UK games industry

TIGA said today that the UK Coalition Government should take steps to encourage the development of video games which promote education and learning. TIGA made the comments following President Barack Obama’s announcement of the National STEM Video Game Challenge, which offers prizes to game developers who help to foster education in the fields of science, technology, engineering and maths.  There are two competitions: middle school students may compete for the Youth Prize by designing original videogames, and "emerging and experienced game developers" may compete for the Developer Prize by designing games that emphasize education.

Dr Richard Wilson, TIGA CEO, said:

“It is wonderful to see the American President recognise the enormous potential for video games to encourage education and learning. In the UK, a fifth of game developers already develop serious or educational games, including Blitz Games, Caspian, Digital 2.0, PIXELearning, and PlayGen. Additionally, organisations such as Learning without Frontiers do tremendous work in bringing developers and educators together, as well as highlighting the role of video games in learning. 

“We need to develop this potential. TIGA will encourage the UK Coalition Government and other policy makers to examine ways of harnessing the power of video games to promote education and learning. TIGA will work with UK Parliamentarians to increase their understanding of the potential for educational and serious games to promote learning and training.”

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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'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 information about Learning without Frontiers, see: http://www.learningwithoutfrontiers.com/

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