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UK games industry is shrinking

14 April 2007 19:11 by James "Dela" Delahunty | 10 comments

According to a Financial Times report, the number of gaming companies located in the United Kingdom has drastically fallen over the past six years. Last month, SCi Entertainment announced it would open a studio in Montreal, Canada, which would begin developing four games for next-generation systems. The move followed many other studios who have decided to move some interests away from the UK.

Tiga, the UK trade association for game developers, conducted a study which showed that in 2001, there was 400 independent game studios, but now there is only about 150. Australia and Canada have been successful at attracting developers by offering incentives for companies relocating to the regions. The state of Victoria in Australia offers A$375,000 over two years to locally based game developers.

In Canada, grants and tax breaks are offered to the companies. Many of the UK businesses have simply just closed too, while others have been acquired by bigger corporations.

Source:
GameSpot

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Discuss this article!
vinny13 (Inactive) 14 April 2007 19:57
I didn't even know the UK had a gaming industry :S [ + quote]
iwillgetu (Member) 14 April 2007 22:01
well i knew that bullfrog (the makers of "theme park") was in uk but don't know if it still is? [ + quote]
pigfister (Inactive) 15 April 2007 2:47
cough Bullfrog/Lionhead Studios, i mean populous was an amazing game way back when Peter Molyneux was the man but can you imaging these bedroom programmers being able to write the hundreds of thousands of lines of code that they now demand for modern games, and the extra expense of production especially for the likes of the ps3 because of the Blu-ray drive and complexity of programming required. all the bedroom talent is gone and the huge companies now command what is produced so the innovative days are surly gone and the likes of re hashes of games is the future in their eyes like ridge racer 26 ect. i mean as soon as Motostorm was released they announced Motostorm 2 ffs how sad is that? [ + quote]
chickenR (Newbie) 15 April 2007 2:54
Rockstar North (GTA3/Vice City/San Andreas/Manhunt) is based in the UK (Scotland) and Rockstar Leeds was just opened not too long ago. Shame there's not more companies in the UK though. :/ [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 15 April 2007 9:03
the UK gets no respect the industry tries to hard to force regions and all it dose is cause strife and even devs chose to move when they can to get away from it. [ + quote]
borhan9 (AfterDawn Addict) 16 April 2007 20:18
Quote: The state of Victoria in Australia offers A$375,000 over two years to locally based game developers. Maybe i should extend my computer qualifications to programming if working in Melbourne is like that it is a very attractive offer for future developers. [ + quote]
BUDDD (Newbie) 19 April 2007 7:56
In the UK The growth industry is Bureaucracy. This bunch has the foresight and imagination of a potato , well half a potato anyway. The Service industry rules. Manufacturing is dissappearing .Innovation is out the window. The government has bought Bodyscanners for hospitals out of Lottery money that cant be used because no one has been trained to use them.... Thats the kind of forward thinking that is typical of these morons. We really are in a sorry state here in the UK. Thanks to our outdated dinosaur democracy that is perpetuated every time we vote. Vote for None of the Above.... [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 19 April 2007 8:08
Originally posted by BUDDD: In the UK The growth industry is Bureaucracy. This bunch has the foresight and imagination of a potato , well half a potato anyway. The Service industry rules. Manufacturing is dissappearing .Innovation is out the window. The government has bought Bodyscanners for hospitals out of Lottery money that cant be used because no one has been trained to use them.... Thats the kind of forward thinking that is typical of these morons. We really are in a sorry state here in the UK. Thanks to our outdated dinosaur democracy that is perpetuated every time we vote. Vote for None of the Above.... ---------------------------------------------------------------- well suds and shrooms grow no matter where you stick them 0-o [ + quote]
gtaUK (Junior Member) 20 April 2007 7:14
Originally posted by vinny13: I didn't even know the UK had a gaming industry :S every heard of tomb raider and Rockstar? [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 20 April 2007 7:57
Quote: Originally posted by vinny13: I didn't even know the UK had a gaming industry :S every heard of tomb raider and Rockstar? core kinda self imploded,or is it still making games? [ + quote]