UK Game Industry To Receive Funding From Government

£10 million will be injected into the UK games industry though it will be going directly to one institution: Abertay University in Dundee Scotland. The funds will be distributed to help support further developments of software companies.

On top of this capital, a further £1 million will be given to Scottish game developers in European money, whilst the British government will also give £1 million to a linked centre in Manchester’s Media City UK.

With the money, the centre in Dundee proposes to create thirty new software companies and support eighty current developers. This is expected to create four hundred new jobs provide new skills to three hundred more. Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy commented:

“This is a great day for the games industry and really good news for Dundee."

“Dundee has always been a city of innovation and has a well earned reputation as the heartland of Scotland’s gaming industry… This investment now confirms Dundee as one of the key centres in the UK as well, and will allow Abertay University to grow Scotland’s international reputation for its talents in video games creation.”

Founder of Realtime Worlds, Dave Jones is also much pleased with the news:

“Using a prototype fund to provide computing and arts students with the opportunity to get hands on experience of real projects will help equip them better for working in our high growth industry and help feed the demand we have for talent.”

This is great news for the UK games industry which has recently been reported as falling behind in the top five league table to international competitors due to TIGA’s assertion that lack of tax breaks is a major investment barrier. These funds could solve a lot of problems and help shift the UK’s workforce into a more stable and popular sector. Why the authority of distribution was given to a centre in Dundee remains unclear as many top developers are based in England.

Source: GamerHeadlines