The trade organization says that it is hopeful that it will still be able to work closely with TIGA in the future.
UKIE, one of the two organizations that represent the UK videogame industry, has expressed its disappointment at TIGA’s decision not to hold formal talks over merging the two groups into one single body. The organization held informal talks with TIGA’s CEO Richard Wilson, but ultimately TIGA decided not to pursue the matter further.
In a statement, UKIE thanked TIGA for its time and said that it hoped that the two organizations could continue to work together in the future. It noted that UKIE and TIGA had a good working history, such as in December when UKIE shared its evidence with TIGA for the UK Government’s growth review. The statement also suggested that UKIE still thought a merger was possible in the future, even though the two organizations have gone their separate ways at the moment.
UKIE and TIGA have a very similar mandate, which is to represent the videogame industry to government and the media, and to provide help and support to developers and publishers. Industry figures have previously cited the separation between the two organizations as “problematic,” regardless of whether they work together well or not.
Considering how similar UKIE’s and TIGA’s goals are, it seems counter-productive to have them remain as separate organizations. Where there are some differences between them – UKIE seems to take more of an active role in IP protection than TIGA does, and has a hand in determining PEGI rating – but it’s hard not to think that the missions of both organizations would be better served by teaming up.
Source: Games Industry
Published: Mar 4, 2011 02:52 pm