Are there signs of recovery for the UK gaming industry?

The UK gaming industry used to lead the world, but by all accounts things today are somewhat different. Hopes of a resurgence were raised in March 2010 when the then chancellor, Alistair Darling, announced a tax break for the industry, a decision that was later reversed.

The decision not to introduce the tax break was made in June 2010 by current chancellor George Osborne. It came as a huge blow for UK developers.

According to figures published at the time by The Independent Games Developers Association (TIGA), the UK's games development workforce had shrunk by 6% from 2008 to 2010 - with a total of 44 studios closing.

As recently as last year the UK's gaming industry continued to suffer major losses, none more so than the closure of the vastly successful Realtime Worlds, based in Dundee. In September 2010 the studio was placed into administration and eventually over 200 people lost their jobs.

It looked like gloomy times, but the industry is making something of a fightback.

Figures released yesterday by the industry show that games made by UK developers account for 42% of all units sold for Microsoft's Kinect since its launch.

The figures, released by the UK Interactive Entertainment Association (UKIE) and GfK Chart Track, show that veteran Twycross based studio Rare (famous for GoldenEye, Donkey Kong 64 and Perfect Dark, amongst others) saw massive success with its Kinect Sports title being bought with 28% of all units sold.

The UKIE also noted that UK developed games account for 30% of total PlayStation Move software sales.

And it doesn't stop there. Little Big Planet 2, developed by Guildford based studio Media Molecule, is currently the best selling game in the UK and a huge critical success, achieving a rating of 91/100 on review aggregator Metacritic. Furthermore, the UK is still home to some of the world's biggest and most respected games developers and studios.

Undoubtedly there's still a long way to go for the UK gaming industry - and greater governmental support wouldn't go amiss - but the continued signs of success in such tough economic times are certainly encouraging.

For a very detailed and interesting review of the Scottish gaming industry in 2010, this article on trade website Develop offers some fascinating insight.