Following the conclusion of the 2026 elections and the formation of the new Scottish Government cabinet, the Scottish Games Network has formally briefed the First Minister and their ministerial team on the immediate economic, cultural, and social opportunities waiting within our national games ecosystem.
To ensure absolute transparency and to foster a truly collaborative approach across our industry, education sectors, and public bodies, we are publishing the text of this ministerial briefing as an open letter to the digital community.
Scotland’s interactive tech sector is a world-class powerhouse, boasting an unparalleled productivity rate of £151,382 GVA per head – more than double the national average. Yet, for too long, the sector has remained policy-invisible, siloed away from the broader economic and technological conversations shaping our country’s future.
The Level Up Scotland National Games Action Plan, delivered to parliament earlier this year, offers a de-risked, lean, and ready-to-deploy roadmap to scale this ecosystem into a £1 billion supercluster by 2030. Crucially, it achieves this without demanding the creation of costly new public bodies, focusing instead on unlocking the capability of our existing national infrastructure.
The capital and the political cross-party consensus are already on the table. It is now time for strategic delivery.
The full text of the briefing sent to the Cabinet on Tuesday 2nd June is published below.
Dear First Minister, Cabinet Secretaries, and Ministers,
Congratulations on your recent success in the 2026 elections, the appointment of the new cabinet, and the formation of the new Scottish Government. The Scottish Games Network (SGN) warmly welcomes your collective ambition to deliver a fairer, more inclusive, and successful Scotland. As you map out your strategic priorities, we wish to brief you on an immediate economic, creative, cultural – and social – victory that is ready to be delivered within your first 100 days.
The Opportunity: A £1 Billion National Tech Utility
Scotland’s video games and interactive technology ecosystem is a world-class powerhouse, delivering an extraordinary and unparalleled productivity rate of £151,382 GVA per head – more than double the national average. However, it is currently invisible at a policy level and siloed within the culture portfolio.
In January 2026, SGN unveiled the Level Up Scotland National Games Action Plan. This comprehensive strategy provides a de-risked pathway to scale Scotland’s interactive sector from its current £200 million GVA to the UK’s first £1 billion games ‘supercluster’ by 2030. Crucially, the plan demonstrates that games-tech is a ‘golden thread’ that can be leveraged across your portfolios to drive public service reform, medicine, health tech innovation, and education from primary school onwards.
Built in Scotland, for Scotland
This strategy belongs entirely to Scotland. It is built upon the foundational logic of the landmark 2020 Scottish Technology Ecosystem Review (STER) report and directly supports the National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET) and other national strategies. The creation of the plan was supported directly by the Scottish Parliament’s Cross-Party Group on Scotland’s Games Ecosystem.
Unlike a recent manifesto published by the London-based UK games trade body – which offers a fragmented approach requiring an additional 12–18 months of London-led research – Scotland’s Games Action Plan is ready to deploy right now. It is the product of five years of rigorous, world-class research carried out in Scotland since 2021, encompassing over 250 organisations, as well as the excellent Games Ecosystem Review created by the Universities of Glasgow & Stirling in 2022 and launched at the Scottish Parliament.
Scotland’s Games Action Plan already enjoys complete cross-party consensus, formally demonstrated during the dedicated parliamentary debate in February 2026.
Efficiency Through Existing Infrastructure
To minimise cost and rapidly build games-tech literacy across the country, the Games Action Plan is designed to be delivered entirely through Scotland’s existing infrastructure (such as Techscaler, Scottish Enterprise, and Creative Scotland). We are explicitly avoiding the creation of a dedicated delivery organisation. Instead, we will build knowledge and permanent support for games across our existing public sector bodies.
We can achieve rapid, measurable outcomes within your first 100 days by aligning directly with your new ministerial briefs:
- To the First Minister, Deputy First Minister & Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Tourism and Transport: Establish the role of Chief Games Officer (CGO) to provide a single, accountable lead to elevate interactive tech across government and successfully capture our share of major UK capital flows, including the expanded £28.5m UK Games Fund based in Dundee.
- To the Cabinet Secretary for Public Service Reform (Ivan McKee) & Minister for Business & Fair Work (Tom Arthur): Engage with our ongoing explorations with CivTech to map how interactive games technology can be directly applied to public sector reform pipelines and societal challenges and build fair work practices into the games ecosystem.
- To the Cabinet Secretary for Education, Culture and Gaelic (Màiri McAllan) & Minister for Innovation, Technology & Tertiary Education (Ben Macpherson): Support our ongoing implementation of the Games Learning Education & Skills Growth Alliance (GLESGA). Operating as a short-term working group within the Digital Economy Skills Group (DESG) and administered by Skills Development Scotland (SDS), this alliance serves as the official Scottish voice to engage with and provide national perspective to the London-centric ‘UK Games Skills Forum’ created by the Westminster Government in 2025.
Next Steps: Direct Collaboration
The infrastructure is mapped, the strategy is lean, and the cross-party political will is already there. SGN is ready to work directly with the cabinet and parliament to help implement this plan immediately.
I would welcome the opportunity to brief ministers in person – individually or collectively – at your earliest convenience to present the operational roadmap for the Level Up Scotland plan.
Thank you for your time, leadership, and continued support for Scotland’s digital future.
Sincerely,
Brian Baglow