Grants

Government launches 4m fund to help gaming industry’s small businesses “create the blockbusters of tomorrow”

The government has launched a 4m fund to help the gaming industry support startups in the sector. Over the next four years, the Video Games Prototype Fund will offer grants of 25, 000 to support different projects.

The aim is for the money to help turn ideas into reality, allowing smaller firms to make global gaming blockbusters, and should also create new jobs within the industry.

Ed Vaizey, minister for culture and the digital economy, said: Britain’s video games punch well above their weight internationally and we need to build on this and invest in the strength of our creativity.

He added that the fund should give ‘small businesses, startups and individuals the support theyneed to better attract private investment and go on to create the blockbusters of tomorrow.

The fund will be administered from offices in Dundee and London.

The video game industry has become more of a focal point for the government in recent years in 2014, the European Commission approved tax relief measures for developers, following a six-year campaign to win relief. Under the policy game makers can claim discounts on up to 25 per cent of a game’s production costs. The sector currently generates more than 4.5m a day for the economy and directly employs more than 19, 000 people.

British gaming industry veteran, Ian Livingstone, pointed out that the UK has a long history of developing world-class video games. As well as Tomb Raider, which Livingstone developed, the likes of Monument Valley, Grand Theft Auto, Little Black Planet and MoshI Monsters have all gone on to make a significant cultural and economic global impact.