Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has announced that £380 million will be spent on a range of projects intended to double private investment in the creative industries. The UK film, music and games industry are set to receive millions of pounds of investment as the Government seeks to ensure the UK’s place as a creative superpower. Game Republic and Ukie have welcomed the announcement.
Investment in creative industries across the UK
£150 million will be split between the mayors of Manchester, Liverpool, the West Midlands, West Yorkshire, the North East and the West of England to support creative businesses in their regions.
MD of Game Republic Jamie Sefton said “We have been working with the Mayoral authorities , The Great North initiative and One Creative North, where we have had our proposed interventions accepted to support the games industry to build on its successes. I am excited to see this funding in place now that will mean many of the positive steps we proposed can actually happen. The North has a fantastic track record of developing games, collaborating across sectors and producing global game titles and supporting multi award-winning games. As part of One Creative North and The Great North, we will be progressing the ideas to support skills, employment and funding”
Regional Growth for the Games Industry
Speaking about the announcement Nandy said the investment would
“boost regional growth, stimulate private investment, and create thousands more high-quality jobs”
Dr Jackie Mulligan, Development Director at Game Republic who joined the Creative Industries Growth Summit and a panel with Chris Bryant MP in January believes this is a really good outcome of dialogue with industry and the regions
“The allocation of funds across the UK and the multiple strands of support and agencies now in place really highlights that many of the insights and discussions resonated with the MPs and policymakers at the event in Gateshead. At the time, Lisa Nandy said ‘Talent is everywhere but opportunity isn’t’ and it resonated. We are delighted that this funding will result in more opportunities everywhere in particular after the last few months of seeing so much new tech, new games and talent at our events that will be empowered by investment.”
Boost for Indie Game Start-Ups
The investment will also see £30 million put towards backing start-up video games companies – an industry worth billions of pounds to the UK.
The announcement comes as the Government prepares to publish its industrial strategy next week, billed as a 10-year, multibillion-pound plan to back certain sectors and secure growth for the UK economy.
The creative industries are set to be one of the winners, with a plan for the sector expected to be published alongside the wider industrial strategy next week, billed as a 10-year, multibillion-pound plan to back certain sectors and secure growth for the UK economy.
Featured image: GaMaYo with 38 new games on show – an example of the creative work coming out of The North
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