This week, Ukie and OKRE released a landmark report: Building a Unified Framework for UK Video Games Impacts. It is a significant piece of work that arrives at a critical moment for the country’s entire games ecosystem. At a time when we are seeing a record-breaking consumer market valuation of £8.76 billion alongside ongoing sectoral shifts and volatility, the question of how we measure our true value has never been more urgent.
For too long, the games ‘industry’ has struggled to articulate its impact beyond simple sales figures, GVA or tax contributions. We all (sort of) know, anecdotally and through isolated case studies, that our technology and design thinking can change lives in healthcare, education, and the wider economy. What this report provides is a ‘Theory of Change’ – a unified way to map the social, cultural and economic value side by side.
We need to welcome this framework. It is an essential step for the UK as a whole. However, as I read through the findings, one thing became abundantly clear: in Scotland, we are already several steps further down the road.
The Harnessing of Interaction
One of the most compelling parts of the report is what it calls Anchor Point 3 – the harnessing and exploitation of games technology by non-games organisations. This is the recognition that our tools, from real-time 3D engines to simulation logic, are now a primary industrial utility for third parties.
This is the exact territory we have been mapping through the National Games Action Plan (GAP) for the last two years. While the UK framework is an excellent scoping study for future progress, the GAP is an implementation-ready blueprint. We have already moved past the point of asking how to measure these impacts and are ready to deliver them.
From Theory to Delivery
Through Project Pathfinder, we are already operationalising the very Interaction Economy that this report describes. We are currently talking to national institutions like the National Museums Scotland, the National Library of Scotland and CivTech, to explore the ‘Interaction Gap’ in our culture, heritage and public services. We are showing that games are not merely a high-value, siloed creative sector, but a ‘golden thread’ that runs through Scotland’s entire digital and creative future.
This is what we mean when we talk about More Than Games. It is the transition from seeing ourselves as solely an entertainment industry to seeing ourselves as the architects of a high-fidelity, interactive nation.
Scotland as the Live Lab
The report calls for “informed policy-making and innovation” based on this new framework. My message to the new administration in Holyrood is simple: the research has been done. The evidence is now in from both the UK-wide perspective and our own deep-system work here in Scotland.
We do not need more reviews or scoping studies. We have a de-risked, cross-party supported plan that allows Scotland to act as the global ‘live lab’ for this new industrial model. While the rest of the UK begins the process of understanding these impacts, Scotland is ready to deliver them.
The UK Government’s recent £30 million investment in the games sector is a welcome foundation, but it is only addresses one recommendation within a much larger set of challenges. By adopting the remaining recommendations of the Games Action Plan, the Scottish Government can fill the voids left behind and ensure we lead the world in industrial interaction, innovation and engagement.
This report confirms we are on the right path. Now, it is time to stop mapping and start building.
You can (and should) download the Building a Unified Framework for UK Video Games Impacts report direct from the OKRE website.