Here is our guide to 5 top UK games software stocks, with market caps from £100 million to £500 million. All five are listed on AIM, the junior market, which means there are additional IHT benefits to owning them.
Global sales of games software grew 11% to $189 billion last year. To put that in perspective, the global box office for films came to just $34 billion despite several blockbuster releases.
The games software market is predicted to grow by more than 9% per year to $300 billion by 2032. Mobile is the dominant medium, with 3 billion people playing on their devices. The PC games market has around 1 billion users, while the console market has around 640 million players.
EVERPLAY GROUP
| Share price: 335p | PE: 16.7x |
| Market Cap: £485m | Yield: 0.9% |
Indie games developer Everplay Group (EVPL), formerly known as Team17, is the biggest of our five stocks. The firm produces titles for young gamers such as Hungry Caterpillar, Lego Duplo World and Thomas & Friends.
It also produces sim or simulator games including firefighting, police, construction, bus driving and seafaring scenarios. Lastly, it incorporates the Team17 legacy catalogue including Blasphemous, Overcooked, Sworn and Worms Armageddon.
Games are developed for pc and across consoles including Nintendo DS and Switch. Many of its games have a ‘retro’ feel, and some come with 16-bit and 32-bit add-ons.
With 140 active titles across the firm, it has 12 franchises with sales of more than $20 million each. Almost three quarters of sales are from the back catalogue, with 35% from the company’s own-IP games.
In its H1 results published in early September, the firm posted a 10% drop in revenue due to the timing of releases. However, it also said full-year EBITDA would be above market expectations thanks to higher margins.
New launches for younger gamers included Lego Bluey, which brings together two of the biggest global children’s franchises. Team 17 launches included Sworn, Ritual of Raven and a re-release of Hell Let Loose.
In December 2025, Everplay acquired a 20% minority stake in SMG (Super Media Group) for £2 million. SMG owns Bulkhead, an independent UK developer of FPS (first-person shooter) games, one of the world’s most popular genres.
Find out more about the company here: https://everplaygroupplc.com/investors
FRONTIER DEVELOPMENTS
| Share price: 483p | PE: 23.4x |
| Market cap: £180m | Yield: n/a |
Next in terms of market cap is Frontier Developments (FDEV), which also caters to a mixed age group. Its best-known titles for younger gamers include Planet Coaster, Planet Zoo and the Jurassic World franchise.
All three are CMS or creative management simulation games, where players build and control the environment. The firm is already on its third iteration of Jurassic World Evolution, and has rolled out more fantasy games.
For older games, titles include Elite Dangerous, Lemnis Gate, Chaos Gate Daemonhunters and Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin. The last two are part of the Warhammer franchise owned and controlled by FTSE 100 miniatures firm Games Workshop (GAW).
In mid-January, the firm raised its sales and earnings guidance for the year to May 2026 citing ‘excellent’ trading. For the six months to November, it posted a 26% increase in revenue to just shy of £60 million.
Revenue from CMS games rose 52% in the half, accounting for 90% of sales against 75% previously. A big part of that was due to Jurassic World Evolution 3, which was only released in October.
New chief executive Jo Cooke, who was appointed on 1 January, is the firm’s former director of marketing. As such, she has an in-depth knowledge of the business and its titles as well as what sells.
Find out more about the company here: https://www.frontier.co.uk/company
GAMING REALMS
| Share price: 40p | PE: 15.2x |
| Market cap: £117m | Yield: n/a |
Next in terms of market cap is Gaming Realms (GMR), which is a different beast to the rest of our five. It focuses on the ‘real money space’ and mobile games such as Slingo where players bet per play.
The firm is licensed to operate in 22 regulated markets globally and aims to enter another 10 markets in time. Its particular areas of focus going forward are emerging regulated markets in Africa and Asia.
In its H1 2025 results, published last September, the firm posted an 18% increase in revenue to £16 million. Content licensing income grew marginally, while social revenue fell, but brand licensing income rocketed 623%.
Creeping regulation in the UK represents a constant headwind to the firm’s revenue. In H1 2025, UK staking limits introduced in April 2025 led to a 15% fall in domestic market revenue.
As a result, the firm is constantly evolving its Slingo offering in order to get new games licensed. However, the Autumn Budget hiked gaming tax from 21% to 40% from April 2026 meaning analysts have slashed earnings forecasts.
Therefore, international partnerships, new products and new markets are key to the company’s growth story. One of its latest innovations is NFL-branded Slingo games in partnership with BetMGM.
Read more about the company here: https://gamingrealms.com/investors/
DEVOLVER DIGITAL
| Share price: 23p | PE: n/a |
| Market Cap: £107m | Yield: n/a |
Close behind in terms of market value is Devolver Digital (DEVO), home of indie cult classics such as Cult of the Lamb. Other classic titles and franchises include Enter the Gungeon, Serious Sam and Shadow Warrior.
Based in Delaware, the firm has published over 135 games so far, most of which are profitable. It has 30 more games in development, including Quarantine Zone: The Last Check ‘featuring blood, intense violence and drug references’.
Depending on when deals are signed, revenue can be hit and miss and H1 2025 saw sales fall 25%. The timing of the Steam publisher sale was another contributing factor, as it moved from June 2024 to September 2025.
Nonetheless, the firm maintained its FY guidance thanks to the success of new releases. It expects H2 2025 to account for over 60% of annual revenue against around 50% normally.
One encouraging aspect of H1 2025 was the performance of the ‘front catalogue’. Revenue from the latest seven titles almost reached FY24 levels, and eight more titles are projected for H2.
Learn more about the company here: https://investors.devolverdigital.com/
TRUFIN
| Share price: 114p | PE: n/a |
| Market Cap: £115m | Yield: n/a |
Although it’s not the smallest, Trufin (TRU) is the last of our five games companies as it is something of an oddball. Trufin itself is a conglomerate comprising supply-chain finance, smaller company cash flow software and games development.
The games development business, Playstack, finds undiscovered games and takes them from soft launch to successful release. At the same time, its in-house developers create original IP so it has two revenue streams.
Playstack’s back catalogue features BAFTA-winning ‘poker roguelike’ game Balatro with 150 unique Joker cards. It also includes role-playing combat games like Mortal Shell and The Last Faith and detective game Golden Idol.
Recent releases include chaotic gameplay title Unbeatable and ‘survival crafting experience’ Abiotic Factor. Games under development for release this year include Mortal Shell 2 and ‘horror extraction game’ Darkwater.
In the last two months Trufin has released two trading updates, raising earnings guidance each time. In December, it said earnings for 2025 would be ‘materially’ above previous guidance.
At the time, it estimated revenue of over £60.3 million, EBITDA of over £11.2 million and pre-tax profit of over £7 million. In January, it forecast revenue of £63 million, EBITDA of over £11.8 million and pre-tax profit of over £4.7 million.
Literally as we went to press, the firm released two more updates. First, Playstack has signed a ‘significant’ contract with a global technology platform for a new game for release in H2 2026.
The game is being developed internally and will therefore be owned exclusively by Playstack. The multi-year deal includes a series of contractual payments plus performance-based fees payable following the game’s launch.
This contract ‘materially’ enhances Playstack’s first-party IP portfolio and increases the value of its overall portfolio. It also strengthens the visibility of Playstack’s revenues for the coming years.
Second, following £8 million share buybacks last year, the firm announced a further £6 million share buyback for 2026.
Read more about the company here: https://trufin.com/investors
Note: All prices, market caps and other data correct as of 20 January 2026
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