According to Ukie, the trade body for the UK’s games and interactive entertainment sector, the games industry is slowly getting more diverse.
Ukie has recently released its UK Games Industry Census, which went into detail about the state of diversity in the industry. This is the second census from Ukie, and included 3600 industry professionals across the UK. In general, it found that diversity in the industry has slightly improved compared to the previous census from 2020.
The census found that currently, 67 per cent of the workforce is male, 30 per cent is female, and three per cent non-binary. While only a marginal change, it is a slight improvement. 2020’s census reported a 70 per cent male, 28 per cent female, and two non-binary workforce.
As well as this, the number of people who reported a sexuality other than heterosexual in the industry was 24 per cent. Whereas in 2020 it was 21 per cent. Ukie noted that this is significantly higher than in the wider adult population. According to the ONS, the heterosexual population in the UK is 93.7 per cent. So the figure that Ukie reports is a massive difference.
age, race, and mental health
In terms of age, the games industry skews young. 61 per cent of respondents reported their age as 35 or under in 2022. But this is less than the reported 66 per cent in 2020.
However, the statistics for ethnic groups have not changed compared to the previous census. White British make up 66 per cent of the games industry, and 24 per cent White Other, five per cent Black, two per cent Asian, 2 per cent as Mixed/ Multiple ethnicity, and two per cent as other.
And perhaps unsurprisingly, reports of anxiety and depression have risen. An increase of 31 per cent to 38 per cent of people in the industry.
Lastly, the census spoke about how working habits have changed in the past two years over the pandemic. Apparently, by Autumn 2021, 80 per cent of workers had switched to working from home. Before the pandemic this figure was only 9 per cent. And only 10 per cent of people in industry said they preferred to work from the office in the future. But 52 per cent said a hybrid approach would be ideal.
CEO of Ukie Dr Jo Twist released a statement with the census, saying “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.“
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