With the market for video games worth an estimated $189 billion (£146bn), it's no wonder the industry is churning out mega-rich moguls.
But who are the big kahunas of the gaming world? Who's taking home the dough from our in-game purchases and the countless hours spent grinding out rewards?
Well, now we have an answer thanks to the inaugural UK gaming rich list from the Sunday Times.
The list, which you can view in full below, straddles the worlds of mobile games, ultra-violent PC titles, classic strategy games, and virtual reality shooters.
Gardenscape pair are the UK’s richest video game tycoons
At the top are Russian-born brothers Igor and Dmitry Bukhman, of Playrix, a mobile games studio that has struck upon a money-printing formula. The pair have an estimated fortune of £12.5bn, putting them miles ahead of the rest of the pack.
Their biggest hits combine the ease of match-three puzzle games (think Candy Crush) with other popular genres, including gardening sims and city builders.
Playrix’s blockbuster Gardenscapes generated more than $3bn (£2.3bn) from player spending by 2021. Township, another popular Playrix game, surpassed $2bn (£1.5bn) in lifetime revenue as of October 2023.
Speaking of Candy Crush, three names on the list owe their fortunes to the tile-matching game, with Riccardo Zacconi, Mel Morris, and Sebastian Knutsson, of its producer King, all featuring in the top 10.
A metaverse millionaire
In second place on the list is Herman Narula, who has amassed a fortune of £780m on the back of the “metaverse”, a divisive vision of the internet as an inhabitable virtual world.
While the tech has yet to make it past the proof of concept stage and into the mainstream, Narula has managed to secure a massive windfall from it, largely thanks to eye-watering investments in his London-based metaverse company Improbable.
The Delhi-born Cambridge graduate’s firm is promising to “unleash the full potential” of the metaverse for businesses. Last September, Improbable raised $100m (£77m) in funding, valuing the company at more than $3bn (£2.3bn).
Grand Theft windfall
Surprisingly, Grand Theft Auto linchpins Sam and Dan Houser are ranked fourth, with an estimated wealth of £350m. The brothers have helped steer developer Rockstar into an entertainment powerhouse with an output that regularly outgrosses Hollywood blockbusters.
Dan Houser was a co-founder and served as the vice president of creativity for the studio, playing a pivotal role in the development of major titles, like crime sagas Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption. He left the company in 2020, after an extended break that began in spring 2019.
In contrast, Sam Houser remains with Rockstar Games and continues to serve as its president. He has been instrumental in the creative direction of the company, leaving his mark on the juggernaut GTA V (and its perennial online counterpart) and the upcoming GTA 6.
YouTubers and Twitch streamers rake it in
While it’s dominated by game developers you’ve probably never heard of, despite having played their biggest products, there are a few familiar faces on the list. Content creators KSI and The Sidemen ranked joint 21st with an estimated wealth of £50m. Other streamers on the list include Dan Middleton (aka Dan TDM) and Felix Kjellberg (better known as PewDePie).
Gender disparity
The Sunday Times Gaming Rich List starkly highlights the gender disparity at the top of the sector. While the list boasts a plethora of minted men, women are conspicuously absent, with only a handful making the cut.
The list features just three women, including Debbie Bestwick, former chief executive of Team17, with a £130m fortune, and Tamsin O’Luanaigh, of virtual reality company nGames, with a joint fortune of £26m shared with husband Patrick.
The only woman to feature in the top 10 are Wendy Irvin-Braben, of game developer Frontier Developments, who placed 10th with husband David with a joint worth of £175m.
The UK’s richest game developers and content creators
- Igor and Dmitry Bukhman: £12,540m - Games developer (Township)
- Herman Narula: £780m - Virtual worlds (The metaverse)
- Riccardo Zacconi: £410m - Games developer (Candy Crush)
- Sam and Dan Houser: £350m - Games developer (Grand Theft Auto)
- Lior Shiff: £347m - Games developer (Solitaire, Wooduku)
- Garry Newman: £335m - Games developer (Garry's Mod and Rust)
- Mel Morris: £312m - Games entrepreneur (Candy Crush)
- Neil Taylor: £230m - Games retailer (Game)
- Sebastian Knutsson: £225m - Games developer (Candy Crush)
- David Braben and Wendy Irvin-Braben: £175m - Games developer (Elite, Raspberry Pi)
- Patrick Burns: £150m - Games developer (Minecraft)
- Chris van der Kuyl: £150m - Games developer (Minecraft)
- Debbie Bestwick: £130m - Games developer (Worms)
- Chris and Jason Kingsley: £120m - Games developer (Alien vs Predator)
- Paul Wedgwood: £100m - Games developer (Quake, Wolfenstein)
- Akin Babayigit: £96m - Games developer (Solitaire, Wooduku)
- Sean Murray: £94m - Games developer (Irishman behind No Man's Sky)
- Chris Stamper and family: £74m - Games developer (Goldeneye 007, Donkey Kong Country)
- Jon Brown and family: £70m - Games developer (Gang Beasts)
- Christian Facey: £52m - Games developer (In-game advertising)
- Daniel Knight: £50m - Games developer (Phasmophobia)
- KSI and The Sidemen: £50m - Vlogger / YouTuber (YouTubers)
- Terry Malham and family: £50m - Games developer (Paw Patrol and Transformers games)
- Jas Purewal: £50m - Games developer (Garry's Mod and Rust)
- PewDiePie (Felix Kjellberg): £45m - Vlogger / YouTuber (Minecraft video and goofing around)
- Luca Galante: £40m - Games developer (Vampire Survivors)
- Dan TDM (Dan Middleton): £40m - Vlogger / YouTuber (Playing Minecraft (and blue hair))
- Patrick and Tamsin O'Luanaigh: £26m - Virtual reality (Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord)
- Eyal Chameides: £22m - Games developer (Solitaire, Wooduku)
- Ali-A (Alastair Aiken): £15m - Vlogger / YouTuber (Playing Fortnite and Call of Duty)
