Tayside games firms set for jobs explosion?

A new study by Interactive Tayside has predicted that the Scottish region’s computer software industry will grow significantly over the next three years, the BBC reports.

The region of Scotland already plays host to a number of games studios clustered around Dundee – the number of software firms in the city has doubled since 2000.

The region’s 350 software and computer animation firms have a combined annual turnover of £185m says the report, predicting that most will see their turnover rise by 10 to 50 per cent in the next year.

3,400 are currently employed by this cluster of companies – but the number is expected to rise past 5,000 by 2010.

Colin Macdonald, studio director of Realtime Worlds – which developed Crackdown (pictured) told the BBC: "We are proud to be based in Dundee – our staff love the cost of living, the proximity to the great outdoors, and the low traffic and pollution problems.

"Dundee’s one of the main hubs for computer games in the whole of the UK, so we benefit from working with many of the other local developers and have great relations with the local universities – particularly Abertay’s games courses in our case.

"Scottish Enterprise and the local council fully appreciate what the digital media industries are doing for the city and actively help and encourage them.”

The University of Abertay, which hosts the popular Dare to be Digital competition, is also based in the region.

The university’s Principal and Vice Chancellor, Professor Bernard King, commented: "The key to continuing success is proper investment, without which we could easily lose the industrial development and industry accomplishments to competitors in emerging markets.”