Political/government meetings
Tiga continues to engage with senior politicians and civil servants to advance the interests of the video games sector.
- May 5th
Richard Wilson met Lord Puttnam, Vice Chairman of the All Party Computer and Video Games Industry Group.
- May 11th
Richard Wilson attended the AGM of the All Party Computer and Video Games Industry Group at the Westminster Parliament.
- June 3rd
Richard Wilson met Don Foster MP, the Liberal Democrat’s Shadow Secretary of State Culture, Media and Sport.
- June 15th
TIGA-NESTA Houses of Parliament lunch, attended by Bill Olner MP, Chair of the All Party Computer and Video Games Industry Group and John Whittingdale MP OBE (Vice Chairman of the Group).
- June 25th
Richard Wilson met Thalia Baldwin (Film, Fashion and Video Games Branch Media Directorate, Department for Culture, Media and Sport), to discuss TIGA’s submission of evidence justifying a cultural tax break for games production.
- July 3d
Richard Wilson and Vincent Scheurer met Ed Vaizey, Conservative Shadow Minister, Culture, Media and Sport.
- July 6th
Richard Wilson attended a dinner with Jeremy Hunt, the Conservative’s Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.
- July 16th
TIGA board member Philip Oliver (Blitz Studios) met the Rt Hon Alistair Darling MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer.
- July 21st
TIGA board members including Ian Hetherington (Realtime Worlds), Jason Kingsley (Rebellion), Philip Oliver (Blitz Studios) and Gareth Edmondson (Ubisoft Reflections) attended a round table discussion on the video games industry with Sion Simon MP, Minister for the Creative Industries.
House of Lords
On June 10th, Richard Wilson provided verbal evidence to the House of Lords’ Select Committee on Communications. The Committee’s inquiry focussed on ‘The British film and television industries’ but included a specific session focussed on video games.
Consultation documents
On June 10th Tiga submitted a response to the Conservative Party’s Creative Industries Review, setting out the case for a tax break for games production and the need to address skill shortages in the games sector.
Publications
In June TIGA published Outsourcing and Offshoring, a report showing that outsourcing is now fundamental to UK video game development.