UKIE criticises Panorama show

The UK games industry has dismissed BBC’s Panorama report on games addiction for ‘failing’ to progress the debate.

The BBC said that the show – which aired on Monday (December 6th) – would reveal the hidden psychological devices in games that are designed to keep us coming back.”

But UKIE described the show as one that ‘failed to uncover any new evidence’.

UKIE director general Michael Rawlinson said: The Panorama programme failed to uncover any new evidence that would help to progress debate on this topic.

There is currently no proven link between video games and addiction. There is no official medical diagnosis of video game addiction, either from the American Medical Association or the World Health Organization.

An important point that the programme failed to cover was that UKIE and the wider video games industry takes the health and wellbeing of consumers very seriously and promotes balance and moderation as part of its safe and sensible gaming message.”

MCV has previously provided a synopsis of the Panorama show and an opinion piece. The programme also received a sceptical reaction from the media after going on air earlier this week.