The UK and Irish Game Industries - The Video Game Industry: Formation, Present State, and Future - page 108

neither country has any specifi c national policies or support mechanisms
for their games industry.
If one was to peruse the numerous reports commissioned by the game
trade associations TIGA and ELSPA in the last decade one could only but
conclude that the UK games industry is in decline with shrinking reve-
nues and employment. The lobbying of public representatives by trade
associations and the industry started in earnest in 2008 with the launch
of “GameUp”, a campaign focused around creating positive public rela-
tions for the games industry and addressing the issues of costs and skills
for the industry in the UK. 11 Developed by TIGA, ELSPA, Game Investor
Consulting and companies like Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, it
commissioned reports, targeted public representatives and placed stories in
the press (Gibson 2008). An All Party Parliamentary Group on the Com-
puter and Video Games Industry was established in Westminster in 2008
which included ministers, lords and industry representatives. 12 According
to its House of Commons listing the group was established to “to provide
a forum to discuss business issues af ecting video games' software develop-
ers; to develop policies to enhance the sector; and to champion an industry
that responsibly creates content for an audience ranging from children to
adults.” Another report notes that the industry “has failed to make its case
as forcefully or successfully to the Exchequer as these other sectors (fi lm
etc.). Despite improved engagement between various Ministries and the
industry, the level of assistance remains minimal” (Games Investor Con-
sulting 2007, 18).
The case for state support is based mainly on commissioned consultancy
research reports. One such report, commissioned by TIGA in 2008, notes
that “long term decline in the UK based industry is a real possibility” if
the trend for global publishers in the UK to downsize continues (Oxford
Economics 2008, 3). The report goes on to note that the UK is no longer
third, after Japan and the U.S., in revenue generation terms, and, most
recently, the UK is said to have “slipped” to fi fth behind Canada and South
Korea (Oxford Economics 2008, 4). Another pointed to the “structural
weaknesses” and “signifi cant challenges” faced by the UK industry (Games
Investor Consulting 2008). This message is reiterated in TIGA's manifesto
to government published before the last election in the UK (TIGA 2010).
The message is further elaborated in a consultancy report issued in the
last year and written by industry veterans for NESTA. 13 This report argues
that “the sad truth is that we are already starting to lose our cutting edge:
in just two years, it seems the UK's video games industry has dipped from
third to sixth place in the global development rankings” (Livingstone and
Hope 2011, 5). The report goes on to state that the industry is “under threat”
from “from countries with generous public subsidies, such as Canada and
France, countries with booming online markets (including Germany and
South Korea) and cheaper cost studios in Eastern Europe and the Far East”
(2011, 22). Interviews with industry representatives further reiterate the