What's Next for the Games Industry and how will it adapt?

What follows is a roundup of insights from the Guildford Games Fest industry panel, featuring Samantha Ebelthite of Amplified Games, Simon Byron of Yogscast, James Brooksby of Absolutely Games, and Gary Burchell of Fireblade Software - developers, publishers, and studio founders, chaired by Ukie’s Sam Collins, reflecting on where the games industry is heading.

The Mood in the Room: Cautious Optimism

If there one sentiment which captures the collective outlook, it's 2026 isn’t about returning to “how things were.” It’s about adaptation. That, and cautious optimism. recent years have been genuinely difficult for many across the industry — studios have closed, budgets tightened, and the market shifted in ways that have forced everyone to rethink how they operate. But rather than gloom, the panellists brought a sense of hard-won clarity.

"Every industry has peaks and troughs," one studio founder noted. "The key is making sensible, cost-effective decisions." The consensus was that the disruption of recent years has been necessary — a painful but useful reset. Many of the approaches that worked five years ago simply don't anymore, and the studios that survive will be the ones that ask difficult questions and adapt.

Reaching Consumers in a Crowded Market

One of the panel's most pressing questions: how do you cut through the noise when there's more competition than ever — not just from other games, but from every other form of entertainment competing for people's time?

The data tells an uncomfortable story. The most-played games on PlayStation this year were largely the same as the year before. Established titles with enormous communities aren't going anywhere. So what kind of game can realistically find an audience?

The panellists pointed to a few qualities that are working right now. Games that fit into short sessions — roguelikes being a prime example — are resonating because they respect players' limited time. They can be dipped in and out of, whether you're playing alone or with others. And the games that break through in this environment tend to do so via word of mouth, which means the quality of the experience has to do the marketing for you.

For publishers, the calculus has shifted too. It's less about how much you spend and more about having a genuinely good game as your foundation, then being smart about where you take it. Steam might be the obvious starting point, but the opportunity increasingly lies in what you do next — Xbox, Switch, mobile, or even licensing deals with platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime, which are still actively looking for content.

The Developer's Reality: Hooks, Wishlists, and Wearing Many Hats

For indie and small studios, the challenges are even more acute. You're not just competing with new games — you're competing with the entire back catalogue of titles people already love and haven't finished.

"The primary challenge is the hook," said one developer. "There has to be a reason for someone to spend their time and money on your game rather than everything else available to them." Getting eyes on that hook is a separate challenge altogether — and for smaller teams, one person often has to be developer, marketer, and publisher all at once.

One benchmark came up repeatedly: 200,000 net wishlists on Steam before launch. It's become an informal barometer of commercial viability, and publishers increasingly look at your Steam page as validation before they'll engage seriously. That said, others are stating wishlists are becoming less reliable, as devs become increasingly good at gaming the system.

The pitch process has changed dramatically too. Where a polished brochure might once have opened doors, studios now need a playable prototype — something that's cost real money and real time to build. For a 20-person team carrying operational overheads, getting that prototype right matters enormously. But it also clarifies your offer: experienced studios deliver on time, to quality, and to budget. In a market flooded with hobbyist developers, school leavers, and recently redundant talent making games on a shoestring, professional reliability is a genuine differentiator.

Funding: Where the Money Is (and Isn't)

The funding landscape has changed significantly. Equity investment is still risk-averse, and raising a round is harder than it was a few years ago. But there are green shoots.

Publisher co-funding and full publisher funding remain the most common routes for established studios. Project finance — where investors back a specific game rather than a company — is becoming more common, which suits developers who want to retain ownership of their business.

Government support has quietly become a significant factor. The UK's Video Games Tax Credit has grown to 34%, making it meaningfully more valuable. The UK Games Fund offers a Prototype Fund for early-stage projects and a Content Fund for more established ones. The BFI also funds games content, and a new Internationalisation Fund has launched to help studios reach global markets. UKIE's website has a dedicated section listing all available funding routes, and it's worth bookmarking.

One panellist's approach stood out for its independence: focusing on building a catalogue that funds future work, rather than seeking external investment at all. A successful first game in 2018 became the foundation for everything since — a model that requires patience but preserves control.

For those approaching publishers, the advice was pragmatic. Know what skills you're lacking — marketing, translations, QA — and find a publisher whose strengths fill those gaps. Publishers aren't just funders; the best ones bring capabilities that smaller studios can't afford to build in-house.

The Future of AAA: Big Bets and Bigger Uncertainty

The panel's discussion of AAA was candid. There will always be games that justify enormous marketing budgets — and there will always be a thriving indie scene at the other end of the spectrum. But the middle ground is treacherous, and breaking new IP at the AAA level has become genuinely difficult.

Part of the challenge is generational. Kids growing up today often don't care about established game brands in the way previous generations did. They want to play Roblox with their friends. The aesthetic of a polished AAA title holds less cachet than it once did. One panellist mentioned their child playing games that look like they're from the early 2000s — not because they can't access anything better, but because that's where the fun is happening socially.

Placing enormous bets on new AAA IP in this environment is increasingly becoming a gamble. The upside exists, but so does the risk of a high-profile, expensive failure.

The Rise of UGC and Roblox Economies

Perhaps the most forward-looking part of the discussion centred on user-generated content — and specifically, the enormous ecosystem that has grown up around platforms like Roblox and Fortnite Creative. There are reportedly around 500 studios in the UK making content for Roblox alone.

This isn't a niche. These platforms are played by hundreds of millions of people daily, and some creators within them are generating serious money — including teenagers who've become millionaires through smart game design and savvy marketing within the platform's economy.

The panel raised an interesting question: should the industry be trying to convert these creators into traditional game developers? The honest answer might be no. UGC platforms offer a low-cost, low-stress environment to learn the fundamentals of what makes a game compelling. Some percentage will transition across to traditional development. But many will build entire careers within those ecosystems — and that's a legitimate outcome, not a consolation prize.

Going Global: International Markets and the Steam Algorithm Problem

For studios looking beyond their home market, the opportunities are real but require careful navigation.

China is a significant audience for many UK games, but it demands localisation and culturalisation — not just translation. One panellist shared the experience of a game that went huge in China after being picked up by a content creator, then discovering that Chinese players found it significantly harder than Western audiences. Diluting the difficulty for one market risks damaging the experience for others. Local partners who understand the nuance are essential.

Data is your friend here. Steam, YouTube, and other platforms can tell you exactly where your audience is and which languages are worth investing in for translation. Let that data guide your priorities rather than guessing.

The bigger structural risk is platform dependency. Steam is, for most studios, the bread and butter — but algorithmic changes by Valve can materially affect your business overnight. Diversification isn't optional anymore; it's a survival strategy. That might mean console ports, licensing deals, platform bundles, or targeting communities that have built up around specific game styles.

What's Coming This Year

The panellists shared what they're each working on: a new title launching with publisher support, a cosy games studio pivoting into new IP, an early access game approaching its full release, and a spellcasting adventure in development. The range reflects the sheer breadth of the industry — from funded indie releases to more experimental projects finding their audience gradually, and that’s from just four individuals and their businesses.

The games industry in 2026 is not broken — but it has changed, and change requires adaptation rather than nostalgia. The studios that will thrive are those with a compelling hook, a smart route to market, a realistic view of where success sits for them, and the discipline to execute. Whether you're pitching to a publisher, applying for a government grant, building a Roblox game, or chasing wishlists on Steam, the fundamentals remain the same: make something people want to play, get it in front of the right people, and don't mistake someone else's definition of success for your own.

James Dodd