IN something of a turn up for the books, Oxford has been named one of the country’s biggest releasers of video games. 

The city is the fifth biggest releaser in the UK, according to research by the gaming website OnBuy.com, which said the South East was comfortably the biggest game releasing region.

London, Manchester, Liverpool and Brighton topped Oxford’s total of 230, for the number of games released to date.

A spokeswoman for OnBuy said: “Oxford’s most notable Games companies are Mode 7 Games (formed in 2005), who are famed for their Frozen series, including games like Frozen Synapse. They have recently released the game Tokyo 42.

“Enjoying even bigger success is the video game developer Rebellion - who are most known for the Sniper Elite series.”

In 2014, Nesta identified Oxford as one of the 18 areas with a critical mass of games activity in terms of company numbers, and one of 12 games hubs that have high levels of games concentration.

Games that come out of Oxford are mainly for mobile, with the majority being iOS platform (36%), Windows (28%), iPhone (15%) and iPad (12%).

Scott Bowman, 30, a gamer and graphic designer who has worked with several games companies, said: “Often, games development starts in bedrooms and flats. Companies are then formed after success, and they tend to stay in the area they live in. Setting up in university towns and cities is also appealing for games companies, who can pull in fresh talent after graduation. Equally a lot of companies are formed during university, and they tend to stay.

“Games development is a creative field, so the more corporate cities or areas aren’t as attractive to gaming start-ups, who prefer to set-up in quirkier destinations such as Oxford, with its young student vibe.”  

The UK has released a total of 19,617 games and is one of the top five video game producing countries in the world.