TIGA, the trade association representing the UK games industry, today warned that the UK video games industry was continuing to experience a brain drain of skilled development staff. TIGA made the warning on the basis of the result of a new survey of 104 UK games businesses which showed that 20 per cent of survey respondents had lost staff to foreign countries over the previous 12 months.
Many skilled UK development staff have been lost to Canada. The Entertainment Software Association of Canada recently admitted in its report Canada’s Entertainment Software Industry in 2011 that: “…Canada itself has been notably successful in attracting investment and skilled personnel from jurisdictions like the United Kingdom…”” (p. 24);
Dr. Richard Wilson, TIGA CEO, said:
“The UK games development sector has an excellent workforce. As Danny Bilson,THQ executive Vice President for Core Game Brands, said in 2010, ‘The talent in the UK is extraordinary… I got to know a lot of teams in the UK – it’s one of the greatest talent centres in the world… So there’s no issue with talent.[i]
“Unfortunately, some of our overseas competitors, powered by tax breaks for games production, have the financial resources available to entice some development staff away from the UK to work in their studios. This is not just damaging to the UK video games sector. It is damaging to the UK economy.
Jason Kingsley, TIGA Chairman and CEO and Creative Director of Rebellion, said:
“There will always be a flow of skilled people between countries and this can be positive. However, the UK Government should be concerned about the loss of highly skilled people from the UK games industry. A brain drain of highly talented developers exacerbates skill shortages within the games industry and in the long term hurts the UK. TIGA will continue to refine its proposals for Games Tax Relief and other incentives to enable the industry to compete on a level playing field and so ameliorate the brain drain.””
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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 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 is an ‘Investors in People’ accredited organisation.
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 Dr Richard Wilson, TIGA CEO on: 07875 939 643, or email richard.wilson@tiga.org.