Raise the game (2008)
The Raise the Game report written by Games Investor Consulting and commissioned by NESTA assesses the competitiveness of the UK's games development sector in an international context.
The report profiles the games development sectors of the UK, Canada, France and Germany, with a particular focus on policy measures from national and regional governments, identifying challenges and opportunities that have emerged as a consequence of the evolution of video game markets and technology.
The report was released in December 2008 and you can download it here.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary
Introduction
Chapter overview
Chapter 1: Assessment of the UK versus its competitors
United Kingdom
Sector snapshot
Scale of UK games development sector
Talent pool
Creativity
Strength of UK-owned companies
Access to finance
Canada
Historical outlook
Scale of Canada games development sector
Talent pool
Creativity
Strength of Canadian-owned companies
Access to finance
Availability of government support
France
Historical Outlook
Scale of the French games development sector
Talent pool
Creativity
Strength of French-owned companies
Access to finance
Availability of government support
Germany
Sector snapshot
Scale of German games development sector
Talent pool
Creativity
Strength of German companies
Access to finance
Availability of government support
Chapter 2: Update on policy measures
Target territories
Other territories
Chapter 3: Impact of policy measures
UK
Impact of government support on UK games development industry
Evidence of impact of government support
Canada
Impact of government support on Canadian games development industry
Evidence of impact of government support
France
Impact of government support on French games development industry
Evidence of impact of government support
Germany
Impact of government support on German games development industry
Evidence of impact of government support
Global sales rankings
Commentary
Chapter 4: Future competitive indicators
Changing market conditions
Opportunities
Threats
Features of successful studio sectors in 2013
Gap analysis for the UK
Chapter 5: Conclusions
Key challenges for UK games studios
Balancing original game creation with third party licence work
Managing rising development costs
Increasing access to finance
Maintaining a flow of new company start-ups to refresh the sector
Generally low quality of graduates
Stopping brain drain weakening the sector in the long term
Accessing new markets and demographics
Lack of governmental support
Rising to the challenge
Increasing the flow of original new games
Exploiting the massive potential of online gaming
Growing the online games services sector
Exploiting synergies between converging media
Increasing the calibre of graduates
Protecting UK creative jobs while exploiting globalisation
Increasing the availability of more substantial support from public funds
