Tories cosy up to gaming industry

The Conservative Party has pledged to foster greater support for the video games industry if it gets into power.

Shadow arts minister Ed Vaizey told MCV: "The video games industry needs the government to show interest in them - and I don't think that's been coming.

"That's something that would change very quickly under a Conservative government."

Vaizey also suggested that there are a "number of small, practical things" that could be done to "make a difference to the industry", including improving home-grown skills with training courses.

He also suggested that the Tories would consider negotiating tax breaks to boost developers working in the UK, as well as work towards establishing an overarching gaming body.

"You've got the UK Film Council, but you don't have a UK Video Games Council," said Vaizey. "That's something I’d like to remedy."

Meanwhile, an initiative was launched in parliament today (June 15) with the aim of encouraging more collaboration between UK games developers.

Spearheaded by industry trade association Tiga and the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA), the Play Together scheme aims to boost resource sharing between firms and also free up the movement of staff.