Games and the Govt - Part One

I thought ELSPA handled themselves very well on the ratings system. To be honest, everyone thought PEGI didn't have a leg to stand on after the Byron Review. They listened; they listened to people's concerns and they responded, they amended what they did, they fought a very good campaign, they got their message over and they've won the day.

I'm pretty certain they'll do that in the public information campaigns they're going to run as well, but let's see how they get on with that.

I think some sections of government do. But if I'm being honest I think there's a lot more we can do in this area. Firstly, I would like to see a UK games council that's run along the lines of the UK Film Council. Locking the games industry into the machinery of government means that you can take a much wider strategic look and instead of doing small tactical campaigns, be it on tax breaks or classification. We can really think about what the long term interests are for the industry: skills, training, job, publishing, copyright.

These are the kind of things that require a bit of seasoned discussion. And a Games Council would mean that the government can't ignore the games industry. It's part of the machinery. I'd like to see the government go down that route - I don't know whether they will yet, but I think it would benefit the industry and I think it would benefit the understanding of the industry by government.

I think games, I'm pretty certain games will be the dominant cultural phenomenon of this century and for a country to ignore that is a mistake. Times are tough at the moment: we're in a recession; it's very hard to find any tax breaks for any industry. But I think it's really important that we put a big strategic stamp on the games industry and say, this is an industry we want to nurture and support.

Tax breaks are part of that but there's a much wider piece of work to do that perhaps the industry should start thinking a little bit more about. What kind of a games industry do we want in 10 years' time? Where are platform games going? What are we doing with social gaming? Where are we at with games-based learning? How do we tie all these strands of work together so that we can have a really deep, strategic approach to the industry rather than these piecemeal issues that flare up like sunspots and die down again. There needs to be an institution that deals with that.

I don't know, I honestly don't know. I'm putting pressure on the Treasury, I know the DCMS guys are doing their best, but who knows what the numbers are going to look like in the next budget. But I'm pretty certain that if it doesn't happen in the next few months, in the next few years we're going to have to act to protect the industry and help it grow and weather the current global recession.