UK Game Industry Gets £10 Million Investment

UK government agencies will invest £10 million ($16.3 million)in the region's game developers, and establish learning centers in Scotland and Manchester. Dundee's Abertay University's center will work with a new facility at MediaCity UK to help companies understand how gamers use prototypes and support further product refinement ahead of launches. This is aimed at allowing developers in the UK to develop more original intellectual property, as with the opportunity to test ideas in prototype phase, the market risk is lowered. The source of the idea came from June 2009's Digital Britain report, which suggested that MediaCity UK sync up with Abertay University. The funding has support of the Strategic Investment Fund, individual regional initiatives and the North West Development Agency. UK trade body TIGA praised the initiative: "This is good news for the UK games industry," said group CEO Richard Wilson. "We particularly welcome the intention to use the funding to invest in prototypes to support new Intellectual Property (IP) development. Finding sources for finance for new IP is difficult at the best of times."