UK GAMES INDUSTRY UNITES TO FIGHT COVID-19 AND SAY THANK YOU TO OUR NHS HEROES

London 29^th April 2020: The UK games industry has launched a major initiative, Games for Carers, to thank our frontline NHS heroes for their inspirational work during the crisis.

Over the past three weeks the games industry has united to include the governments ‘Stay Home, Save Lives’ messaging within highly popular video games, as well as speaking directly to players across the country through social media.

Now, Games for Carers has been launched to provide frontline staff with a free game or game subscription to unwind with - either for when they get some well-earned down time, or to provide relief for their families.

"Our amazing NHS staff are working hard on the frontline in the fight against coronavirus, and it is brilliant to see the UK's video games industry uniting to say thank you through this campaign.

"We have worked closely with games companies to help keep people safe and I am delighted the sector is continuing to support the NHS in such an innovative way," commented Creative Industries Minister Caroline Dinenage.

NHS Staff will be able to claim their free game or subscription quickly and securely by visiting the dedicated Games For Carers site from 9am on Wednesday 29^th April at giveaways.keymailer.co/nhs and entering their NHS email address.

More than 85,000 free games across a wide range of genres, age ratings and platforms will be available to download.

Games for Carers is being publicly backed by major games companies such as EA, Codemasters, Konami, Jagex, Sega, Media Molecule, Xbox and Team 17, as well as independent studios such as Studio Zaum, SFB Games, Wired Productions, Bossa Studio and Dovetail Games.

“The UK games industry has been proud to play its part in conveying these vital public health messages during this national emergency. Now our community has united again to say thank you to the truly extraordinary people who make up the NHS frontline team.

“Games companies of all sizes and players everywhere recognise their exceptional dedication and hope this initiative goes some way to help them to understand how respected and valued they are,” commented Dr Jo Twist, CEO of Ukie.

The original idea for Games for Carers was conceived by games journalist Chris Scullion and has been brought to life with the help of gaming influencer marketing solution, Keymailer, and Ukie galvanising support within the industry.

The full list of participating companies is:

101XP, 1939 Games, 4MB Interactive, Absolutely Games, Activision, Apache, ASA Studio, Auroch Digital, Bare Knuckle Development, Beast Inc, Bedtime Digital Games, Bethesda, Born Ready Games, Bossa Studios, Brainbox, Bungie, CCP, Coatsink, Codemasters, Curve Digital, Deep Silver, Devolver Digital, Double Fine Productions, Dovetail Games, Electronic Arts, Evil Twin Artworks, Excalibur, FitXR, Flying Interactive, Greenlight Games, Hi-Rez, Huey Games, Indie Champions, Introversion Software, Irregular Corp, Jagex Games Studios, Japster’s Cavern, Junkfish Limited, Koch Media, Konami, Kupo Games, Marvelous Europe, Maximum Games, Media Molecule, Milestone, Mode 7, Modus Games, nDreams, NerdyBGird Studios, Niffler, Numskull Games, Outright Games, Payload Studios, Phantom Compass, Placeholder Gameworks, Playsport, PQube, QCF Design, Quack Quack Games, Quantum Soup Studios, Raiser Games, Rare, Renegade Sector Games, Reverie World Studios Inc, Revolution Software, Ripstone, Roll7, Salix Games, SEGA, SFB Games, Spilt Milk Studios, Sports Interactive, State of Play, Team 17, Team Cats & Bears, The Game Creators, The Pixel Mine, The Yogcast, THQ Nordic, tinyBuild Games, ToastieLabs, Wired Productions, Wizards of the Coast LLC, Wreck Tanghle Games, Xbox Game Studios and ZA/UM.

-ends-

Note to editors:

Dr Jo Twist, CEO of Ukie, is available for interview and happy to discuss:

• The public health messaging the industry has been helping to convey to players
• The Games for Carers initiative, providing games for frontline NHS staff
• The way games have helped to keep people entertained and connected with friends during lockdown
• The ‘Get Smart about Play’ messaging, reminding people to take breaks and use parental controls on consoles where appropriate
• Advice on what kind of games are best for families during lockdown.