Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee, 26 Nov 2008

Meeting date: Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Official Report 230KB pdf

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Visit (Dundee)

The next item is a note of a meeting that I attended on behalf of the committee—I went to Dundee to visit the computer games industry. The director of the games up? campaign invited me to visit Dundee, which is a key location for the industry. We visited Realtime Worlds—it is one of the major companies in gaming and employs more than 200 people in Dundee. I also met senior staff from the University of Abertay Dundee, which is a leading establishment in the games industry.

A key point that I want to stress is that computer games sometimes get a bad press and people do not understand the sector: they think that people who make games are just playing. In fact, it is a very interesting area. The maths and physics behind computer games are immense. We saw some interesting work being done at the University of Abertay and Realtime Worlds. Some of that stuff can have applications outwith the games industry in medicine or other fields. It is at the cutting edge of computer technology.

Scotland has a lead in the technology in this important industry, which is worth billions of pounds. The potential for Scotland to earn money is immense. We heard, for example, about the launch of the World of Warcraft game—some of you might have heard about the queues at stores when it was launched—which grossed $500 million in its first week. Grand Theft Auto—a game that gets a lot of bad press—which was developed in Dundee and is now run by a company in Edinburgh, grossed more in its first week than the movie "Quantum of Solace". The games industry is a very big part of the media industry.

Other committee members might wish to pay a visit to Dundee to see the industry and to speak to people at the University of Abertay and Realtime Worlds, both of which would be happy to host any such visit.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport, through its creative Britain strategy—that might be a slight misnomer, given that the department does not deal with culture in Scotland—is looking to set up a centre of excellence in computer gaming. There is a very strong case for that centre to be based in Dundee, given that the work that is being done there is already at the cutting edge of the technology and the educational aspects of the industry. We can indicate our support for the idea that the UK centre of excellence for computer gaming be based here in Scotland at the University of Abertay Dundee.

In that case, you would not suggest that the DCMS change the name of its strategy to the creative England strategy, because that suggestion would be rather self-defeating.

We are talking about a creative Britain technology. The competition for the centre of excellence is UK-wide, so we must ensure that decisions are not based only on England.

I am sure that you got some practical, hands-on opportunities to sample the wares of the industry, which is certainly worth doing. I have to confess that I would not have thought that re-enacting scenarios of war was your forte, convener.

As well as being famous for jam, jute and journalism, Dundee can add gaming to its important contribution to the future economy. We should recommend that the opportunity of the UK centre of excellence be taken up, given its important international status. We can only live with the current scenarios of creative this and creative that.

I might have overlooked this, but will a written report be circulated to members?

The report is with the papers for the meeting.

I apologise; I had not spotted it.

I should have added that one of the issues that came out of the meeting with Realtime Worlds is that most of its investment comes from American venture funding. There seems to be a great opportunity for UK investment in these industries; it is risky, but the returns can be immense if you get it right. There seems to be a lack of willingness among UK financial institutions to invest in our indigenous gaming industry.

I have read quite a bit about Grand Theft Auto. Given the degree of moral hazard involved in its plot, I could well believe that much of the investment for it came from Sicilian-American interests in Chicago. It seemed to me to be quite a horrendous thing. We get into enormous knots with health and safety, for example kids who go swimming having to be supervised by men in dayglo suits, but Grand Theft Auto seemed to be foul in the extreme. One of these little men in Calton Square in Edinburgh said, "I make lots of wee men and then kill them." The game did not seem to me to be a very pleasant thing. Okay, we have a murky track record of selling opium to the Chinese and fire water to the North American Indians, but I am not altogether sure that these games are much better.

It is important to stress that only 3 per cent of games sold in the United Kingdom have an 18 certificate; most of the games are not of that type. Grand Theft Auto has an 18 certificate; it is not meant for people under the age of 18. There is a certification system for games and it is important that adults look at the certificate when they buy games for their children, to ensure that they do not buy inappropriate games. That said, 97 per cent of the games in this huge industry are suitable for people under the age of 18. The computer game that I play mostly is Scrabble.

The gaming industry is a potential jewel in the crown: we could be market leaders, if we are not already. Are you proposing that we take practical steps in relation to the centre of excellence? Should we send a letter? Is there anything we could do to help?

I am happy to consider whether a letter to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport would be helpful. Dundee certainly has a strong claim for the centre of excellence. However, there are another couple of contenders: there is strength in computer gaming in the north-west of England around Manchester, and in Guildford. If a letter of support from the committee would boost the University of Abertay's chances of getting the designation, I would be happy to send one.

That concludes our business. Thank you all. I look forward to seeing you on the train to Croy, and then in Kirkintilloch, next week.

I congratulate the convener on an excellent agenda, and on closing the meeting at half past 11.

Meeting closed at 11:31.