Government introduces £4m development fund for small UK studios

The UK Government is spending £4m in a bid to find 'the next Tomb Raider'.

The new development fund launches today and is set-up to help get games from 'the drawing board and into the production'. The Video Game Prototype Fund is set to run between now and 2019, and will offer £25,000 grants to support video games products, jobs and the various games clusters that exist around the UK.

[Geobros]

I have to say that this is a great move for the video game industry from UK government.

[sangoku_d]

they tried it once before
https://youtu.be/XrQEMBN8DN...

[Steptoe]

Your not gonna make the next tomb raider with that amount of money. But at least they're doing something.

[AnotherProGamer]

Minecraft is more well known than Tomb Raider and had a very small budget

I think what they mean when they want the new tomb raider is they want a new popular game like Tomb Raider was in the 90s, not exactly a new action adventure game like it

[sadsatan]

saor alba!!

[tigertron]

Wow, our government is doing something good for a change.

[FoxyGotGame]

It is freshing ...but the UK Gov. has constantly been telling us "There's No Money" when making cuts to public services that people desperately need ....yet they can find 4 Million (Approx 6.5 Million USD) for Entertainment, whilst working class people are surviving on Food Banks?! /

[Anonagrog]

It's not that simple. Regardless of which political party is in power, a government has to tackle different issues on multiple fronts.

This is about investing in, and promoting the growth of, a sector that has a proven potential to feed back into the economy. It's a global market with an industry that's already worth a lot to the British economy. Tax breaks/relief and other such incentives are a proven success for creative industries like this. In this case the fund is specifically targeted at start-ups and nurturing talent. However, the goal is still to boost the economy at the end of the day, which in turn should help living standards in the long run. In theory at least.

[Anonagrog]

Hmm... loads of disagrees over information I'd suggest isn't subjective whatsoever. I'd be keen to hear why that is, and from an objective standpoint?

I can only guess people on here know more about this than the trade bodies that represent the games industry as well as economists.

[Steptoe]

Right on Brother. Our government sucks. Torie or Labour they all suck. Let's hope Corbyn can change things. Might just vote for the first time in years if he does.

[Shuckylad]

Great news, gaming's come a long way in non gamers minds since the infamous 'Super Mario killed my son' headline we had over our news papers years ago here in old Blighty.

[uth11]

Wow, you could barely run a single studio for that. Nice gesture, but it probably won't have much impact

[paul-p1988]

I read this on BBC News a minute ago, they are giving the games industry £4m (which is great, it's about time they started appreciating it), but a couple of sentences later it said "The UK games industry generates £4.5m a day in revenue"...

So the amount the government is giving them is LESS than what the industry makes in one day lol

I know this is intended to help indies though, and if I was a better designer/programmer (currently studying!) then I might even try to get the £25,000 on offer :)