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TIGA dismisses report claiming Scottish games industry contributes nothing to the economy

Politicians should recognise sector's significance

TIGA dismisses report claiming Scottish games industry contributes nothing to the economy
UK trade association TIGA has dismissed a report concluding that the Scottish games industry contributes nothing to Scotland's economy.

The Creative Scotland report, which was initially released in June in conjunction with Scottish Enterprise, also deduces that just 200 people work in the games industry in Scotland.

As such, it's been met with notable criticism during the last few days, with blog Scottish Games branding its figures "ridiculously inaccurate," adding that "Rockstar North alone has well over 200 employees."

Don't forget mobile

"The problem," added Scottish Games, "is that this is an official report created by two Scottish government organisations which oversee the cultural and enterprise elements of the Scottish economy.

"Moving forward policy decisions, funding allocations etc. will all be made based on the information in this document."

Indeed, Scotland's mobile development scene is anything but a shrinking violet: studios such as Denki and Tag Games are both based in Dundee, while the likes of GamesAnalytics and I-play are also notable Scottish businesses.

Much attention is now being paid to the report's decision to overlap industry categorisations. Grouped together, for instance, the report states that Scotland's 'software/electronic publishing' industry employs over 19,000 people.

The anomaly

TIGA is similarly dubious about the report and the "anomalous information" contained therein.

The UK trade association notes that the document is based on publicly available data from 2010.

However, its own, more-recent research, has found that the games industry in Scotland employs 668 permanent staff and contributes an estimated £30 million to the treasury each year.

"TIGA believes the results do not reflect the true value of the games industry in Scotland," explained TIGA CEO Dr Richard Wilson.

"We would urge the Scottish Government to take TIGA's own 2011 data into consideration.

"Fortunately, the Scottish Government, many MSPs in the Scottish Parliament and MPs in the Westminster Parliament do recognise the significance and the great potential of the video games sector."

[source: TIGA]
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PocketGamer.biz's news editor 2012-2013