The UK Video Games Industry

In a desperate attempt to get the country back on its feet, the government is attempting to put together a growth strategy. This includes a discussion on whether we need a holistic industrial policy – a sort of return to the 1970s.


The government's recent move to make its work programme voluntary is a welcome one – it is in my eyes a flawed system that coerces people into free labour with no promise of a job. Having gone through the scheme, I was lucky enough to be offered a part-time job at the electronic retailer Maplin, but perhaps more can be done to ensure a better outcome for everyone, especially in places like the north-east of England, where I live.


After gaining a degree in computer games programming, I found very little in the way of support for people like me. Unfortunately the industry is somewhat ignored by the government. It was promised tax breaks by both the coalition and previous Labour governments, only to be denied them on numerous occasions. It is a real shame to let down this burgeoning industry: the UK used to be third in the world in the production of video games but has slipped to fourth behind Canada. We have produced franchises such as Tomb Raider, Grand Theft Auto and LittleBigPlanet and, unbeknown to most, the north-east region not only contributes massively to the industry within the UK but is also becoming a hub for gaming and digital media.

Full article HERE

Here's an interesting, and slightly off kilter, blog for you guys to mull over today.

Video Games are something I'm quite passionate about, and to get a job within that particularly industry would mean a great deal to me, yet the UK Games industry is mostly ignored by both our government and our population as a whole.

Coming from a media background, education wise, I've learnt a fair amount about the amount of tax breaks the movie industry, and to an extent the music industry, get for working within the UK and using UK labour (for instance, if a film uses British camera operators over operators from an outside country, then they get more tax breaks). Thanks to these tax breaks, we've seen an increase in the number of films either partially shot within the UK, or shot entirely within the country.

Similar incentives were promised to the UK Games industry, as the article above notes, but have failed to be fulfilled.

People tend not to realise the boon that the games industry is able to bring to those that are willing to support it, and fewer are aware of the companies that are either partially based within the UK, or wholly based in the UK.

Just to give you an idea, the UK is home to Traveller's Tales (the company behind the famous LEGO games), Lionhead Studios (Fable, The Movies, Black & White), Rocksteady Studios (Batman: Arkham Asylum, and Batman: Arkham City), Rockstar North (most of the Grand Theft Auto games), Media Molecule (Little Big Planet 1 & 2), and Ninja Theory (Heavenly Sword, Enslaved, and DMC), among many more (an incomplete list can be found HERE).

You'll note that many of the games I just listed have won numerous awards, and this list doesn't include the numerous foreign companies that have set up studios within the UK to expand their customer services and branding (UbiSoft and Capcom are notable companies with UK offices).

These companies are producing top tier, critically acclaimed, titles for the video games market and are brining in ridiculous amounts of money because of this...and yet they have little to no support from the government.

Can you imagine the number of jobs that could be generated within the country if these companies had more money? Not just jobs building or designing the games, but jobs in customer service, jobs in sales, PR, marketing, Tech Support, and numerous other positions that I couldn't realistically name. Often times there are more people working on a modern video game than there could be working on a blockbuster movie.

So yeah, just something to have a think about. Once again the government seem completely unaware of the world we live in, focusing not on schemes that could generate more work and money, but instead on ways of polishing their egos.

Have a good day.