Tag Archives: UKIE

Train2Game News UK Stand at Gamescom Immensely Popular

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UK stand at gamescom expo generates £31m in potential business for exhibitors at Ukie’s most successful event to date

Ukie’s royal stand at the gamescom expo in August has achieved a record £31m potential business for UK games businesses and attracted over 2,500 visitors, making it the games trade network’s most successful since they started running the UK stand in 2012.

The UK was also the official country partner for this year’s expo, further raising the profile of the UK’s games and interactive entertainment sector to an international audience. Fittingly, the stand this year was the biggest that Ukie has ever had at gamescom, with 60 companies represented on the stand during the three day event.

Ukie held networking events on the stand, with a drinks reception sponsored by Multiplay and Dovetail Games, and a second networking event sponsored by UKTI Germany and UKTI Korea. Visitors to the stand topped another Ukie high, with over 2,500 people visiting, including investors, overseas platforms, VIPs and international press.

The Royal Box presentation area was a new addition to the stand, and was used by companies to showcase new games, host press announcements, and deliver industry insider seminars, covering a range of subjects including UK tax credits, investments, and a talk from Women in Games. 

Dr Jo Twist, CEO of Ukie, said, “We are always proud to represent the community of UK games companies at gamescom, and to do so this year as the official country partner made it an even better opportunity to promote the fantastic work that is being done in the UK. The size and buzz of this year’s stand is a real testament to the growth that we are seeing in the sector and being able to bring these businesses to a global audience is something that Ukie is really honoured to do every year. We look forward to making 2016 even bigger and better than this year’s brilliant achievement.”

The stand also saw the return of the UK Game of the Show Award, sponsored by Green Man Gaming, which was awarded to Robo Pixel Games’ upcoming release Gunnihilation. James Batten, Art Director at Robo Pixel Games, said “We’re thrilled and amazed Gunnihilation won UK Game of the Show, there are so many other amazing projects going on out there – we’re in disbelief! Thanks so much to everyone in, on and around Ukie at gamescom 2015!’

The Ukie staff on the stand were once again joined by three student helpers, who were sponsored to attend the expo as part of the Ukie Student Membership Scheme. The students were selected as part of the programme’s sponsorship award to get the next generation of games talent attending relevant games events.

Train2Game News UKIE on 2015 budget

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Today’s Budget was the first from the Chancellor of a majority Conservative government since 1996, and announcing a significant change in economic strategy with cuts to taxes and welfare and the introduction of a National Living Wage. You can read the full Budget speech and documents here.

With the Budget in March this year already having announced a £4 million Prototype Fund for the games industry, as well as further funding for the Skills Investment Fund, it is perhaps not surprising that today did not see any more direct announcements of support for games. However today’s announcements will still have an impact on all games companies.

Of most direct interest were the announcement on digital clusters. Ukie CEO Dr Jo Twist said in response:  “We welcome the new support for regional digital economy clusters outside of London.  Ukie will submit ambitious proposals to government supported by a major piece of research to influence the long-term Spending Round expected in November this year to support growth right across UK.”

Innovation across the country

In our letter to the Chancellor, Ukie called for investment in games hubs across the country. The government has taken steps toward this by announcing that they will work with existing clusters to find and support strengths in science and innovation. The Budget announced that “the government will invite universities, LEPs, businesses and cities to work with central government to map strengths and identify potential areas of strategic focus for different regions through a series of science and innovation audits”. Proposals generated from these discussions will be funded through announcements in the Comprehensive Spending Review that will be held in the autumn.

As a first step, the Budget also announced that the government will invest £23m in 6 “Next Generation Digital Economy Centres” over 6 sites – London, Swansea, Newcastle, Nottingham, York and Bath. These will attract match funding from the private sector to “exploit opportunities across sectors of the digital economy including the creative industries, finance, healthcare and education.”

We will be working closely with government to make sure these announcements have the best possible outcome for the games industry, especially in the clusters identified in the NESTA report.

Changes to Enterprise Investment Schemes

The March Budget proposed changes to ‘tax-advantaged venture capital schemes’ including SEIS, EIS and VCTs, which many games companies make use of. Following a consultation, which they have today published the government response to, they have confirmed several changes including:

    A new £20 million cap on the total risk finance that can be raised by a company under EIS or VCTs

    An increase in the employee limit for ‘knowledge intensive’ companies to 500 employees

    A new digital process for companies and investors using SEIS, EIS and the Social Investment Tax Relief (SITR) by the end of 2016

Business Environment

The Chancellor announced some major changes which will have an impact on all businesses in the UK, including:

    Corporation Tax will be reduced to 19% in 2017 then 18% in 2020 – keeping it the lowest in the G7, and a reduction from the 28% rate that the coalition government inherited in 2010.

    A new mandatory National Living Wage will be introduced. It will apply to the over-25s from April 2016, rising from £7.20 an hour then to over £9 an hour by 2020.

    The Employment Allowance will go up from £2,000 to £3,000, raising the amount businesses can pay employees before they incur National Insurance contributions

    Three million new apprenticeships will be created, partially funded by a new ‘Apprenticeships Levy’ on all large employers. This levy can be recovered by companies that spend money on training.

    From September 2017, families with 3 and 4 year old children will receive 30 hours of free childcare – twice the current amount.

Train2Game News Women in Games aiming to double females in industry

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The women in games organisation, Women in Games WIGJ, announced today that its core objective is to double the number of women in games working in the UK and European Games Industry by 2025.

The organisation recently reviewed its strategy with a group of interested parties including representatives from several publishers and developers and has identified a layer of initiatives that will be revealed in the coming weeks and months to accelerate the movement towards this goal. WIGJ is already in discussion with a number of industry groups including Ukie and STEMNET and hopes to collaborate with as many other interested parties as possible to make this dream a reality.

The Women in Games WIGJ network is open to both women and men. WIGJ believes firmly that encouraging more talented girls and young women to consider a career in the games industry will not be at the expense of others. The games industry needs to hire the most talented, creative people to compete with other industries in tech and the media. The games industry in the UK and throughout Europe is generating many new jobs though tax breaks and the continued growth of new formats. The growth of the games sector will create additional opportunities for all.

Recently appointed CEO, Jenny Richards-Stewart commented, “More girls and women playing games mean more women are interested in working in the games industry but we should not assume that this will solve the current gender imbalance without the industry doing more to welcome a more diverse workforce. Intel working with the IGDA demonstrated in January a significant commitment to bring more women and other diverse talent to the tech and games industries.  We want more companies to step forward on issues of diversity and inspire the next generation of talent .The games industry in the UK and Europe is keen to do more and we are here to help. We want the games industry to get behind this goal. ”

Dr Jo Twist, CEO of Ukie, said “Women represent 52% of regular players in the UK, but they only make up a small proportion of the games industry workforce, far behind other creative sectors. We have a shared responsibility as an industry to take action to ensure a diversity of people are inspired into a career in our sector from a young age, and stay in the sector. We are doing that via our Digital Schoolhouse programme as well as through the Video Game Ambassador scheme, and we actively encourage a diverse range of people to put themselves up for Ukie Board election and to speak at events.”

To find out more visit http://www.womeningamesjobs.com/

Train2Game News Free Developer Workshops

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Creative England announces FREE marketing workshops for South West and West Midlands SME games businesses, run in partnership with Ukie.

Creative England has joined forces with Ukie, the trade body that aims to support, grow and promote the UK’s games and interactive entertainment industry, to deliver a series of free marketing training workshops.

The workshops are open to SME games businesses based in the South West and the West Midlands and are fully subsidised by the Creative England GamesLab programme.

The courses, running in Bristol and Leamington Spa, will cover:

·         Marketing for games: What it does and how to use it to improve profits

·         Strategic marketing planning: A decision-making process for generating a strategic change perspective. What it is and how it relates to business planning

·         Marketing auditing: Macro, micro and internal analysis, key issue analysis and market segmentation

·         Marketing Communications: A solid grounding in the tools, techniques and approaches used in professional marcomms

·         Metrics: How to measure marketing and business performance including return on investment measurement.

Jaspal Sohal, Head of Games and Digital at Creative England said: “Creative England’s GamesLab programme seeks to discover and nurture our flourishing regional games industry. Through this partnership with Ukie we are able to provide these innovative developers with the necessary tools they need to get their games noticed in a competitive industry.”

CEO of Ukie, Dr Jo Twist said: “In our sector making a game is only half the battle. The other half is marketing and getting noticed in crowded marketplaces. It’s fantastic that these courses can be offered for free thanks to Creative England’s support. They will help give SMEs a better understanding of the kind of strategies they need. As we know, compared to other creative industries, we have strong clusters of games businesses right across the UK. The more courses and help that the GamesLab programme can offer outside London, the better.”

The courses will run on 24th March in Leamington Spa and 10th April in Bristol. If you are interested in attending, please check qualifying criteria and registration information on our website here:
http://ukie.org.uk/event/2015/03/24/marketing-workshop
http://ukie.org.uk/event/2015/04/10/marketing-workshop
The courses are funded by the European Regional Development Fund, supported by the Regional Growth Fund and led by Creative England.

Train2Game News UK video games market worth

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Leading video games business publication MCV has revealed that the UK video games market generated £3.944bn of consumer spending in 2014.

Working in conjunction with trade body Ukie (UK interactive entertainment), MCV’s research compiles the amount spent across video games and related products – from downloads to consoles, licensed toys to mobile games.

The £3.944bn includes the spending on new boxed games, pre owned games, hardware and accessories, digital sales on all games formats plus merchandise, events, plus games-related books and magazines.

The number is 13 per cent higher than 2013’s figure, when the UK market reached £3.48bn.

This year’s data includes £1.048bn for digital console and PC content (based on IHS estimates), £915m on console hardware (Chart-Track figures), £106.8m on pre-owned software (Kantar Worldpanel) and £69m on toys (NPD figures). For the full breakdown, check out the attached infographic.

The best-selling video game soundtrack of 2014 was ‘The Music of Grand Theft Auto V’, the most popular video game-based movie was Need for Speed, while the best-selling video game-based book was Minecraft: The Official Construction Book.

“£3.944bn is the second-highest figure in games industry history and just narrowly misses out on eclipsing the £4bn generated in 2008 when Guitar Hero, Wii and DS ruled the charts,” said MCV editor Christopher Dring.

“Almost every sector of the market is in growth, and 2015 is set to be even better, with new blockbusters such as Uncharted, Zelda, Halo and Star Wars; highly anticipated new technologies such as Oculus Rift and Steam Machines, plus new business models around games subscriptions and streaming. It’s a good time to be involved in the video games business.”

Ukie CEO Dr Jo Twist commented on the evaluation “It’s fantastic the see the consumer market thriving and growing. Impressive figures like these help reinforce the importance of our sector to policy makers and the media, strengthening our standing globally as a key market in the digital economy.”

The data was revealed to industry professionals at a behind-closed-doors presentation this morning, and will be the subject of tomorrow’s edition of MCV (Friday, February 13th).

Train2Game News GameBlast15

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The gamers’ charity, SpecialEffect, is aiming to build on the success of its inaugural GameBlast gaming marathon weekend in 2014 by calling on the UK games industry and gaming community to sign up for GameBlast15 as they look to raise over £100k towards the charity’s work.

The event, the UK’s largest game-based fundraiser, takes place 20-22 February and already has some of the UK’s top games industry names behind it including Jagex, the company behind the hugely successful Runescape. Jagex is SpecialEffect’s original GameBlast partner and last year raised almost £50k for the charity’s work in helping people with disabilities to access video games.

Along with a major marathon stream from Jagex from Friday to Saturday, the UK gaming trade body, UKIE, is supporting the SpecialEffect fundraising effort by hosting GameBlast LIVE, a 24-hour gaming broadcast from its headquarters in London. This will run from Saturday to Sunday.

Dr Jo Twist, SpecialEffect Vice President and CEO of UKIE, explained why she is so keen to get behind the SpecialEffect fundraiser, ‘They [SpecialEffect] were one of the first groups I met when I started my Ukie role in 2012 and I was bowled over by their dedication, their passion and their love. The innovative work they do to enable young people enjoy the games they love is incredibly inspiring. Games and the ability to play can enhance and enrich people’s lives in so many ways and everyone should have the right to play.’

The event, hosted by Matt Cuttle, promises 24 hours of unadulterated gaming and madness as BBC Click presenter and SpecialEffect Vice President, Kate Russell, builds on the £7,500 she raised through her Elite:Dangerous livestream at Christmas by flying a 12 hour Elite marathon alongside other enthusiasts of Frontier’s iconic space travel game. But Kate will be taking a break from space travel to battle it out with Jo Twist using SpecialEffect eye-control technology as they compete live on Twitch for the fastest lap in Codemasters’ popular Dirt 3 motor racing game. 

Kate explained why she has done so much to raise money and awareness of the charity’s work, ‘Ever since I found out about Special Effect a couple of years ago – a charity dedicated to helping those with physical limitations through illness or injury have fun playing computer games – it has been my pleasure and honour to be able to help raise funds and awareness about their tireless and dedicated work’.

If you’d like to join industry names like Jagex, Gamer Network and Multiplay and join hundreds of other gamers across the UK in raising money for SpecialEffect through the GameBlast15 gaming marathon go to:

http://www.specialeffect.org.uk/gameblast-about

Train2Game News Games On Song

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Games on SongToday, the UK games industry charity GamesAid http://www.gamesaid.org/ is inviting Black Friday shoppers to add the Games on Song Christmas charity single to their virtual baskets, to once again help raise vital money for children.

The UK alone is predicted to spend over £1.205bn this weekend, apparently saving £233m on their purchases.

Out NOW, the Games On Song Christmas charity Single is available to download on iTunes http://tinyurl.com/oep3bzl for just £1.29 / $1.99. Not only the best purchase of the whole weekend, but the one that will keep on giving, as all the profits from every sale goes directly towards helping children’s charities across the UK, helping them to have a very merry Christmas!

The Games On Song choir is made up of members from the videogame industry including Sony, EA, GAME, Ubisoft, Mastertronic, OnLive, SEGA, Green Man Gaming, Bethesda, Riot Games, Marvellous AQL, Ukie, and many, many more.

“As an industry, we know the power of the consumer, and that they are passionate about the positive impact video games can have. “We hope they will help us spread the word as they shop this weekend and buy lots of singles!” said Emily Britt, Chair of GamesAid. “Those members who donated their time and voices to this single hope to bring a smile to Black Friday shoppers, and to the children who will benefit from every sale.”

Train2Game News Marmalade Event

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Marmalade#include is a cosy, informal winter meetup in London for indie developers to share in the magic of mobile game development.

Marmalade have pulled together an interesting lineup of speakers who want to share their knowledge and experience with you, helping you make your projects better and your games fly.

#include is split into 2 parts – Making Games and Selling Games. The event will be taking a close look at what makes games successful, from tech to toolkits to platforms, analytics, services, and discovery on stores. Confirmed so far are speakers from Amazon, Microsoft, Nomad Games, Lemon Moose Games, GameSparks, Ukie, Develop Magazine, and many more to come.

Attend #include for a great day of listening, learning and knowledge sharing with the indie dev community. Win great prizes in the #include challenge (theme ‘Bah! Humbug!’), enjoy a free lunchshare and then some beers at the end of the day!

Sign up here: http://bit.ly/10mJnU0 Tickets are £10 which is fully refunded at the event.

Train2Game News Video Game Mentoring Network Scheme

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UKIE LogoAfter the success of the first cohort of the Video Game Mentoring Network scheme, which saw eight games businesses start the programme earlier this year, Ukie have once again partnered with Nesta to match businesses with experienced games industry mentors.

The scheme aims to advise and nurture games businesses with an appetite for growth and mentoring will officially start in December. Businesses who join the Games Mentoring Network will receive:

· One-to-one business mentoring in the form of 10 two-hour sessions over a 6-12 month period

· An induction workshop at the start of the programme to get the most out of your mentoring sessions

· Workshops and events designed to meet other members of the wider creative Network

· Coaching support – in addition to mentoring

Ukie and Nesta want businesses of all sizes to apply to be mentored, from start-ups who have been established for less than two years, to established and high growth potential business who are looking to scale. The minimum criteria for applying are simply that you must be a registered business that:

· Has made or sold a game in the UK in the last 12 months or have a game ready to bring to market in the next six months.

· Or you can also be a business that has launched a product or service in the UK that supports the creation and selling of games within the last 12 months.

· Being a Ukie member automatically qualifies you to apply.

Ukie CEO, Dr Jo Twist said: “Building on the success of the first wave of games mentoring, our partnership with Nesta will give even more games businesses an amazing opportunity to get first hand expert advice from people with proven track records in the games industry. Mentoring is invaluable for both mentees and for mentors and they learn a great deal from each other throughout the process.”

Ukie and Nesta are inviting games businesses to apply for mentoring by contacting mentoring@ukie.org.uk.

Train2Game News UKIE publish first mapping of the UK’s games industry

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UKIE LogoThe true value of the UK games industry has been unlocked by big data, showing it may be double the size of previous estimates. A map of the UK games industry is published today by Nesta in partnership with Ukie to map the industry’s value, shape and size.

The research shows that there are 1,902 games businesses in the UK and the economic value of these could be as much as £1.72 billion – double the official estimates for 2011 and 2012.

For the first time the games industry has been measured using ‘big data’, not official SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) codes alone. The researchers combed online product directories like MobyGames and review sites like Metacritic and GameSpot to create a new list of games companies not previously measured because the official codes did not capture them.

Key findings in the report include:

· There are more companies making games for iOS platforms than any other – around half specialise in iOS games. A recent example of this is Fireproof Studios, who won the Apple 2012 iPad game of the year award and the BAFTA award for Best British game 2013 with their game ‘The Room’.

· There has been an explosion in the number of new games companies, with a 22 percent annual growth in the number of active companies between 2011 and 2013. This includes some already very successful companies like ‘CSR Racing’ developer Boss Alien and 22 Cans, a Guildford based start-up led by Peter Molyneux.

· There are 18 games industry clusters in the UK with a critical mass of games production activity, supported by more advanced broadband infrastructure and universities supplying games talent. This group is led by 12 games hubs with a particularly strong games presence: Brighton, Cambridge, Cardiff, Dundee, Edinburgh, Guildford and Aldershot, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Oxford, Sheffield and Rotherham, and Warwick and Stratford-upon-Avon.

Jo Twist, Ukie CEO, said: “We know that the UK’s games sector is again becoming a real global success story and seeing Nesta’s estimates of there being over 1,900 games businesses in the UK, potentially generating £1.7bn in GVA, reinforces this more than ever. It’s great to see such a wide geographical reach, with games clusters now existing across Britain. We now need to build on these statistics to help support these clusters and encourage more investment and support for the sector, to make the UK truly the best place in the world to make and sell games. That is what our policy manifesto framework aims to achieve.”

Juan Mateos-Garcia, lead author of the research for Nesta, comments: “The big data approach that we used allowed us to get a real-time snapshot of the UK games sector, based on what companies do instead of what standard industrial classification they select when they get started. As many people – including the government – have suspected there is a big discrepancy between the official statistics and the actual size and shape of the UK games sector. This report should help address this data gap, allowing industry, policymakers, educators and investors to track the geography and evolution of the sector, and put in place smart actions to support it.”

Ukie Vice Chair and BIS Creative Industries Champion Ian Livingstone CBE said “As a sector, the video games industry is hugely diverse and fluid, with specialist talent working in clusters across the UK. This research shows where and why clusters of game development emerge in the UK, and the importance of access to finance, infrastructure and talent. It is important that the superb content developed by UK games studios gets the right backing to help scale to global markets. With this report we have a powerful, real-time tool to help existing and new investors identify potential investment opportunities in the sector.”