Applications have opened for developers to apply for the UK Games Fund round nine of funding.
Games creators across the UK with a project at an early stage of development can now apply for grants of up to £25,000.
Applications Process
The grants are available to established, independent UK-based small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs). Applications are a two stage process. Applicants must first submit a written application, followed by uploading two-minute pitch video for the project.
The deadline for submitting applications is 10:00 on Thursday 23rd of June. Shortlisted applicants will be interviewed online in mid-August, and funded development work can start from September 2022. Funded projects should be complete by March 2023.
Application Criteria
For UK Games Fund Round Nine, applicants must meet the following criteria:
- Applications will only be accepted from registered UK-based companies
- Companies must have fewer than 50 employees
- The scale of development will be such that our support and grant will represent no more than 50% of the total costs of the project once it has been released
- The project must not include gambling elements or mechanisms which could be perceived as such, or any content that the UK Games Fund deems to be potentially reputationally damaging (solely at the organisation’s discretion)
- Games associated with emergent business models with little evidence of success are unlikely to be funded until that evidence base can be demonstrated
- The project should be a digital game suitable for demonstration at a public consumer event
- The project can already be in development, although UKGF does not support projects that have already fully launched, and do not fund work carried out prior to the grant being offered
- Projects following an open-development model with a live build available in a pre-release form will still be considered (but typically downloadable content (DLC) development for a title already launched will not be funded)
Optmising For Opportunity
While the UK Games Fund is open to applications from all established UK-based SME studios, the fund has provided more guidance for developers:
- Applicants should have completed some early concept work, and have either a proof-of-concept demo or other visual pre-production work, so they can show their project in the best light in the pitch video
- Studios should have a clear idea of what the unique selling point or other market differentiator is – being able to communicate this clearly will help build confidence in the project
- Applicants will have a development team that is either in place or is ready to come on board quickly if successful – being able to describe the specific attributes of the team helps to prove overall development capability
- The team should have some past experience of completing and shipping a video game project, regardless of the level of success – this doesn’t have to apply to every team member, but past experience has been shown to help broadly in understanding the go-to-market needs.
- Developers should have carried out research and have a clear idea of what the next steps are beyond the grant – who will be approached to fund the remainder of the project, how publishing, etc. will be handled.
- Applicants should be able to describe the future of the business, how the grant will provide a positive impact on sustainability and growth as a studio, and what the vision is beyond this individual project
Competitive Process
Applications for the UK Games Fund are highly competitive, with between 150-200 applications received for each round. Around 10% of the applications for each round are successful, with 15-20 games receiving grants.
Over 200 companies have received UK Games Fund grants to date. The next round of funding with be announced later this financial year.
Apply Now
For more information on applying to the UK Games Fund Round Nine, download the application guidance (PDF) or read the UKGF FAQ.
To apply for UKGFR9 follow this link.
