ADVENTURES IN GAMES DEVELOPMENT: NEWS, VIEWS & MORE
“Not only are the best things in life free, some of the most profitable games are free too…” Rick Gibson, p14
Body says developers must unionise
New look for Develop Online
What Digital Britain means for studios
News, p06
News, p08
News, p10
Tiga roars at Government UK developer association rebrands and unveils NESTA partnership ● Aims to ‘make UK best place to do games business’ Tiga’s Richard Wilson unveiled the new brand for the organisation plus the collaboration with NESTA at a special event in Westminster
by Ed Fear
A
new brand, new partnerships, and new initiatives: Tiga is changing. In an attempt to show that it’s not a one-trick tax-breaklobbying pony, Tiga has teamed with NESTA – the Lottery-funded National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts – to launch Play Together, a range of initiatives to help UK studios be more competitive. The chief push is Industry Sharing, a new service for sharing employees between studios. The idea is to ease the pressure of finding work for large teams in-between projects. As a concept, it’s something Develop has covered before – but there are many developers cautious or just outright sceptical about it. Jon Kingsbury, programme director for the creative economies at NESTA, said he understands the reticence. “If people say that the idea’s great, but they’re not sure how it’ll pan out, then they’re exactly right,” he told Develop. “It all comes down to the execution. There really will be iteration on this, I’m sure – even today I’m collecting ideas from people about the things they’d like it to cover. No one has ever done this before.” Other initiatives include Creative Industry Switch, aimed to help companies in DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET
different media sectors collaborate easier; plus a new website that will feature sections allowing UK developers and suppliers to promote their capabilities online, an education section to help studios and Universities collaborate, plus a jobs board. The real validation of Tiga’s new image won’t come from the results of these initiatives, though, but more in converting old lapsed members. After what many suggest was a difficult year financially for the group as memberships fell – not to mention the transition to a new CEO – Tiga has needed to convince many that their outlay is worthwhile. And attitude in the room seemed to point in that direction: several developers told
These initiatives are going to make us much more visible to the State. Richard Wilson, Tiga
Develop that they viewed it as a step in the right direction, and were considering rejoining the organisation. If anyone felt that Tiga was a group that was all talk no action, the headway it’s made into Government in the past year alone – including helping create and providing secretariat for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the games industry and the backing it’s secured from MPs based on the NESTA initiatives – is proof that its efforts don’t begin and end with press releases. And the NESTA collaboration – which Wilson describes describes as ‘a real boon for us’ – will also help strengthen the case for tax breaks. “NESTA is really well regarded within Government,”
he said. “So these initiatives, and NESTA’s support and resources in implementing them, are going to make us much more visible to Government.” One of the real surprises about Tiga’s aggressive new brand, however, is its new strap line: ‘Representing the Games Industry’. Coupled with the organisation’s new official motto – ‘making the UK the best place to do games business’ – we couldn’t leave without asking: does WIlson think this new boistrous image and slogan might ruffle features at a certain other trade organisation? “Only if they’re paranoid,” he replied. With more Government links and forward momentum than ever, they just might be. JULY 2009 | 05