Russian-born Playrix cofounders and brothers Igor and Dmitry Bukhman are the wealthiest UK games industry leaders by a huge margin, with an estimated fortune of £12.5bn.
That’s according to The Sunday Times gaming rich list, published on Saturday, which lists what the paper estimates to be the UK’s 30 wealthiest execs and influencers. As we reported previously, the Bukhman brothers were placed 27th in The Sunday Times’ overall 2024 Rich List, which was published back in May.
Leaders from mobile firms King and Tripledot were also high up in the gaming rich list. King’s Riccardo Zacconi was third, and is worth an estimated £410m. Fellow King execs Mel Morris and Sebastian Knutsson were in seventh and ninth respectively, with fortunes of £312m and £225m, according to The Times.
Tripledot Studios’ Lior Shiff was listed as the fifth wealthiest UK resident with £347m. Fellow Tripledot cofounders Akin Babayigit and Eyal Chameides also made the list. Babayigit was in 16th and is worth £96m, according to the Times, and Chameides is in 29th with an estimated £22m.
Improbable CEO Herman Narula was second in the gaming rich list, with an estimated fortune of £780m. Audiomob founder Christian Facey came in 20th with an estimated fortune of £52m.
Other notable figures in the list are Rockstar’s Houser brothers, who are worth £350m, Garry’s Mod creator Garry Newman (£225m) and Frontier bosses David Braben and Wendy Irvin-Braben (£175m). Sean Murray of Hello Games is worth an estimated £94m, and Vampire Survivors creator Luca Galante makes the list with an estimated fortune of £40m.
The Sunday Times’ gaming rich list was compiled using the same methodology that has been used to compile the main Sunday Times Rich List since 1989. Private companies have been mostly valued on a multiple of their annual profits, and developers with larger portfolios of games have been valued more highly. Stakes in stock-market listed companies were valued in late July 2024.
The Sunday Times’ gaming rich list in full:
1. Igor and Dmitry Bukhman (Playrix): £12.54bn
2. Herman Narula (Improbable): £780m
3. Riccardo Zacconi (King): £410m
4. Sam and Dan Houser (Rockstar Games / Take-Two): £350m
5. Lior Shiff (Tripledot Studios): £347m
6. Garry Newman (FacePunch Studios): £335m
7. Mel Morris (King): £312m
8. Neil Taylor (Game): £230m
9. Sebastian Knutsson (King): £225m
10. David Braben and Wendy Irvin-Braben (Frontier Developments): £175m
11. Patrick Burns (4J Studios): £150m
11= Chris van der Kuyl (4J Studios): £150m
13. Debbie Bestwick (Team17): £130m
14. Chris and Jason Kingsley (Rebellion Developments): £120m
15. Paul Wedgwood (Splash Damage): £100m
16. Akin Babayigit (Tripledot Studios): £96m
17. Sean Murray (Hello Games): £94m
18. Chris Stamper and Family (Rare Games): £74m
19. Jon Brown and Family (Boneloaf): £70m
20. Christian Facey (AudioMob): £52m
21. Daniel Knight (Kinetic Games): £50m
21= KSI and The Sidemen (Throne Holdings): £50m
21= Terry Malham and Family (Outright Games): £50m
21= Jas Purewal (FacePunch Studios): £50m
25. PewDiePie (Felix Kjellberg) (PewDie Productions): £45m
26. Luca Galante (Poncle): £40m
26= Dan TDM (Dan Middleton) (The Diamond Minecart): £40m
28. Patrick and Tamsin O’Luanaigh (nDreams): £26m
29. Eyal Chameides (Tripledot Studios): £22m
30. Ali-A (Alastair Aiken) (Ali-A Entertainment): £15m
