The United Kingdom government has announced a significant investment of £30 million (AU$56.8 million) into its local video games industry, to support the ‘next generation of smash hit games.’
While the media release states lofty goals – to create ‘the next Grand Theft Auto or Tomb Raider‘ – it’s a welcome move in the right direction, to help support UK developers and studios through a tough economic time.
The newly-announced investment is part of the UK government’s Creative Industries Sector Plan, which aims to ensure the ‘UK is the number one destination worldwide for investment in creativity and innovation’.
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The UK’s plans for the video games sector
Long-term, the UK government hopes that investments in the games industry will eventually ‘pay dividends’ to the taxpayer, as a key driver of economic growth and job creation. Video games also contribute significantly to culture transmission and encouraging tourism.
The UK has played a significant role in the global games industry to date, with major success in releases like Grand Theft Auto, Fable, No Man’s Sky and PowerWash Simulator. According to the funding announcement, the local games industry comprises around 2,000 gaming companies, employing ‘tens of thousands of people recognised globally for their talent and creativity’.
The UK’s Games Growth Package, which aims to help games companies release global hits and also elevate new voices, includes three strands of dedicated grants, to cover various kinds of game studios and developers.
The entry track, with grants of up to £20,000 (AU$38,000) will be available to newly-formed companies with strong potential for growth. The emergent track, with grants of up to £100,000 (AU$189,000) will be for prototyping new games. The expansion track will provide grants of up to £250,000 (AU$473,000) to take games to completion and enable studios to scale up, long-term.
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Further funding for UK games industry
In addition to this funding, the UK government is also investing in a range of initiatives to support the visibility and growth of its local games sector.
It has pledged £1.5 million (AU$2.8 million) over the next three years to supporting the London Games Festival, which is a meeting point for the local games industry.
Additionally, it has pledged £20 million (AU$37.8 million) to Tay Cities Region (the area around Perth and Fife) to ‘back local talent in advancing creative technologies like computer games and virtual reality to drive new products and grow the economy’.
As UK Minister for Creative Industries Ian Murray said, the aim is growing an industry that hasn’t been nearly well-supported enough over the last few years. ‘Video games are not only great fun, they are big business – and for too long their value to the British economy has been overlooked,’ Murray said.
‘That is why the government has thrown its full support behind the sector with £30 million of new funding. This will turbocharge the careers of some of our most talented game developers, creating more jobs and economic growth right across the country as their ideas come to fruition.’
The UK now joins many other countries, including Australia and Canada, in providing more robust support for video games and game developers, as part of the growth of their creative industries. Given their well-understood export potential, it’s a move that will have long-term benefits for the country, and the global economy.
