UK Government Clueless About Video Game Workers
Should be a surprise, but it isn't.
Malcom Wicks.
Once again the UK government has illustrated exactly why the UK video game industry is suffering from talent drain. Answering a question regarding the number of people employed in a range of jobs within the industry, Malcolm Wicks (Minister of State (Energy), Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform) since 1997, he could only come up with a figure from 2002.
This is despite his own department's website declaring, "The UK video and computer games industry makes a valuable contribution to our economy. In 2006 games generated £2 billion in retail sales in the UK. £370 million was invested in games creation in the UK and 21,000 people were employed in games development, publishing and retail."
In fact, the nearest figure that the minister could muster for developers, publishers, distributors and retailers is, in fact, 20,350. That comes from 2002.
That said, the only external document link on the computer game-specific page is: 'The games industry in Eastern Europe - an overview of the games industry and related sectors in Estonia, Czech Republic and Bulgaria', So, at least some research is happening.
Source: Theyworkforyou
This is despite his own department's website declaring, "The UK video and computer games industry makes a valuable contribution to our economy. In 2006 games generated £2 billion in retail sales in the UK. £370 million was invested in games creation in the UK and 21,000 people were employed in games development, publishing and retail."
In fact, the nearest figure that the minister could muster for developers, publishers, distributors and retailers is, in fact, 20,350. That comes from 2002.
That said, the only external document link on the computer game-specific page is: 'The games industry in Eastern Europe - an overview of the games industry and related sectors in Estonia, Czech Republic and Bulgaria', So, at least some research is happening.
Source: Theyworkforyou
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Comments
deleted 21 Jul 2008 17:38
1/3
Then Why don’t the government start apprenticeship scheme to help young `ens into doing this stuff with art and programming, writing and such, instead of focusing on stopping knife crime and asbos etc with the police way, get kids from school into a job learning the skills needed, in fact why doesn’t the gaming industry do this,
its all well and good saying oh we need more talent, but unless the paths and access into it become easier then it’s just going to get worse.
Think about it, every kids must dream of making video games, I know I did, but the majority of those kids come from a working class background and as such cannot finance them self’s through courses and education that will let them into the gaming industry, and because of that many many kids will take what work they can get never fulfilling their ambitions and talents, if the government or gaming industry started schemes to help kids into these lines of work the shortages would be gone in 10-15 years
its all well and good saying oh we need more talent, but unless the paths and access into it become easier then it’s just going to get worse.
Think about it, every kids must dream of making video games, I know I did, but the majority of those kids come from a working class background and as such cannot finance them self’s through courses and education that will let them into the gaming industry, and because of that many many kids will take what work they can get never fulfilling their ambitions and talents, if the government or gaming industry started schemes to help kids into these lines of work the shortages would be gone in 10-15 years
Lurks 22 Jul 2008 02:48
2/3
The industry doesn't need apprenticeships, the industry needs people to go to university to pick up proper skills - not more theortically vocationally-focused clap trap like the various game dev courses.
That means programmers need to do real computer science with a proper background in tertiary level maths and physics. The industry clearly isn't going to pay the entire tertiary fees for every scamp that fancies a job in games - neither are the fees the thing that stops working class folks from going to uni, it's more the fact they're not earning while they school. Potentially also they reached university with a low standard of education meaning real proper university courses seem like too much hard work - so they take the easy option and go for soft-touch courses instead.
There's no easy fix. This is a skilled industry. It needs university grads, not some mongy drop-out school for the chavs that would quite like to play games for a living.
That means programmers need to do real computer science with a proper background in tertiary level maths and physics. The industry clearly isn't going to pay the entire tertiary fees for every scamp that fancies a job in games - neither are the fees the thing that stops working class folks from going to uni, it's more the fact they're not earning while they school. Potentially also they reached university with a low standard of education meaning real proper university courses seem like too much hard work - so they take the easy option and go for soft-touch courses instead.
There's no easy fix. This is a skilled industry. It needs university grads, not some mongy drop-out school for the chavs that would quite like to play games for a living.
jj 22 Jul 2008 13:04
3/3
Lurks has a point, our education system is a failure and creating nothing but disillusioned drop outs with no motivation or direction, and our greed fulled, must haves society is doing even more damage.
Maths, physics and other science subjects are key to computer science and application/games/engineering creation. Recent BBC articles suggest less and less males are taking up these courses.
many university courses are dumbed down and useless, shying away from maths and physics because they know most students will fail the course if it's math heavy, due to their poor education.
Maths, physics and other science subjects are key to computer science and application/games/engineering creation. Recent BBC articles suggest less and less males are taking up these courses.
many university courses are dumbed down and useless, shying away from maths and physics because they know most students will fail the course if it's math heavy, due to their poor education.