through our accreditation programme, the TIGA Games Education Awards and our education conferences, which bring industry and academia together to share best practice.
 
“Encouragingly, skill gaps in the games development workforce are limited. Games businesses believe that most of their teams are fully proficient in their roles.
 
“However, there are some key areas where the UK Government could provide further support to our important creative sector, particularly in education and training.”
 
Jason Kingsley CBE, TIGA Chairman and Creative Director at Rebellion, offered: 
 
“The global games industry is facing significant challenges at present, although the UK sector has remained relatively robust. While skill shortages are narrowing, there are still issues in some areas. The TIGA Skills Report 2024 provides a comprehensive overview of the work that UK games studios are doing to manage talent, but additionally highlights some areas that could be improved, particularly with help from the UK Government.” 
 
26 games businesses employing 3,376 developers, or 13 per cent of the UK games development workforce, responded to a TIGA skills survey in September 2024. Small, medium and large studios developing games for console, mobile, PC and VR participated in the survey.

 
ENDS

 
About TIGA
TIGA is the trade association for the UK video games industry.  Since 2010, TIGA has won 28 business awards and commendations. Our vision is to make the UK the best place in the world to develop video games. Our core purpose is to strengthen the games development and digital publishing sector. We achieve this by: 
 

 
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