TIGA has been nominated for two trade association awards. The Association Excellence Awards 2018 has selected TIGA as nominees for the Best Leadership of an Association, for the work of Dr Richard Wilson OBE, and Best Certification Programme, for TIGA’s University Accreditation for video games degrees.
TIGA introduced the TIGA Accreditation process in January 2015 to ensure that universities and colleges can produce graduates with industry relevant skills. The TIGA Accreditation system accredits the very best undergraduate and postgraduate university courses enabling both prospective students and game developers to identify those courses that are producing industry ready graduates. To date, 18 university courses have received accreditation.
Meanwhile, the leadership of Dr Richard Wilson, has seen TIGA nominated for that award. Dr Wilson was awarded an OBE in January 2018 for services to the video games industry. TIGA is currently campaigning on having the Government introduce a Games Investment Fund (GIF), which would be a potentially transformative measure for the video games industry. Many developers find it difficult to access finance and the GIF, targeted at smaller developers, is a way to ensure that the industry continues to grow, creates jobs and build upon its global reputation.
Over the last 12 months, TIGA has provided the industry with political representation on a wide range of issues. In particular, its work has focussed on ensuring that the industry has access to skilled migrants following Brexit. TIGA is also seeking to promote a favourable tax environment to encourage businesses to invest in the UK, including the extension of the Video Games Tax Relief which has helped hundreds of developers since TIGA secured support for the scheme in 2014.
In addition, TIGA has also been working on delivering membership services, including negotiating significant discounts for its members to attend conferences, hosting the TIGA Games Industry Awards, organising networking events alongside Google, and benchmarking important information on industry salaries and benefits.
TIGA’s ambition is for the UK video games industry to grow strongly over the coming years. By 2022, TIGA wants the UK to achieve:
- growth in studio employment from 13,277 to 20,500; an increase in the overall studio population from 768 games studios to 1,100;
- an expansion in the overall games development business population (including publishers, service companies and broadcasters) from 1,031 organisations to 1,600;
- an increase in annual investment by games development companies from £670 million to £1 billion;
- an increase in GDP contribution from £1.5 billion to £2.3 billion per annum; and
- for the UK to become a globally recognised centre for games education and continuous professional development (CPD) in the sector’s workforce.
Dr Richard Wilson, Chief Executive Officer of TIGA, stated:
“We are delighted to be nominated for two awards. This is testament to the hard work of the TIGA team, the board and our Education Committee, with particular thanks to Dr Mark Eyles our education adviser and Principal Lecturer at the University of Portsmouth.
“We look forward to continuing our work with the Government to ensure that the UK is the best place in the world for video games developers, securing our country’s reputation as a global powerhouse for games.
“In particular, we will continue our campaign for a Games Investment Fund. By providing smaller developers with matched funding, we will see them grow into established businesses that can continue to produce new, ground-breaking games.”