It’s game on for high-tech industry with global sales
IT’S a ruthless game of stealth and lethal violence. No, it’s not Britain’s Brexit negotiations, but one of the UK’s leading video games and its manufacturer is enjoying a boom thanks to the slumping pound.
The UK is one of the world’s leading games-producing nations and the fall in sterling is delivering a cash boost to the companies behind the sector, according to industry bosses.
Jason Kingsley, co-founder of Rebellion – the games developer behind the Sniper Elite series – and chairman of The Independent Games Developers Association (Tiga), said: ‘The pound getting weaker has been good for us because our revenues are mostly in dollars.’
‘When looking at currency fluctuations you’ve got to look at the raw materials used to make whatever you sell and where you sell it. Our costs are salaries, paid in pounds. Most people pay us in dollars.
‘Because we are 95 per cent exporter, with the pound being weak we are in a very strong position. And we’re bringing money into this country.’
Rebellion – whose other popular games include Battlezone – turns over about £20million, mostly from global sales. But it is only one part of a large and thriving sector.
According to Tiga, in the year to March 2016, the sector’s contribution to GDP rose from more than £1.1 billion to nearly £1.25 billion.
But while the weak pound was boosting returns to the UK games industry, Kingsley said there were still fears over the future for foreign programmers in the UK.