The British video game industry is facing a “major brain drain”, with experienced developers abandoning big-name studios for more stable roles in defence, government, and advanced tech, an industry veteran has warned
Aleksey Savchenko, a contributor for The European, said cost-cutting, poor leadership, and a growing reluctance by studios to take risks are driving top-tier talent out of the sector — leaving underprepared graduates to “pick up the slack.”
He said the exodus is stripping British studios of the creative and technical expertise that once made them world leaders.
During the 1990s and early 2000s, the UK produced global hits including Tomb Raider, Lemmings, GoldenEye 007, Populous, and Worms.
But now, the same studios are grappling with spiralling costs, bloated management structures, and an over-reliance on recycled formulas and trend-chasing content, he said.
The result is a glut of buggy, repetitive, and uninspired games that feel “unfinished on release and forgettable soon after”.
Writing in the latest print edition of The European magazine – subscribe here – Savchenko — a BAFTA member who has worked on numerous games including S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 , and helped expand Unreal Engine across Europe — said: “What we’re seeing isn’t just a wave of departures but a dismantling of the foundations that made British game development world-class. The studios that once led the industry are now hollowed out by short-term thinking and fear of risk.
“You can’t build innovative, lasting games when you’re constantly replacing experience with inexperience.
“The real problem is leadership. Decisions are being made by people who don’t understand how games are made, let alone what makes them fun. We’re no longer designing experiences and classics for the future but simply ticking boxes.”
Savchenko said the post-pandemic years saw studios scale aggressively, hiring fast and spending heavily during a time of unprecedented growth.
But as spending slowed and investor expectations tightened, studios resorted to cuts that disproportionately affected development teams.
And while layoffs made headlines, many experienced developers left of their own accord.
Some have gone on to lead efficiency programmes in smaller studios or build indie games on their own terms. Others have taken their skills into national security, virtual reality training, crisis simulation, and beyond — roles where the ability to design realistic environments, systems, and behaviours is critical, he said.
“Veterans didn’t just get laid off. Many walked — tired of short-sighted leadership, internal politics, and the pressure to make something profitable rather than meaningful,” Savchenko wrote in The European.
“Now they’re building simulation systems, defence platforms, and immersive public sector tools. Their work still matters — it always did. It’s just being used in industries that value it.”
While British gamers lament the decline in game quality — with nearly a third saying standards have dropped in recent years, according to a recent YouGov survey — Savchenko believes the damage is mostly being done behind closed studio doors.
He said the rot has set in “not because people don’t care, but because the industry no longer gives them the conditions to care properly”.
Savchenko added: “Technical debt piles up, tools get more complex, deadlines get tighter — and the people meant to hold it all together are either burnt out or gone.
“You can feel it in the games. The absence of joy. The lack of polish. And most of all, the unwillingness to take creative risks.”
His new novel, Cyberside: Level Zero, follows the rise of a small indie game studio that transforms into a global tech empire — one that quietly reshapes reality through the systems it builds.
Told through the eyes of James Reynolds, an ambitious engineer climbing the corporate ranks, it is said to “blend fiction with unsettling real-world parallels”.
Savchenko said the UK games industry can rebound — but only if it’s willing to rebuild on better foundations.
“Creative cultures aren’t spreadsheets. You can’t cut your way to innovation,” he added.
“If we want to see another British classic, we need to protect the people who know how to make them — and give the next generation a real chance to learn, lead, and create something new.”
