UK games industry

June 17th 2008

Tiga urged the Government today to commission quality data on the video games industry, of a standard similar to the information that underpins the 2008 Value-Added Scoreboard.

The Government’s 2008 Value-Added Scoreboard, published last week, analyses the overall scale and growth of Value Added and examines the efficiency with which value added is created by UK and other European companies. It is based on the value added by the top 800 UK companies and the top 750 European companies.

The Scoreboard is based on data about large businesses derived from the latest audited company annual reports and consolidated accounts as of January 7th 2008. It provides virtually no information about the video games industry.

Richard Wilson, CEO of Tiga, said:

“The publication of this year’s Value Added Scoreboard highlights a general problem facing the games industry: there is a paucity of good quality data on the UK video games industry. Information such as value-added, investment on R&D, average annual expenditure on training and the value of video games in terms of exports, for example, is thin or incomplete.

“Yet the provision of information of this kind would provide invaluable benchmarking data to UK games developers and to potential overseas investors.

“If we are to improve the competitiveness of the UK games developers then we must have better quality information. Ideally, games developers should be able to benchmark their value-added, investments in R&D, workforce development, marketing and other business activities against industry averages.

“Where possible, Tiga aims to develop this kind of information and provide it to its membership. The Government should also commission research that identifies this crucial data. This would be of great help, especially for the many smaller and medium-sized enterprises in the video games industry.”

End

Notes to editors

1. Tiga is the national trade association that represents games developers in the UK and in Europe. We have 155 members, the majority of whom are games developers, but we also have outsourcing companies and technology businesses as members who provide services to games developers. Tiga’s vision is to make the UK the best place in the world to do games business.

2. Value added is the value of a company’s sales less the cost of its bought in goods and services. It measures the amount of wealth created by a company. The Value Added Scoreboard can be accessed at: http://www.innovation.gov.uk/value_added/ default.asp?page=62

3. For further information, please contact: Dr Richard Wilson, Tiga CEO on: 0845 0941095; Mob: 07875 939643; or: Email: richard.wilson@tiga.org.