Scotland’s Games Strategy – It’s a paradox in Scotland that the games sector is simultaneously a very high-profile success story and at the same time, nearly unknown,
The major global franchises, including Grand Theft Auto, Minecraft and Red Dead Redemption, or legacy hits such as Lemmings are the ‘go to’ titles whenever anyone in the media or government talks about the games in Scotland.
However, the contemporary work coming out of the other studios across the country is rarely – if ever – discussed. This is compounded by an almost total lack of data on the Scottish games ecosystem collated by any part of the government or public sector.
This, combined with the categorisation of games as a sub-sector of the creative industries (see the first part of the breakdown of Scotland’s Games Strategy), means we’re not included in the ‘big four’ tech sectors (data, AI, fintech, cyber). This leaves games isolated and little understood with no dedicated support.
How do we change this? That was the topic under discussion at all of the workshops held in-person and online earlier this year.
Building Knowledge And Understanding Of Games In Government
As you can see from the data captured, there’s a lot of uncertainty on both sides. At every workshop, questions were asked about who is responsible for games within government? Where are they getting data? Who are ‘they’ speaking to in the industry? What government-associated organisations are involved? What do they do? Do they talk? Why don’t we know this? How do we find out?
There’s a lot to unpick here, but some very clear knowledge gaps and areas where there is no clear information and little available data – or representatives – on either side.
Missing In Action
In the first part of this series, we noted that games are isolated and ‘misaligned’ in Scotland. We sit within the 16 sub-sectors of the creative industries. We come from ‘tech’, but are not classified as part of the ‘tech’ sector. Across the rest of the UK, games are a ‘screen’ industry, but in Scotland, they are not.
This means that games are absent from much of the work coming out from the government and public sector at all levels. From annual reviews and reports, to strategies and high level plans, games are not included, or mentioned in passing as a large, or commercially valuable sector.
Data Data Data
The practical outcome of the above is that there is no data regularly captured on Scotland’s games ecosystem at any level of government. There are data sets and/or ecosystem maps for areas such as space, blockchain, fintech, etc. but nothing similar exists for games.
From an industry perspective, the annual reports from UKIE provide granular data on the size, composition, value and headcount of the games industry, but this lacks any insight into the education pipeline, startups, attrition rate, funding secured, or engagement with the support infrastructure in Scotland.
Telling Stories
A critical part of building greater knowledge and understanding of games across all levels of government will be ensuring that data is captured from across the entire games ecosystem and is reported regularly – in a way which enables the government to see where and how policy decisions can be made and measure the impact in meaningful ways, from commercial success and cultural impact, to inclusion, engagement with other sectors and entrepreneurial outcomes.
It will also be important to ensure that the successes from Scotland’s games ecosystem get greater visibility across the wider population as well. Highlighting games as a viable career, showcasing the current generation of developers and creators and making Scottish games more visible to players across the country – and around the world.
As an example, the annual report from Finland’s NEOGAMES does a beautiful job of highlighting the commercial success of the country’s games industry and provides a regularly updated resource of the key organisations across the ecosystem.
Building Visibility
Despite the individual successes of games and studios across Scotland, the sector remains underreported and mostly invisible within the country itself.
We need more opportunities to celebrate success and showcase the incredible creative and technical talent across Scotland.
We need more opportunities to highlight the games coming from Scottish developers and the innovation coming from creators, educators, academics and studios.
We need to increase support for initiatives which promote and showcase games, or which put games on a national stage and encourage more communication, collaboration and understanding: BAFTA Scotland Awards, Scottish Games Awards, Glasgow Independent Games Festival, Scottish Games Week, Arcadia, Games Talks Live and the Scottish Games Network media channel.
Stakeholder Stramash
Across all of the workshops, participants from across the ecosystem reported that there’s a huge amount of uncertainty about who does what.
For many participants, the roles and responsibilities of the various support, commercial and cultural organisations are unclear.
For participants within those organisations, the lack of any addressable organisation which represents and can speak knowledgeably about the games ecosystem is an ongoing issue.
There are few platforms or events which bring all of these stakeholders together and give them a chance to interact on a business level. How do we build more of these opportunities and support wider participation bringing together the industry, the ecosystem and the infrastructure which supports it?
Who’s In Charge Here?
One critical issue reported at every workshop was a lack of guidance, leadership and someone ‘in charge’. The sector in Scotland lacks a collective voice, or an organisation capable of lobbying on its behalf. The government (public sector, infrastructure, etc.) has no easily addressable organisation which can help build knowledge, gather data, support the public sector or engage with other key industry sectors.
The Good News
We are already seeing progress in the recognition of and support for games at a Scottish government level:
- The new Cross-Party Group on Scotland’s Games Ecosystem met for the first time earlier in 2024. The group has now been ratified and new dates will be announced in the near future. This is a great platform to keep games in front of MSPs and policy makers.
- The first ever debate on videogames was held in the Scottish Parliament in October 2023 (as part of Scottish Games Week).
- The Scottish Government’s Ecosystem Fund supported the creation and delivery of Scottish Games Week in 2022 and 2023.
- The 2024 Festival of Politics featured videogames for the first time ever, with a round table exploring the potential of videogames in education and digital skills.
Outcomes
Based upon the findings from the workshops and the challenges facing the sector, we’re proposing several recommendations in the Action Plan for Scotland’s Games Strategy:
- Gather data – Assign responsibility for data gathering to one department/directorate and procure an expert to build a baseline dataset for Scotland’s games ecosystem covering all aspects of the games pipeline (e.g. education, employee numbers, business creation, game releases, platforms supported, genres, etc.)
- Support the creation of an Annual Report which provides insight into the games ecosystem and enables measurement of the impact of policy decisions.
- Back – and match-fund – the creation of a Games Cluster – an organisation capable of representing the games ecosystem, supporting the government and public sector and delivering the recommendations within the Action Plan.
- Increase support for Platforms and Events to support communication and collaboration across the games ecosystem (Education Symposium, Scottish Games Week, etc.)
- Increase support for Showcase Events which promote Scottish games and developers to an international audience.
Scotland’s Games Strategy – Data
You can find the entire data set gathered from the online and in-person workshops for Scotland’s Games Strategy on our public FIGMA BOARD.
The articles breaking down the data and discussing the recommendations for the Action Plan can be found here: