The gaming industry in the UK continues to show growth. Over the past year, the contribution of this sector to the country’s economy amounted to almost $4 billion. In this case, we are talking only about activities related to the development and publication of games.This became known from a new economic report prepared by the Ministry of Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS).

Tencent—owned Swedish developer Sharkmob has announced the opening of its first studio outside the country – Sharkmob London. The new team includes veterans of Mediatonic, Rockstar North, CCP, Wargaming and Playground Games.

Newzoo analyzed the MAU of the main games on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 over the past month. The report not only shows the popularity of projects like Fortnite and GTA V in different countries, but also gives an idea of Sony’s dominance in specific regions (especially on the example of Japan).Analysts say that this year the total revenue from games in the world will be $ 159.3 billion.

The National Literacy Trust of Britain has published a new study in which it analyzed the impact of games on the lives of teenagers. Scientists have come to the conclusion that gamers often improve literacy, creativity, empathy, and also improve their mental state.As part of the study, researchers interviewed 4,600 British teenagers aged 11 to 16 years.

The Sunday Times has published an annual list of the richest Britons. Nine out of 1000 positions in it are for representatives of the game dev. Moreover, a third of the seats went to immigrants from King.

In the UK, sales of physical copies of games have risen in three weeks. During this time, British players have bought more than 1 million boxes, despite the quarantine for coronavirus.

Because of the coronavirus quarantine, people are paying more and more attention to games. According to Nielsen, a 45% increase in the indicator “time spent in games” was recorded in the United States. In addition, users began to spend more money on games.

One of the largest banks in the UK Barclays has launched a specialized program to finance video game developers. He is ready to give a loan for tax deductions that have not yet been paid.

The charts of the best-selling new IP in British retail for a decade have arrived. Minecraft and Destiny, respectively, became bestsellers in pieces and in money.

British scientists have calculated the number of workers in the country’s gaming industry and their contribution to the economy. They also named the largest British cities by the number of gaming companies.

Abertay University has opened a new training center. It will teach, among other things, experimental game design.

On November 15, the Switch titles Pokémon: Sword and Pokémon: Shield were released. The first one bypassed all console exclusives of the year in terms of initial sales in British retail.

Death Stranding failed to top the UK chart last week. Moreover, its initial retail sales were 36% lower than those of Days Gone.

The British Commissioner for Children’s Rights has called for a ban on the sale of any items in games, with the exception of cosmetics. And also recognize loot boxes as a form of gambling and regulate them accordingly.

Physical sales of Gears 5 in the UK are many times inferior to previous games in the series. The only hope is for digital downloads, the expert believes.

Based on the strategies of the publisher Slitherine, military simulators will be created. For this, the UK Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) will pay him $1.8 million.

This year, the UK promises to become the second largest gaming market in Europe and the sixth in the world. Now there are 37.3 million gamers in the country who are fond of online games. Newzoo and ACI Worldwide specialists investigated their preferences and found out which of them and why is ready to invest in gaming products.

Spending by British players on video games rose to $7.43 billion last year. This is a record for the industry in the UK, according to UKIE analysts. In 2017, the turnover of the video game industry in the country was 10% lower.

Analysts of The Princeton Review named the best gaming university in Europe. For the fifth time in a row, it became the University of Abertay (Abertay University), located in Scotland.