Ukie: Celebs Rumors

UKIE) and Many Cats Studios have announced Impact – a campaign to profile six disabled and neurodiverse individuals within the games industry.In UKIE’s latest UK Games Industry Consensus, the trade body identified an increase in neurodivergent workers in the industry: four per cent of respondents identified as disabled, while 18 per cent considered themselves neurodiverse.As part of Impact, six industry professionals will be offered a platform that “showcases and celebrates” their talents. This will include speaking opportunities at companies and an invitation to talk at UK events, including Develop: Brighton.Additionally, the six individuals will each star in a digital campaign to highlight their status as “top-tier professionals in video games”.Applications open here on April 24, and will be open to the likes of content creators, developers, journalists and esports competitors within the industry.Introducing Impact – the joint campaign by @ManyCatsStudios and Ukie's #RaiseTheGame initiative to showcase disabled and neurodiverse people working in games.

Ukie CEO Dr Jo Twist OBE has announced she is to step down from her role to join the BPI (British Phonographic Industry) as CEO.Discussing her departure and 11 years at the company, Ukie Chair Tim Woodley said: “Jo will be a hard act to replace and follow but this is an exciting juncture for Ukie and the industry. We obviously need to take time to find the right person to lead Ukie into the next stage of its journey.“Thankfully we are afforded the time to do this due to the high calibre of the Ukie senior management team and the entirety of the Ukie staff which Jo has galvanised.”Twist herself added: “I have enjoyed an incredible journey as CEO of Ukie, ensuring we are a future facing, inclusive trade association, which fully reflects and represents the amazingly innovative and creative sector we advocate on behalf of.“I want to thank the Ukie Board members past and present with whom I have had the great pleasure of working, but without a doubt, the Ukie team past and present deserve all the thanks for being a brilliant, creative, dedicated group of people who will continue to thrive under new leadership.

The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (Ukie), the country spent £4.28billion on games across console, mobile and PC. £1.65billion in sales went to digital purchases on console, which pulled slightly ahead of the £1.46billion spent on mobile games through the year.

Ukie, the trade body for the UK games industry, has released its UK Games Industry Census. It offers some interesting figures on who makes up the industry and suggests progress is slowly being made.It’s the second census conducted by the company and the only one of its kind globally.