The UK Government recently announced plans to form a new UK Video Game Council, with the stated aim of driving growth within the industry. Now, a list of members has been unveiled with some pretty big hitters on the roster.
While the industry is currently undergoing some mass downsizing in many areas, clearly some promise is still being shown in others. The plan was announced as part of the Creative Industries Sector Plan, which is set to cost taxpayers a total of £380 million.
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Part of the initiative includes a £30 million ‘Games Growth Package’ which aims to boost the gaming sector and improve skills within the industry. While this might all sound very vague, the first details have emerged as to exactly who will be involved with the strategy.
In addition to representatives from Microsoft (Minecraft, Halo, Forza), Larian (Baldur’s Gate 3, Divinity: Original Sin), and FuturLab (PowerWash Simulator), a number of other CEOs and senior staff members from across the industry will convene on a biannual basis.
Who Will Be On The Council?
Since the council is due to meet only twice a year, it isn’t clear just how effective or consequential these meetings will end up being. However, there is a solid list of names and studios involved, from major publishers to smaller indie developers.
First of all, the council will be chaired by Jason Kingsley, CEO of Rebellion (Atomfall) and Nick Button-Brown of Outright Games (Paw Patrol, Ice Age), so there is certainly a broad scope in mind when it comes to the type of games that will be discussed.
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“The importance of the Video Games Council is that they’ll be talking to us before they’re making the decisions,” explained Nick, “They’re making decisions based on hopefully good and valid input.”
Could this mean increased regulation, restriction and meddling from ‘third party inputs’, as has already caused so many problems for studios like VOID Interactive recently? It’s possible. However, the combined knowledge of these major players could certainly work for the good if the funding is distributed appropriately.
The full list of members on the new UK Video Game Council is as follows:
- Emily Bailey, CEO of Green-BiT
- Saad Choudri, CEO of Miniclip
- Charu Desodt, Studio Director at Interior/Night
- Kirsty Rigden, CEO at FuturLab
- Dave Gould, Senior Director at Take-Two Interactive
- Chris Van Der Kuyl, Chairman at 4J Studio
- Donna Orlowski, COO of Chucklefish
- Nick Poole, CEO of UKIE
- Tara Saunders, Studio Head at Larian Guildford
- Maria Sayans, CEO of Ustwo Games
- Tim Varney, Senior Corporate Counsel at Microsoft
- Dr Richard Wilson, CEO of TIGA
The lineup is certainly impressive and encompasses a wide range of projects and specialties. Whether they can drive the UK forward as a major player in the gaming industry and compete with the likes of America, Japan, China or Canada still seems like a long shot, however, the recent success of France’s Clair Obscur proves that there is still plenty of appetite for culturally-specific games.
Hopefully the council can work towards such a goal, and that their powers won’t be used as an enforcing arm to police smaller developers.
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