Societal & Cultural Impact
Video game experiences are as diverse as the billions of people who play them.
Improving mental health: Our 2023 global report, Power of Play, found that video games helps people get through difficult times in their lives, provides them with healthy outlets from everyday challenges and makes them feel happier. Players also universally look to video games for mental stimulation and stress relief.
Supplementing health treatment options: Video games are used as supplemental treatment options for health conditions, such as alleviating anxiety, ADHD, and Alzheimer’s, and can help manage side effects from cancer treatment.
Bringing People Together: Video games offer players a sense of community in which they can work together to investigate, compete, and solve problems. When other forms of shared entertainment were scarce, video games provided virtual socialisation and engagement in gameplay became a means of preventing feelings of loneliness.
Furthermore, according to research conducted in the UK by innovation charity Nesta, those who play video games are better educated, are no less wealthy and are more likely than non-games players to participate actively in culture.
“We welcome this research that dispels the assumed stereotypes of people who play games. Games are creative, innovative and immersive experiences that enrich our everyday cultural life, and inspire new ways of understanding and interacting with the world around us. It is not surprising that this research indicates that players are more likely to be actively participating in other cultural media.”
Dr Jo Twist OBE CEO of Ukie