The UK and Irish Game Industries - The Video Game Industry: Formation, Present State, and Future - page 105

The most recent report from Skillset, a government/industry agency in the
UK, found that there were 155 computer games development companies by
2009, thirty game publishing companies and thirty-fi ve support companies
(Skillset 2010, 1). 6 A total of seven thousand were employed by these com-
panies and the report notes that this is the lowest number employed since it
began surveying in 2002 (2010, 2). This fi gure is, however, an increase on
the numbers in the Spectrum 2002 report; does not account for freelancers;
and does not include those working in mobile games, fl ash/web games or
serious games. 7 The latter are included in a separate industry sector called
interactive media. Indications from other countries would suggest that
mobile and web games are some of the fastest growing sub-segments of the
games industry. The Skillset report on the interactive media sector states
that it employs 39,750 people in the UK with about 1 per cent working
specifi cally in mobile content. Of the total almost twenty-four thousand are
employed in an occupation category called “interactive or games produc-
tion” (Skillset 2009, 3). The methodological distinctions used by Skillset in
its surveys are largely ignored when the data is used by trade associations
and other parties. Current policy discourses in the UK are more likely to
highlight a decrease in overall employment in the games industry sector by
focusing solely on the computer games category, something we will return
to in the next section on issues.
According to Skillset only 19 per cent of computer games employment
is in London, but a further 18 per cent were located just north-east of Lon-
don. Beyond the greater London region the north-west, where Liverpool
and Manchester are located, is the most signifi cant region with 30 per cent
employment. Outside of England, Scotland is the next most signifi cant
nation with 7 per cent of the total share of employment in the sector (Skill-
set 2010, 3). When one moves to interactive media employment in London,
the south-east and east of England account for 50 per cent of total employ-
ment, the north-west at 5 per cent and Scotland at 7 per cent (Skillset 2009,
3-4). Overall, when it comes to employment in traditional computer games
companies (console/PC) we can see that London is slightly less important
and the north-west more important than in employment in interactive and
mobile media. Scotland and Northern Ireland are equally represented in
each, whereas Wales has slightly more employment in the interactive and
mobile sectors (4 per cent compared to 1 per cent of the computer games
sector). Overall England, and particularly the greater London area, domi-
nates, although not as much as in other media industries. A similar pattern
of geographic concentration in major cities, particularly for localization,
marketing and publishing companies, emerges in Ireland, with online com-
munity support and development more widely distributed.
In the R. of Ireland the impact of globalization and online technology,
combined with a low rate of corporation tax, has had a signifi cant impact on
the structure and employment levels in the games industry. The last decade
has seen multinational game companies relocating non-core development