UKIE Chairman says video game industry has been “let down by our politicians”
Jamie Donnelly July 20, 2011 - 5:59 pmUKIE and Tiga are leading a new group who are aiming to present a united front in order to challenge the Government’s lack of support for the video game industry.
The UK’s leading video game trades bodies, UKIE and Tiga, are working together with the aim of creating a new committee that will “represent a unanimous gaming industry” and confront the Government’s failure to so far support the industry sufficiently.
Blitz Games, Sony Computer Entertainment and the Department of Culture Media & Sport are some of the bodies that have joined up with UKIE and Tiga so far, but unfortunately the Department of Education is yet to get involved. The coalition of trade bodies has already started pulling together funding of £100,000 that will be used to promote and improve the UK digital industries.
Speaking today at the Develop Conference, UKIE Chairman Andy Payne said: “It’s my job to hold the politicians to account. As an industry we’ve been let down by our politicians.”
He added: “Tiga pushed hard for games tax breaks and even persuaded the former chancellor to implement them. Sadly [his successor] George Osborne scrapped the policy. That’s a big blow for the British games industry. We need to join up. We need to make sure that as an industry we are better represented.”
