Growth in the Scottish Video Games Industry Grinds to a Halt, According to TIGA - Seite 2

"If the Scottish games industry is to renew growth then we need to ensure that more Scottish games companies benefit from Video Games Tax Relief, a measure which effectively reduce the cost of games development. We should also reinforce our successful industry by introducing a Video Games Investment Fund (VGIF) to improve access to finance. We should also continue to strengthen industry-university links, enhance skills and training and enable UK games companies to recruit highly skilled workers from the EU and beyond. This will ensure that our sector continues to create more jobs, more investment and more video games."

Professor Gregor White, Dean of Design and Informatics at Abertay University said:

"While it's disappointing that the games industry in Scotland hasn't sustained the high levels of growth experienced in recent years there is still much to be positive about. 2018 saw an increase in AAA development and the establishment of new technology spin offs including the opening of a new Epic Games studio and Leslie Benzies new studio - Build a Rocket Boy - in Edinburgh. 

"The industry in Dundee continues to innovate and a new generation of start-ups is emerging. The recent investment by the Arts and Humanities Research Council in the the cities games cluster to establish an R&D and innovation centre at the heart of the industry will support InGAME to work with games studios, multinational media companies and sector partners to catalyse growth in scale and value over the coming months and years.

"Once again, Abertay University is ranked as the leading games school in Europe and continues to attract the best young talent from around the world to study and work in Scotland. I'm confident that the industry in Scotland will benefit from these conditions and return to growth very soon."

Research methodology

Games Investor Consulting (GIC) continuously maintains a database of all extant, closed and exiting British games companies including all verified discrete independent and publisher-owned games development studios. It counts as a single studio all entities with holding/parent, sister and subsidiary companies that do not represent separate development concerns. It excludes companies in the process of being liquidated as well as any company that uses games-related Standard Industrial Codes (SIC) codes but which either are demonstrably not in games (e.g. are gambling or board gaming businesses) or cannot be verified from their published company profiles as operating in games development. Between September-November 2018, TIGA and GIC conducted an email and telephone survey of British games companies involved in the development of games including studios, publishers, service companies and broadcasters with games divisions. Distribution, manufacturing, peripheral device, marketing and retail companies were not profiled. Companies were asked how many staff worked full time in development or in roles supporting development. HR, admin, sales, marketing and commercial staff were excluded. GIC takes the latest data on development headcount to scale total development expenditure, and then uses current ONS economic data and Oxford Economics' calculations from their report, "The economic contribution of the UK Games Development industry", to establish estimates of the development industry's GDP and tax impact.