Gaming has a long and rich history in the UK. While the market and the media narratives around gaming may be dominated by larger countries like the US and Japan, the UK punches above its weight as a games industry force.

Indeed the country even produced one of the first ever role-playing computer games. In 1978, two Essex University students developed a game called Multi-User Dungeon that was based on Dungeons and Dragons.

Little could they have known that they were sparking a sector into life that would come to be worth billions. That is where the UK games industry stands in 2024, as one of that nation’s economic powerhouses.

But where does it rank when put up against the other countries in the world where gaming has become big business? That is the question we will try to answer in this article.

Gaming Revenue Rankings

One of the easiest ways to look at where the UK ranks within the gaming world is to examine the games industry revenues by country. A comparison of the various national markets by size found that the UK currently has the sixth largest gaming sector.

Its total revenues for 2022 stood at $5.5 billion and there were 38.5 million people playing games in the UK. This might not sound particularly impressive, but it must be remembered that the UK is a small country.

All of the nations that ranked above it in terms of revenue and numbers of gamers were much larger. They included Germany, Japan, China and the US (the biggest gaming market overall).

The UK came in above nations like France, Italy and Brazil in revenue terms if not always in the number of active players. This is the proof of what we were saying above about it being a small country with a gaming sector that punches above its weight.

Most Popular Games in the UK by Type

Casino Games

These account for a significant share of the total UK gaming revenue, most notably slot games. The online slots UK players like the most include Cleopatra, Gates of Olympus, Fishing Frenzy, Rainbow Riches and Eye of Horus.

All of these games are among those that will be found at the casino sites with the largest UK customer bases. Slot games are by far the most popular casino games in that country and are growing more so.

UK revenues from online slots are more than twice what they were in 2016, at £3.2 billion. Given that the total UK online casino revenues are £4.3 billion, it is easy to see just how much slot games dominate the market there.

Video Games

Another very big part of the overall UK gaming sector is the video games market. The country ranks as the single biggest market for these games in Europe and is in the global top five.

The most popular types of video games among UK adults are fighting/action ones and action adventure games. That is in line with the other big video game markets, as the enormous success of titles such as the Grand Theft Auto series has shown.

Things are different if we look at the UK market among youngsters though. For gamers aged between three and fifteen, building and creative games are the most popular, followed by multiplayer titles.

Mobile Games

Games designed for mobile phones are a third significant part of the gaming market in the UK. The mobile games that have enjoyed the most success with British gamers are Coin Master, Candy Crush Saga and Roblox. These are also global successes, suggesting there is little difference in tastes between the UK and the rest of the world.

Mobile actually has the largest slice of the market in Britain. 56% of gamers there play on mobile phones, compared with 30% on a games console and 26% on a PC. The global mobile gaming market is a fast growing one so the country is again reflecting worldwide trends here.

The gaming split between genders is 54% to 46% in favour of men. This gap is closing though and mobile games are responsible for that. Wordle is an example of a mobile game that is more popular with UK women than men, as 68% of its users are female.

That kind of word puzzle game is an example of the sort of gaming that can be beneficial, as it sharpens cognitive processes and problem solving abilities. If women continue to make up a bigger share of the UK gaming market in the years to come, we might see more games that feature those qualities.

The UK is a big player within the gaming world – bigger than it should be given the size of the country and the population.