UK Games Industry Census 2022 reveals an increase in diverse gender and sexuality
Today Ukie has published the results of the second UK games industry census – an evaluation that gives deeper insight into the “demographic make-up and working habits” of the games industry within the United Kingdom.
Conducted at the University of Sheffield, the UK games industry census 2022 was completed by over 3600 industry workers in Autumn last year. Workers were asked to answer a variety of questions about themselves, their personal characteristics, and their backgrounds – such as their race, sexuality, gender, and even their mental health.
Unlike the previous UK games industry census of 2020, the 2022 census also explored the impact of the global pandemic and how it affected working practices and attitudes towards the workplace and industry.
The demographic profile of the games industry has had a marginal change somewhat during the two years since the last census. For example, there has been an increase in both women (30%, up from 28%) and non-binary industry workers (3% up from 2%) within the games industry, and a small decrease in men (67%, down from 70%). The same goes for the representation of different sexualities, with an increase in people who reported their sexuality was something other than heterosexual up to 24% from 21%.
Unfortunately, the census also revealed that there wasn’t much change in regard to the ethnic groups involved in the UK games industry, with 66% of the workforce reporting that they were British White, and 24% as White Other. The rest of the ethnic groups involved in the industry is 5% as Black, 2% as Asian, 2% as mixed/multiple ethnicities, and a further 2% as other.
Furthermore, the census revealed some interesting things about the games industry’s attitude towards working from home vs working from an office – something which has arguably resulted from working through a global pandemic. Pre-pandemic, 66% of people within the industry reported that they worked in the office, whereas 9% worked at home, and 7% worked in a hybrid system (some days from home, some days in an office). After the pandemic, only 10% of workers in the games industry expressed a preference for working in the office in the future. 38% of respondents expressed a desire to work from home full-time. However, 52% of workers did agree that their ideal working situation to be a hybrid approach.
“The result of this year’s games industry census shows that the industry has made progress on building an equal, diverse and inclusive sector, adapting well to the immediate challenges posed by the pandemic, but that plenty of work still lies ahead,” said Dr Jo Twist OBE, CEO of Ukie.
You can read the full findings of the UK games industry census 2022 here.
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