Scotland's role as games industry player threatened by foreign rivals
Forget green-haired lemmings absentmindedly throwing themselves off platforms – Scotland's computer games are now populated by a cast of characters that includes car-jackers, drug dealers and gun-toting criminals. Just like their pixellated personas, Scottish games companies mean serious business. Together they provide more than 700 high-quality jobs and have a combined turnover of more than £20 million a year.
But homegrown software houses are under threat from overseas rivals, according to Tiga, the industry's trade body. Competitors in countries such as Canada, France and Ireland are using the extra cash generated by tax breaks to try to "poach" Scottish talent abroad.
Now Tiga is baring its teeth and is trying to enlist the help of MSPs to mount the fight-back. The association held an event at the Scottish Parliament last week and has submitted detailed proposals to the UK Treasury calling for a tax break to aid games development.
Tiga is also urging the Scottish Government and its agencies to do more to promote Scotland as a place to do business.
Dundee has been at the epicentre of the games explosion since the release of titles such as the classic Lemmings back in the 1990s. With the city's Abertay University renowned for its computer arts courses, Dundee is still home to some of the country's most innovative companies. But even in the city at the heart of the computer games industry, some firms continue to struggle to recruit enough talented staff. Tiga wants the Scottish Government to invest more money in developing computer games courses at institutions such as Abertay and the University of the West of Scotland.
Read the full story at The Scotsman