The UK took too long to recognise the cultural and financial merits of video games, Eidos Life President Ian Livingstone has said at the Westminster eForum.
Speaking at the eForum debate on the future of the UK game industry in Whitehall, London, Livingstone criticised the national news media’s tendency to stir up moral panic surrounding violent content found in some videogames.
“The outcry in this country should be about the poor skills the UK has to make games,” he said.
Livingstone’s speech put the UK game industry in its best light; as a creative sector that can have a positive effect on gamers and make significant contributions for the UK economy. It was a shame, he said, that the news-media didn’t reflect this.
“People just couldn’t accept that games are a great learning tool,” he added.
Elsewhere in his speech Livingstone touched on the issue of game tax breaks. He cited the government’s reasoning behind not backing tax reform, where the government argued that UK developers who lose their jobs won’t hurt Britain, as their skills are transferable to other businesses and sectors. Essentially, developers will be able to get new work somewhere else.
“That’s true,” said Livingstone, “they’ll move to Canada”.
Advertisement
Related Stories
- Samsung to launch Galaxy Nexus White Feb 7th 2012 at 10:08AM
- Microsoft UK pricing could rise Feb 3rd 2012 at 12:06PM
- Star Wars: The Old Republic hits two million units sold Feb 2nd 2012 at 2:22PM
- GAME denies immediate stock problems Feb 1st 2012 at 1:56PM
- Gem to acquire Ztorm Jan 6th 2012 at 1:27PM
- Best Buy to leave UK this month Jan 5th 2012 at 4:08PM
- Facebook blamed for a third of UK divorces Jan 4th 2012 at 10:21AM
- Aussie retailer Harvey Norman launches offshore games site Dec 23rd 2011 at 5:19AM
- Angry Birds for PC Dec 21st 2011 at 6:00PM
- Mad Catz pulls the trigger Dec 19th 2011 at 4:00PM
Follow Follow this article if you would like to receive notifications of updates.
Add a new comment
You need to be logged in to post comments. If you do not have an account then please register.
Comments
0 comments
There are no comments yet, be the first to add one!