Eidos’ creative director and games industry luminary, Ian Livingstone, has hit out at the government over its failure to see the potential of the UK’s games industry. Calling Labour’s attitude “madness”, Livingstone told a recent interview that Britain will lose valuable people, skills and IPs if something isn’t done to give more incentive to developers and publishers in this country.
In a very candid interview with the Guardian, the Games Workshop co-founder said “We’re still seen as the red-headed stepchild of the creative industries, one notch up from pornography in the eyes of most of the establishment.”
“They forget that half of the world and half of the UK’s population play games,” he complained. “Games help define who we are as human beings – they are as important, culturally and socially, as music and films.”
Along with ‘Games Up?’, a coalition of British development studios, Livingstone’s fears stem from the fact that the government has repeatedly refused, or ignored, calls to give tax breaks to developers. They want the same incentives as the film industry already enjoys, as well as improved university course structures.
Recently, UK development has been dwindling in the face of generous tax break offerings from other countries such as Canada. We’re now the most expensive country in the world to develop games in, despite having one of the richest game heritages.
The government’s department of Culture, Media and Sport has responded to developers requests by questioning whether Canada is being anti-competitive. Great.
“The government, industry and education establishments have to come together to find a way to move forward,” Livingstone concluded. You’d think with games seeming to be recession proof, and that big ol’ recession looming over us, the government would be falling itself to entice more business in this rapidly growing entertainment medium. Think again.
(via MCV)
