Scotland stands at a pivotal moment for its digital and creative future. Level Up Scotland is a bold blueprint for transformational change, designed to move the games sector from an unsupported ‘secret weapon’ to a national priority. The goal is to create a unified ‘supercluster’ that bridges the gap between industry, academia, and government – unlocking the enormous potential of games and games technology to drive innovation, fair work, and sustainable growth across the entire country.
After two years of intensive community consultation and data-led research, the Scottish Games Network is proud to present the roadmap to transform this potential into a world-leading Games Supercluster.
The Games Action Plan is presented in two volumes:
1. Level Up Scotland: The National Games Action Plan
The Vision, the Data, and the Strategic Roadmap
This is the core strategic document. It outlines the vision for Scotland’s future as a global pioneer in the ‘createch’ economy. The Action Plan provides the evidence-based argument for why games matter and details the five core recommendations required to institutionalise support for the sector.
Best for: Ministers, policymakers, investors, and anyone looking for the high-level strategic What and Why.
2. The Implementation Annexe
The Technical Blueprint for Delivery
The Implementation Annexe is the detailed companion to the Action Plan. While the main plan focuses on the vision, the Annexe provides the granular How. It contains operational frameworks, governance structures, risk management strategies, and the KPI framework for the two-year pilot phase and lays the groundwork for phase two.
- Best for: Analysts, industry insiders, civil servants, delivery partners, and stakeholders who need the technical details and the roadmap for implementation.
Show Your Support
This is a community-led strategy. Whether you are a studio founder, an indie developer, an educator, student, or someone with an interest in games, we need your voice to show the Scottish Government that the games ecosystem is behind the plan.
Please leave a comment below:
“The Data Lab welcomes the publication of Level Up Scotland: A National Action Plan for the Scottish Games Sector. Scotland’s games industry is a significant contributor to our economy and shares strong synergies with the data and AI ecosystem, consuming and producing vast amounts of data, developing techniques and talent, with demand for shared skillsets. This evidence-based Action Plan provides a framework to support sustainable economic impact, strengthen talent pipelines and unlock investment. We support the vision and ambition set out for the sector and its potential to drive wider innovation across Scotland’s data-driven and creative economy.” – Heather Thomson, CEO, The Data Lab
For over 15 years, Creative Edinburgh has supported hundreds of creative practitioners contributing to Scotland’s games industry – as designers, marketers, writers and storytellers. We believe passionately in the sector’s enormous potential to future-proof creative careers, both in Edinburgh and across Scotland.
A thriving creative economy depends on bringing together expertise, ambition and shared purpose in service of the entrepreneurial communities on our doorstep. I am excited by the next phase of Scotland’s Games Action Plan and hopeful for its long-term, transformative impact on the sector – Ola Wojtkiewicz, Executive Director at Creative Edinburgh
“The Scottish Games Action Plan is a massive step forward in supporting Scotland’s world class Games Industry. While Scottish gaming clusters have repeatedly proven themselves and produced some of the best games in the world, with this plan we can truly make them the Golden Goose that powers us into the future, supporting the best jobs and talent Scotland has to offer.” – Mike Dailly, Game Development Pioneer.
We will support you / The Games Action Plan all the way! – George Weir, FactorTech
At such a significant time in the games industry as a whole, when the carpet-baggers and and dinosaurs have left it in disarray, this Games Action Plan is beyond vital. It’s a chance to stop bickering, bitching, and grumbling. It’s a chance to build, to create, and to position Scotland at the heart of what comes next.
Let’s do this! – Iain Lowson
This is exactly what we need. A unified vision and action plan to support the passionate community of Scottish game developers. – Keelan Harvey
As a game development student I think there needs to be more greater push to have game industry be a beating heart in scotland since it really is just rail roaded to Rockstar and they aren’t interested in students. – Reece
The plan looks good but speaking as a developer outside Dundee, can we please try harder to support game businesses outside of Dundee? I know tech companies like to clump but for many of us it is not practical to all gather in one city. The support needs to spread across the whole of Scotland to allow the sector to grow all over without forcing people to relocate to one city. – Graeme Foote
As a freelance game developer working in Scotland, I strongly support this action plan.
Scotland has a long and proud history in the games industry, from DMA Design’s GTA to Rockstar North, and countless studios that have contributed to groundbreaking titles over the decades. But this heritage is under serious threat.
The games industry has been devastated by relentless layoffs over the past few years, with thousands of talented developers—many of them Scottish—losing their jobs. Freelancers and small studios are feeling this even more acutely, as the ecosystem we depend on contracts around us.
We desperately need the kind of institutional support outlined in Level Up Scotland. The transition from treating games as a “secret weapon” to a national priority isn’t just about recognition—it’s about survival for many of us trying to sustain careers in this industry.
Scotland has the talent, the creativity, and the legacy. What we need now is the infrastructure, funding, and government backing to weather this crisis and build a sustainable future. This action plan is exactly what our sector needs, and I urge the Scottish Government to make it a reality. – Jasper Stocker
As a former VP in the games industry I know the joy, creativity and sheer financial growth that this great industry can bring to Scotland – but only if it’s given the right focus, funding and encouragement. I want to get back into the industry as I’ve missed the energy, community and innovation from the sector and feel that I would be able to help here in Scotland somehow. – Darren Cairns
I’m quite simply blown away by this entire project, it’s phenomenal!
The scale of work undertaken here isn’t something to be taken lightly. It’s not a case of having a few sessions with stakeholders etc, the action plan as well as the technical blueprint are stellar not only in the quality of the data points and the range of topics covered but, the end result is a vision that places Gaming front and centre highlighting it as a creative outlet, an opportunity for innovation and truly does have cultural impact. by an immense amount of respect for Gaming. Placing it’s strengths frindustry from Creative outlet, – Ry Thomas Jackson
I’m a 30+ year veteran of the game industry, and very familiar with the Scottish games ecosystem – as well as other game creation ecosystems around the world. This Game Action Plan for Scotland is one of the strongest and most robust proposals I’ve seen across locales, and would help push Scotland to the forefront of the global game development scene. It’s already had quite an impact, but this is a definitive statement that Scotland takes games seriously as a creative art form (the most successful to date) and wants to remain at the forefront of this evolving artform.
As a 16-year games industry veteren who now runs a small Scottish studio, I see this games action plan as comprehensive, exciting, and essential. It’s clearly the result of a deeply collaborative process, integrating expert perspectives and best practices from other regions into a strategy that is tailor made for the moment. The plan is clear, evidence-backed, de-risked without being overly cautious, and can’t be put into action soon enough. This plan represents a clear opportunity for the Scottish games sector to become a true global leader. We should take it.
As a former higher education professional and now founder of a micro studio based in Scotland, I fully support the action plan presented at SG this week. It offers a clear vision as to how to grow and develop an important economic and cultural sector in the country. As with everything early support is key and I think this has been clearly set out in the plan. SG can make a real difference by adopting parts or all of the action plan. Sandy Louchart, Socks Off
As someone trying to find new and exciting ways to engage the public in the issues around land use, climate change and rural regeneration, digital games could play a very important part.
I strongly support Brian Baglow’s Games Action Plan and recommend the Scottish Government adopt all its recommendations. The potential of a digital games to convey complex environmental issues in the form of fun games is enormous.
Gail Halvorsen, Scottish Ecological Design Association
This Action Plan is a critical first step in capturing the true economic potential of games in Scotland. I have built hubs and incubators, as well as advised on national policy and strategy for countries across the globe… all of which have had a transformative impact on countless lives (and livelihoods) and economic+societal impact within the countries that embrace a more orchestrated approach to their game sector. This is not about helping games… it is about helping all of Scotland with the power of games as an art form, as a substantial vector for innovation, and a scalable business for the future. – Jason Della Rocca, Co-founder, Execution Labs, game business consultant, investor, funding advisor, and ecosystem strategist.
I’m thrilled to see this in its completion, and to have contributed (along with so many others) to its development. As the plan clearly notes, it’s not a question of whether the initiatives (e.g. targeted pilot funding) work, but rather how they can be scaled up – this plan is sorely needed. There’s also an opportunity for Scotland to champion inclusion and diversity in the games industry; I was glad to see an explicit representation goal listed as a metric for success in the plan itself (though would like to have seen more re implementation in the annexes, beyond the skills and education forum).
GameXPlosion welcomes the publication of Level Up Scotland.
We want to recognise Brian Baglow for his continued dedication and leadership in championing Scotland’s games industry. The work behind this plan reflects years of advocacy and belief in the potential of our sector.
As a Scottish studio developing mobile games in a highly competitive global market, we understand how challenging it is not just to build games, but to successfully scale them. Scotland has extraordinary creative and technical, but without strategic backing, visibility and investment support, growth can be limited.
We strongly encourage the Scottish Government to fully get behind this Action Plan and help turn its ambition into meaningful action. With the right support, Scotland’s games industry can deliver high value jobs, innovation and global impact.
GameXPlosion is proud to be building from Scotland, and we believe this plan can help unlock the next wave of success for studios across the country.
Deborah Gorman & Daniel Apathy – GameXPlosion
Coming from Dumfries, and have been trying to bring a sense of industry to the area for over 8 years. I feel this is it, my faith is true to the cause and I totally agree