Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will estimate the contribution made by the video games industry to UK GDP in (a) 2010 and (b) 2013.

Latest indicative estimates from the DCMS Creative Industries Economic Estimates release show that GVA for the computer games industry in the UK was £540 million in 2012 and £443 million in 2010 (data for 2013 will be published on 13th January 2015). Estimates are in current prices and do not account for the effects of inflation.

To note, these indicative estimates of the size of the computer games industry are based on the ONS Annual Business Survey. This is a sample survey and estimates at this level of detail for a single year should be treated with caution as they are volatile. ONS data covers businesses which are VAT or PAYE registered only and does not include the contribution of micro-businesses. For these reasons the computer games data in the release are presented in an annex alongside the headline Creative Industries estimates with these caveats stated.

To note these data are already available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/creative-industries-economic-estimates-january-2014

Recent research by Nesta that seeks to include the broader contribution of micro-businesses together will official suggests that the contribution of computer games could be substantially higher.

http://www.nesta.org.uk/publications/map-uk-games-industry