Record-breaking number of applications received by UK Games Fund

A total of 235 funding applications were received from a mix of established and start-up studios, with a total of around 25 applications coming from Scottish-based developers, the fourth largest cohort behind submissions received from London, the south east and south west.

Further analysis of the data shows just 12 per cent of applications were from female-led teams.

Collectively, the two UK Games Fund rounds have received more applications in a matter of months than the previous Prototype Fund received in four years.

Our second round of funding closed on Monday 18th April, having been open since January.

The number of applications has once again been record-breaking with an astounding 235 submitted.

The fund said the latest call for applications, had been aided by a team that has toured the UK hosting workshops and spoke at third-party events to help enable would-be applicants better understand the application process.

Paul Durrant, CEO of the UK Games Fund, said: “The high level of response to our second round of applications clearly reflects the shifting scale and nature of the sector. Our team also ran the previous Prototype Fund from 2010-14 which attracted 300-plus applications over its four-year life. We’ve exceeded that in just six-months over both rounds of the UK Games Fund. We believe that this demonstrates a steadily increasing number of new, independent development teams with commercial ambitions, representing a significant proportion of the UK’s talent base. It’s crucial that we identify the best of these and support them towards creating economic value for the UK.”