ELSPA welcomes Tory backing

Trade body ELSPA has praised the commitment pledged by the Conservative party’s Shadow Culture Minister Ed Vaizey at last night’s London Games Conference to explore ways to help the UK video games industry should his party win next year’s general election.

We welcome much in Ed Vaizey’s speech,” ELSPA director general Michael Rawlinson stated. His grasp of the economic as well as social and cultural impact of the country’s videogames industry is commendable.

In his speech he talked in terms of video games being a world-beating UK industry with a wide footprint touching on areas from leisure and education to health and defence. He also recognised that we are a ‘hard’ industry, that is to say one with a highly skilled workforce of mostly graduates.

Ed Vaizey appeared to share our concern that without solid ongoing support and help from Government there is a real chance of the UK games industry losing jobs, income and standing in the global marketplace.

"He talked of the need for ‘a coherent strategy of support for the video games industry’ and here he is right on the money.”