A lot changed after the British public voted to leave the European Union on June 23. The value of the Pound plunged after news broke that the leave vote had won. While Brexit primarily effected financial institutions, it has and will continue to have an effect on other industries as well.
In the EU, the estimated size of the online gaming market in 2015 was around $13.9 billion and the UK accounted for around $3.7 billion of that total. The UK is one of the major producers of games in the world, so many have wondered what impact–if any–Brexit will have on the gaming industry.
Ukie—the trade body for the UK gaming industry—released a statement admitting that Brexit would affect the industry, but also offered some reassurance.
“Ukie is committed to ensuring the UK is the best place in the world to make and sell games, and although this decision and the political uncertainty it brings will have an impact on our businesses it is important to remember we are already a globally successful sector and a leading exporter in the digital economy.”
The Brexit vote had an immediate effect on every business in the UK. Suddenly the Pound was worth much less than it was previously. That means that game developers and others had money that didn’t go as far. It’s not clear how much of an impact that immediate drop in the value of the UKs currency had, but it certainly affected the gaming industry.
One of the more long-term effects of the vote to leave could be more restrictions on gaming companies like MansionCasino.com. The EU had certain protections in place to prevent EU members from imposing illegitimate restrictions on gaming companies. Since the UK is now going to leave the EU, the country will get to make its own rules.
While it’s not clear what kind of rules the UK may impose on the gaming industry, it’s not unreasonable to suspect that they would place some new restrictions on games. When you consider what the UK government has already done, and what it’s attempting to do, placing more rules on gaming companies is not that farfetched of an idea.
The UK government has been open about its desire to censor certain parts of the internet. The government wants to require every internet user in the country to be age-verified before allowing access to any pornographic website. While this may seem like a good idea, many have said it infringes on free speech.
The full impact of the Brexit vote will not be known for some time because things are still being decided. If everything goes according to plan, the UK will leave the EU by March 2019. That is quite a ways off, and there’s a lot of things to be worked through. But Brexit certainly does have very real possibility of negatively affecting the gaming industry in the UK, and perhaps gaming companies in the EU who work with UK companies.