Sharp jobs rise reported in Scottish video game sector

The number of jobs in the Scottish video games sector has soared in the past two years, according to new figures.

A survey by industry body Tiga found employment grew by 26% between April 2020 and December last year.

There was also a 53% rise in the number of firms, well above the 41% increase seen by the UK industry as a whole.

Scotland remained the fourth largest games cluster in the UK, after London, the south east and the north west.

It accounted for 7.9% of the UK's total games companies and 10.8% of its developer headcount.

As of December 2021, Scotland had 2,269 creative staff working on games development in 147 active companies, according to the UK-wide survey.

This was up from 96 companies employing 1,803 staff in April 2020.

The survey suggested the sector supported an additional 4,148 indirect jobs.

Tiga chief executive Richard Wilson said Scotland had "a mass" of experienced games developers as well as universities preparing skilled graduates for the games industry.

Dr Wilson also pointed to a "supportive infrastructure" that included Scottish Enterprise and Creative Scotland.

He added: "Growth in the Scottish games industry can be perpetuated by enhancing Video Games Tax Relief to reduce the cost of games development, introducing a Video Games Investment Fund to improve access to finance, and further strengthening industry-university links to enhance skills and innovation."

Prof Gregor White, Dean of Design and Informatics at Abertay University, said the latest figures were "fantastic news" for the Scottish games sector.

He added: "We've been conscious of industry growth in scale and value since 2020 and have seen some significant investment from multinationals with Unity, Rockstar and Epic establishing new offices across Scotland."

"I'm looking forward to continued prosperity in the sector as it continues to innovate, diversify and grow."