Creative Scotland defends games industry report

Creative Scotland has moved to defend a controversial report it commissioned that rounds down the gross add value of its home nation’s video games industry to £0.

The report, which surfaced yesterday, has attracted both criticism from interested parties and a response from the Scottish Government, with many suggesting it misrepresents the worth of the games industry in the country.

However, regional creative industries body Creative Scotland has said the study makes clear that some of the limitations of the numbers contained within were recognised in the original publication of the report in June this year, in notes published as part of the findings.

"The official statistics on which the report is based are beyond the control of Creative Scotland," said a spokesperson for the body. "Their limitations were acknowledged at the time of publication and figures from the games industry’s trade body were highlighted. The report remains a valuable contribution to assessing the contribution of the arts and creative industries in Scotland – with the caveats that were highlighted at the time of publication."

Indeed, the report does point out that: ‘recent research for the computer games industry appears to be anomalous to other recent research which shows a higher level of employment than the results here identify.’

However, its suggestion that the games industry in Scotland employs only value, and its £0 valuation have displeased some observers.

Creative Scotland has also pointed out that the £0 gross value added figure is rounded down from a sum somewhere under £10m. However, today’s statement from the Scottish Government on the matter values the games industry in the country at over £1bn, albeit through different criteria.