This week, DCMS announced their creative industries sector vision - ambitious plans to grow the economy and boost UK creative industries by £50 billion.
The announcement cements what Ukie have always said, that the UK games industry is an engine of economic growth that needs nurturing at all levels.
But what does the announcement actually mean for the video games sector?
1. The UK Games Fund is bigger than ever
The government has pledged another £5 million for the UK Games Fund, bringing its total funding to £13.4 million over the next two years. Whilst this is an excellent opportunity for young video game developers and early-stage studios to bring their ideas to life and showcase them to investors - but this funding also aims to support mature start-ups in growing their businesses and attracting private investment.
This is part of a general new investment of £77 million from the government to catalyse growth in the creative industries. Video games studios stand to gain from this financial support, helping to foster innovation, investment, and the development of a skilled workforce.
2. Support for cutting-edge technology to put the UK on the map
The Convergent Screen Technologies and Performance in Realtime (CoSTAR) programme will establish four new state-of-the-art research and development facilities, which will be driving the next generation of screen technology and on-set virtual production. This will involve significant industry investment of £63m on top of the government’s £75.6m. These facilities will focus on computer-generated imagery (CGI), augmented reality, and motion capture – technologies that are not only relevant to film and TV but also directly applicable and beneficial to video games. Notably, the national CoSTAR lab will be at Pinewood and will include three regional R&D labs.
A portion of government investment is also focused on research and development, including advanced screen and performance technology research labs. This indicates potential opportunities for collaboration between the video games industry and technology sector, particularly in areas such as visual effects, motion-capture technology, and artificial intelligence.
4. Nurturing the games hubs that make our industry great
£50 million is earmarked to support more regional creative clusters. This will have a positive impact on the geographical diversification of the video games industry, fostering talent and innovation across the UK.
5. Patching up the skills and talent pipeline
A new creative careers promise aims to build a future talent pipeline. This includes working with the industry to ensure post-16 technical skills routes are effective for creative industries, promoting high-quality creative apprenticeships, and enabling lifelong learning within the sector. It also aims to increase work with local and regional partners to maximise the opportunities of Skills Bootcamps and to develop Local Skills Improvement Plans across England.
6. Continued competitive tax reliefs
The government will continue to offer competitive creative industries tax reliefs to incentivise the production of video games in the UK. The vision provided no further details on VGEC and we are still expecting guidance from the Government.
Get the full picture - read the entire sector vision publication here.