The UK's National Video Game Council, which includes representatives from various gaming companies, is dissatisfied with the level of government support in the UK. They believe that the government pays very little attention to the game development industry.
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The council members made this statement during the Pocket Gamer Connects London 2026 conference. Among them were executives from Miniclip, Chucklefish, JECO, The Games Angels, and the trade organization UKIE.
During a thematic roundtable, Miniclip's CEO Saad Choudri acknowledged that the British gaming industry has grown significantly over the past 30 years. However, he is convinced that the authorities deserve no credit for this. Choudri believes that the growth was primarily achieved through the developers' own efforts.
Choudri added that in some other countries, the situation with government support is much better. He cited Turkey as an example, where authorities reimburse developers for part of their marketing expenses. JECO co-founder Emily Bailey agrees with him, calling the situation in the UK "frankly shocking" and pointing out that even countries with much less developed economies have good support programs for gaming companies.
Interestingly, both Choudri and Bailey stated that they would not open a studio in the UK at present.
It is worth noting that in June 2025, the UK government announced an expansion of the program to fund local gaming startups. It was reported then that the government would spend £30 million over the next three years as part of this initiative. Shortly after this announcement, the National Video Game Council was established to aid the British authorities in developing the game development industry in the country.