SCOTS VIDEO GAMES SECTOR BOOMING
Muscular metal bashing beloved of old economy cheerleaders it ain’t. But Scotland’s video games industry has been on a roll for decades – and after a powerful surge last year is now the third largest cluster in the UK.
No fewer than 85 games companies in Scotland now employ 1,290 creative staff. And the sector supports an additional 2,408 indirect jobs according to The Independent Game Developers’ Association (TIGA).
It says the industry’s “development headcount” grew by 25 per cent in Scotland between December 2014 and March 2016. This was more than twice the national average and the second fastest growth in the UK after Wales.
Scotland is now home to more than nine per cent of the UK’s total games companies and almost 10 per cent of its developer headcount.
One of the largest, Rockstar North, developer of Grand Theft Auto, now occupies the former Scotsman headquarters in Edinburgh’s Holyrood Road. How times change - and never cease to surprise.
