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Is the UK finally waking up to the power of video games?

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The Bafta Games Awards take place later, celebrating the achievements of global video game developers and British studios alike.

This year smash-hit role-playing game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 looks set to sweep the board with 12 nominations in total.

Made in France, the game's developers, Sandfall Interactive, have twice been publicly praised by president Emmanuel Macron, and even honoured by the country's Ministry of Culture.

But do video games get the same recognition in the UK?

Hugely popular series including Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider, Lego: Star Wars and Football Manager were made in Britain.

But some in the industry would argue that, despite their cultural and economic contributions, games aren't placed on the same pedestal as other creative sectors.

According to industry body UK Interactive Entertainment (UKIE), Britain's video game industry was worth £8.76bn in 2025 – an increase of 7.4% on the year before.

They said this was made up of spending on:

At the same time, the global video games industry has endured one of its biggest periods of uncertainty in recent years with thousands of developers losing jobs and studios closing.

Alanah Pearce, who's worked as a video game writer, actress and journalist since starting her career in the industry in 2012, tells BBC News it's a "frustrating" situation.

While the industry is still "incredibly profitable", she says, it is struggling to attract investment in the same way it used to, especially with artificial intelligence (AI) swallowing up huge amounts of cash.

"Most of the investors who are propping up the games industry have frankly fled to AI to a tremendous degree," says Pearce.

"So because that's happened for a lot of our publicly traded companies, they're just very nervous to make anything that isn't almost guaranteed profit, which is very difficult.

"How do you even guarantee profit in this day and age?"

Video game companies large and small are facing increased competition for people's attention, from social media platforms such as TikTok, AI apps and an ever-growing number of competing games being published.

"As a result of that," says Pearce, "All the bigger companies, but it goes the whole way down to indie as well, just got scared and thus have been funding things a lot less, unfortunately."

The UK games industry has also been hit by a lack of investment, with industry body TIGA recently warning it had seen a "record downturn" in employment and a "collapse" in the number of start-up companies.

This week the government announced a £28.5m games fund to support video game studios, with grants of £20,000 for new companies and up to £250,000 for those looking to expand.

Creative industries Minster Ian Murray said the value of video games to the British economy "has been overlooked" for too long, and the government had "thrown its full support behind the sector".

It's part of the Creative Industries Sector Plan, which will also offer £75m of grants for TV and film productions, plus up to £30m for "emerging UK music artists".

Developer Adam Riches, of indie studio Robust Games, told BBC News the different levels of funding could be good news for companies like his.

It has so far published one game, point-and-click adventure Loco Motive.

"As indie developers, we're used to working with smaller budgets, so the newly proposed grants look really generous from our perspective," he says.

"This feels like a good fit for our team, so we'll definitely be looking into the finer details."

Journalist Christopher Dring, editor of The Game Business, tells BBC News the funding was "a strong statement from the government that it is taking video games seriously as an economic and cultural force".

But he says it still didn't quite match support for other industries.

Dring says that, while many major series are developed wholly or partially by British studios, many of them are owned by global companies such as Microsoft.

Following Expedition 33's success, Dring adds: "The drive is to see more home-grown IP flourish on the international stage".

And the UK does have smaller, sustainable studios that punch above their weight.

Two Point Studios, based in Farnham, Surrey, was founded in 2016 by veterans from legendary UK studios Bullfrog and Lionhead.

Its comedic simulation games, which put players in charge of managing hospitals and university campuses, found a dedicated audience thanks to their British humour, unique visuals and ease of play.

"We wanted to be in that more niche space and and do really good games that aren't necessarily trying to be a household name," director and co-founder Gary Carr tells BBC Newsbeat

The studio's latest game, Two Point Museum, earned a nomination in the British game and family game categories at this year's Baftas.

It's also had commercial success too, and allowed the studio to grow to about 50 employees – a modestly sized developer.

"We haven't tried to blow the company up because we've had some successes," says Carr.

"We've kind of wanted to stay a very bijou, boutique studio… we're not too big, we're quite keen to stay a sensible size where everyone can feel like they're involved."

Carr also believes the UK industry is "resilient" and supportive of others working within it – a sentiment shared by Two Point design director Ben Huskins.

The studio is down the road from Guildford, one of the UK's major game development hubs and home to multiple studios.

"We all have worked together at some point in our careers, so we look after each other and we look out for each other."

Huskins says game development is now more accessible than ever, which creates more competition but can also mean "amazing games" come out.

"I think it's fairer that everyone's got a crack of the whip," he says.

Carr says there has been a tendency to "wave the banner of success" when things are going well in the industry, but it's important for support to be there when things aren't so good.

"I definitely don't like to see game studios struggle when we are such an important part of what Britain does well," he says.

Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays – or listen back here.

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Ministers braced as Mandelson document release will expose government working

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The appointment of Peter Mandelson as the UK's ambassador to Washington is like a bad news boomerang for the government.

Over and over again the prime minister's most consequential judgement in office circles back into ministers' airspace – and today it will do with gusto.

It will be "another one of those weeks" one senior figure said, wearily.

The scale of what is to come will be quite something: the largest government publication ever put before the Commons, and therefore us, other than the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq War – and that was a 12 volume, 2.6 million word affair.

It won't be on that scale, but it will run to over 1,000 pages. The first tranche, back in March, amounted to 147 pages.

Printed and bound, the publication will be made up of three volumes. More than 160 of the pages are made up of Lord Mandelson's text messages and WhatsApps.

The bundle will include a substantial explanation from the government of how much effort it took for officials to collate all the information parliament required the government to release, describing it as thousands of hours of work from officials.

In big picture terms, the documents will offer a fascinating internal insight, at scale, into how government works: the private interactions, information flows and disagreements.

Those with an understanding of how the embassy in Washington works describe it as being almost like a government department itself in size – and, crucially, with connections to so many aspects of the Whitehall government machine, given the importance of the UK-US relationship. This is particularly true on military and intelligence matters, much of which will likely be redacted from this document drop on national security grounds.

But what could it tell us about arguments relating to defence spending, or the row about the Chagos Islands for instance?

Folk in government are braced for the inevitable awkwardness of exchanges that they had assumed at the time would be forever private being catapulted into the light of day. Many of the messages are expected to reflect the reality that, at the time, Lord Mandelson was seen as one of the most influential powerbrokers in the Labour Party.

"Excruciating", "sycophantic" and "cringeworthy" are the words being used to describe some of them. Let's see.

The very human tone and tenor of messages – particularly on WhatsApp where text is so often a substitute for in the moment verbal conversation – is likely to stand out.

We understand a good number of cabinet ministers were lavish in their praise of Lord Mandelson immediately after he was sacked. Could there be some comparing and contrasting to be done between those messages, if they are in this tranche, and what any of those ministers have said publicly about him since? And what about criticisms made of the prime minister?

We are not expecting to see the vetting file compiled prior to the decision to send Lord Mandelson to Washington.

The Guardian has reported that the former ambassador's associations with senior figures in China, Russia and Israel were among the concerns raised by the vetting agency.

In April, Sir Olly Robbins, the former head of the Foreign Office, told MPs that he granted Lord Mandelson security clearance to take up his post as ambassador having put "mitigations" in place.

But it is not expected that today's documents will include any record of any measures taken to mitigate any security concerns.

The BBC understands Lord Mandelson doesn't believe there were any security concerns, wasn't asked to do anything to deal with any and there has been a muddling of key details relating to these claims.

There were separate concerns raised in the process about potential commercial conflicts of interest arising because of clients of Lord Mandelson's now defunct consulting firm Global Counsel.

These were dealt with by the deputy head of mission in the embassy overseeing any dealings with these companies, we are told.

By the end of today, from Downing Street's perspective, could they be through the worst of all this?

Yes, probably – but it won't be entirely over.

The police investigation into Lord Mandelson continues. He has repeatedly let it be known that he believes he has not acted criminally, did not act for personal gain and is cooperating with the police.

Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to keep up with the inner workings of Westminster and beyond.

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Girl, 13, dies in hospital after river rescue

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A 13-year-old girl has died after going missing in a river near a North Yorkshire beauty spot.

The teenager was reported missing at 18:30 BST on Sunday at the River Wharfe, near Burnsall, in the Yorkshire Dales.

She was found a short time later and rescued from the water, but despite efforts from members of the public and being taken to hospital in an air ambulance, North Yorkshire Police confirmed she had later died.

There have been at least 15 water-related deaths during the recent heatwave.

Burnsall is a village in Wharfedale, situated north of Skipton, and a popular destination for outdoor activities.

MP for Skipton and Ripon, Julian Smith, thanked emergency services and local residents who supported the rescue at the weekend.

In a social media post earlier, he said: "This morning all my thoughts, prayers and wishes are with the family of the young girl who died in Burnsall yesterday.

"I was so sorry and sad to hear this horrific and devastating news."

In South Yorkshire, the search for an 11-year-old boy missing after going into the River Don entered a third day Monday.

Emergency crews were called to Ferry Boat Lane, Mexborough, at about 20:00 BST on Saturday to reports a boy had entered the water but had not been seen getting out.

On Monday, South Yorkshire Police said extensive searches by specialist officers, an underwater search team and Mountain Rescue volunteers had resumed at first light, both in the river and on land.

The boy's family was being supported, the force added, and urged members of the public to stay away from the area to allow crews to carry out their work.

A 15-year-old girl from Cheshire died in hospital on Saturday after getting into difficulty in the sea off the coast of Merseyside on Bank Holiday Monday.

A woman in her 60s died on Saturday after she and a man got into difficulty after entering the water in Thornton Cleveleys to "rescue their dog". Lancashire Police said the man, also in his 60s, remains in a critical condition in hospital.

Meanwhile, a 19-year-old man died after being rescued from a lake in Nottinghamshire, and a body was found in the search for a man who got into difficulty in the water in the Norfolk Broads.

In South Yorkshire, emergency search crews remained at the scene overnight into Monday as they waited for first light to resume the search for a boy who was believed to have gone missing in the River Don.

Emergency crews were called to Ferry Boat Lane, Mexborough, at about 20:00 BST on Saturday to reports a boy had entered the water but had not been seen getting out.

Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.

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Premier League record-holder James Milner retires after 24-year career

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Former England international James Milner has announced his retirement after a 24-year Premier League career.

The versatile 40-year-old was out of contract after spending the past three seasons with Brighton.

Milner played for six teams in England's top flight and broke the record for most Premier League appearances in February.

He started his career with Leeds and went on to win three Premier League titles – two with Manchester City and one with Liverpool – and also helped the Reds win the Champions League in 2019.

Latest Brighton news, analysis and fan views

Ask about Brighton – what do you want to know?

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