Tiga urges Government to measure UK public's game spending

[wraggster]

Trade body claims authorities 'cannot make informed decisions' about supporting industry

Tiga has insisted that the UK Government begins to accurately measure the public's expenditure on video games.

The demand comes in the wake of the news that the Government currently has no knowledge of how much UK Trade & Investment, the international business development organisation, spends on supporting the video games industry in the country. The issue became apparent as a result of a question by Philip Davies MP put to Ian Lucas MP, the parliamentary under secretary of state in the Department for Business Innovation and Skills.

“The UK recorded a deficit on trade in goods and services of £3 billion in April 2009 and a deficit of £52.6 billion in 2007," said Richard Wilson, CEO of Tiga. "We need to rebalance the economy and support those sectors with a high propensity to export in order to help narrow the trade deficit.

“The UK games development sector is export oriented.

46 per cent of a typical developer’s turnover is generated through exports. In 2005, the games sector contributed £200 million to the UK’s balance of trade.

Wilson praised the efforts of the UKT&I in helping developer, highlighting the Trade Access Programme (TAP), which is open to small and medium-sized businesses to enable them to participate in overseas trade fairs. Tiga is working with UKT&I’s TAP scheme in supporting UK businesses looking to exhibit at overseas trade shows.

“We need to support the game development sector, an important UK export success story," added Wilson. "However, the Government cannot make informed decisions about the level of support which it should give to the sector via UKT&I unless it begins to record expenditure for specific sectors to include games development. The Government must rectify this deficiency.”

http://www.developmag.com/news/32256...-game-spending

[jungletek]

Translation: We need to figure out just how much these 'video games' are making so we can mug them appropriately come tax time.