FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
4 March 2026
Cornwall Games stand at Develop:Conference 2025 © Cornwall Games CIC
Cornwall Games CIC has today published The Cornish Games Industry Report (2025), the first independent analysis of the scale, economic impact and growth potential of video games development in Cornwall.
The report reveals a sector that is already delivering significant economic value despite structural funding challenges. Cornish games companies generated £19.6 million in Gross Value Added (GVA) between September 2024 and 2025 – accounting for approximately 10% of the South West’s total games GVA. Across 29 Cornwall-based companies, the industry supports 102 full-time equivalent (FTE) creative roles, with a further 164 FTE jobs in the supply chain, equating to 267 FTE jobs overall.
This is a small but high-impact industry, rooted in IP creation and global export markets.
Brine – by Falmouth based Studio Whalefall
A Talent-Rich Region
The report confirms that talent is not the limiting factor in Cornwall’s growth. With more than 640 games students studying in the region, Cornwall has one of the strongest games education pipelines in the UK. Falmouth University alone represents one of the country’s largest games education hubs.
However, the UK-wide picture demonstrates a structural imbalance. While approximately 15,000 students enrol on UK games degrees each year, there are fewer than 700 open roles for all seniority levels nationally at any given time. Cornwall mirrors this challenge: without studio finance and scale-up funding, graduates and talent are forced to leave the region.
The report’s census of Cornwall-based developers – representing 61% of the region’s FTE development workforce – also highlights the distinctive nature of Cornwall’s games community. It is modern, inclusive and remote-first, with high levels of neurodiversity, caring responsibilities and entrepreneurial ambition. Over 84% of respondents expressed a desire to start their own studio, and nearly a quarter are actively trying to do so.
This is not a workforce waiting for employment. It is a workforce ready to build companies.
PACS – Post Apocalypse Courier Service: Co-op Delivery Simulator – by Falmouth based Studio 316
Competitive Advantage: Lower Burn, Strong Returns
Cornwall offers a structurally lower cost base than much of the UK. The average salary plus overhead per FTE in Cornwall is approximately £34,125, significantly below the national average. This represents a cost base roughly 55% lower than the UK average.
Studios are lean, adaptable and commercially experienced, with a higher proportion of freelance development headcount than the national norm. Yet despite this efficiency, the sector remains vulnerable due to production gaps and limited access to risk capital.
The core constraint identified in the report is not capability, but finance.
Unseen Diplomacy 2 – by Bude based Triangular Pixels
The Structural Problem
Cornwall’s contraction mirrors the broader worldwide industry downturn, but locally the issue is intensified by;
- A lack of accessible project finance
- Difficult and expensive access to networking and showcase opportunities to publishers and investors in the UK and beyond
- With over half of Cornish developers not having a car, even the lack of reliable public transport limits the few opportunities local industry does have
And without continuity funding between contracts, studios cannot retain staff or invest in original IP. This leads to an overreliance on work-for-hire projects and reduces the region’s ability to generate exportable Cornish-owned intellectual property and locally made stories.
The report makes clear that education investment alone is insufficient. Funding talent without funding studios simply exports that talent elsewhere.
The White Owl – by Penzance based Caladrius, part of Tamanegi Collective
A Modest Intervention, Significant Impact
The report outlines practical, targeted interventions that should be investigated that would stabilise and grow the ecosystem, including:
- Studio continuity and production-gap funding
- IP and prototype investment
- Business accelerators
- A Cornish Games Conference
- Conference, export and publisher access support
- Public procurement prioritisation for Cornish studios
- A seat at the political table for any discussions involving the industry
In economic development terms, there are some relatively small interventions that can be made for a sector already generating nearly £20 million in annual GVA. Cornwall Games will be holding discussions with its community and stakeholders into prioritising interventions.
Clawpunk – by Penzance based Kittens in Timespace
Beyond Entertainment
The report also highlights how games-sector skills underpin wider industries, including health and wellbeing, education technology, manufacturing and digital twins, defence and security simulation, tourism and immersive heritage, and virtual production for TV and film.
The value created by these cross-sector applications exists because of the games industry – not separately from it.
Resilience Hero – by Penzance based Luke and Hannah Anastasi
A Call for Recognition
Cornwall’s games industry is proven, cost-efficient, entrepreneurial, talent-rich, export-focused and culturally significant. What it lacks is structural backing proportionate to its demonstrated return. Its high potential ceiling with strong local talent and creative culture coupled with lower average running cost and burn rates makes it an incredible slice of the industry to invest in and engage with on work-for-hire projects.
Cornwall Games is calling for policymakers, investors and public bodies to recognise Cornwall and its games development industry as a high-growth creative export sector and to engage directly with it at a strategic level.
As the report concludes: fund studios and original creative work – not just education – and Cornwall delivers outsized returns, fast.
For a copy of the report, visit – https://cornwall.games/about/cornish-games-industry-data/
For further information contact
Cornwall Games
contact@cornwall.games
http://cornwall.games
