New developer remit for UKIE

The association formerly known as ELSPA is expanding its remit to include developers.

Now called UKIE, the organisation which helped establish the PEGI ratings has rebranded and expanded its remit to better serve the continually evolving nature of the games industry.

It unveiled the new logo at a Westminster-based event earlier this month for selected publishers, developers, media and politicians.

UKIE plans to become more appealing to developers given huge shifts in the industry which have seen a number of studios move to self-publishing, and no longer rely on the core audience of publishers that formed ELSPA’s core audience.

It’s launching a new website and wants to give studios a voice in its role interfacing with the government and the media when it comes to representing the industry.

“The market is no longer fitting into the demarcation of publisher, developer, retailer, distributor – we are no longer in silos, but in a more homogenous market,” director general Michael Rawlinson told Develop.

“We are called upon more often than not to speak for the entire industry – but we can’t do that. Neither trade association says that they are able to represent the whole industry because their memberships do not completely represent the games industry.

He said that in time membership of UKIE will be “companies that are in the business of making and exploiting interactive entertainment products”, regardless of their label as developer or publisher.

Rawlinson added: “The games industry no longer about just a single physical point of contact – not just consoles or PCs, it’s MMOs, browser and mobile as well now. It’s a much bigger remit that we want to cover.

“This is no longer an exclusive club – it is welcoming and requires participation to make it what our members want it to be, so come and join us.”