HSBC recognises Scotland’s ‘world-class gaming industry’

HSBC has praised Scotland’s game development industry in a new report – but has overlooked achievements in other regions of the UK.

The report, entitled The Future of Business: The Changing Face of Business in 21st Century Britain, explores ‘the future of the UK business landscape’ and investigates how and why ‘UK business models will change in the future, under the influence of a generation of increasingly tech-savvy businessmen and women.’

Providing a geographic breakdown of innovation in technological and scientific industries, the gaming section lists three locations, each of them in Scotland – Dundee, Edinburgh, and Glasgow.

"Scotland boasts a world-class gaming industry," it reads. "Best-selling titles such as Lemmings and the Grand Theft Auto franchises were developed by Scottish studios.

"The Scottish digital media and creative industries are worth £5bn annually, providing more than 100,000 jobs in television, games, animation, film and publishing."

Other areas traditionally mentioned as gaming hubs in the UK, such as Brighton, London, Cambridge and Liverpool – are highlighted for endeavours such as robotics, nanotech and stem cell research.

Brighton, Leeds, Liverpool, London and Newcastle are all designated as ‘super cities’, however, which ‘promise to change the traditional national and regional power bases in the UK because of their proximity to the one thing that does not depend on natural resources: knowledge.’

‘An open-source approach to innovation is turning creative towns, such as Brighton, into alternative economic and innovation powerhouses,’ it continues.

Nevertheless, the fact that they’ve mentioned gaming at all has pleased organisations such as Tiga. According to its CEO Richard Wilson, "it is encouraging to find a bank like HSBC with such a firm interest in the knowledge and creative industries. Bank finance is an important source of finance for game developers. Tiga hopes that HSBC and other banks will support video game developers in the UK as they seek to expand their businesses to exploit commercial opportunities."

“If the UK is to continue to be an outrider for the video games sector then the Government must create an environment in which the sector can flourish. The Government must create a tax system that encourages investment in research and development and investment into knowledge intensive industries, including the games industry," he continued.HSBC recognises Scotland’s ‘world-class gaming industry’