UK games industry

November 5 ^th 2010

TIGA, the trade association representing the UK video games industry, today welcomed a report by Home Affairs Committee ( First Report: Immigration Cap) – chaired by Keith Vaz MP - that suggested excluding intra-company transfers of under two years’ duration from the proposed cap in migration.

Dr Richard Wilson, TIGA CEO, said:

“TIGA has previously argued that there should be no restrictions on the freedom of publisher owned studios to facilitate intra-company transfers. This could damage the ability of studios to complete their projects on time and impair the quality of game development. TIGA is delighted therefore that the Home Affairs Committee has suggested that intra-company transfers under 2 years’ duration should be excluded from the cap. This is a sensible proposal which, if enacted, will help the video games industry.

“Game development is a highly skilled sector and technological changes can mean that the specialist skills needed by games businesses may not always reside in the UK. In these circumstances games businesses should be free to recruit highly skilled personnel from elsewhere – through intra-company transfers or through the Tier 2 migration route (highly skilled workers with a job offer).

“Arbitrary limits on migration could stop development studios from completing projects on time, halt expansion plans and damage their ability to win new contracts.”

-Ends-

Notes to editors:

About TIGA:

TIGA is the trade association representing the UK’s games industry. The majority of our members are either independent games developers or in-house publisher owned developers. We also have games publishers, outsourcing companies, technology businesses and universities amongst our membership. TIGA was awarded ‘Trade Association of the Year’ and the ‘Member Recruitment Award’ at the Trade Association Forum Best Practice Awards 2010. TIGA has also been named as a finalist in the 2010 Chartered Management Institute (CMI) National Management and Leadership Awards in the category of ‘The Outstanding Organisation of the Year Award (SME)’.

TIGA's vision is to make the UK the best place in the world to do games business.  We focus on three sets of activities: political representation, generating media coverage and developing services that enhance the competitiveness of our members.  This means that TIGA members are effectively represented in the corridors of power, their voice is heard in the media and they receive benefits that make a material difference to their businesses, including a reduction in costs and improved commercial opportunities.

For further information, please contact Eva Field, TIGA PR Manager on: 07814 039 983, or email eva@tiga.org.