The opportunity afforded by Scotland's video game industry could make North Sea oil "look like a drop in the ocean", according to a leading entrepreneur.
Chris van der Kuyl, director of Scotland-based game developers 4J Studios, told MPs it is time to "get serious" about the industry or lose out.
He was speaking to Westminster's Scottish Affairs Committee, which was in Dundee to hear evidence on the creative industries in Scotland.
Mr van der Kuyl told the committee that the game Grand Theft Auto, which originated in Dundee, is "bigger than the whole of the recorded music industry combined".
He said: "This is the biggest entertainment industry in the world and Scotland actually has a serious foot in the door and we don't treat it that way.
"We'll talk about our TV industry and our film industry - our film industry is nothing in terms of relative scale to our games industry yet I don't think we appreciate the resource that we have nor give it the focus that it deserves."
He told MPs that emerging markets such as virtual and augmented reality could offer potential annual growth of hundreds of per cent.
"Especially for a country like Scotland, who really have nibbled round the edges and done very well, the opportunity is huge.
"If I were to be asked to compare it to the opportunity of North Sea oil, I would say it will make North Sea oil look like a drop in the ocean.
"This is the ocean we are playing for this time. We're just trying to hold a tiger by the tail.
"If there was ever a time to get serious about this industry now is it. If we let this opportunity pass by others will take it and Scotland will languish, but we shouldn't and I think we are brilliantly positioned to be successful."
Mr van der Kuyl said an "enlightened immigration policy" was essential in order to attract the best international talent to Scotland.
He also called for a real focus from public sector agencies such as Creative Scotland and Scottish Enterprise on championing the industry.
"Either we decide that this is such a focus that we're going to get a games champion and put them into a position of strength, of being able to pull in the right agencies, come up with strategies, implement quickly and have real teeth to do that, or don't. Just be reactive generic agencies that will all come knocking if we so feel like it.
"But the bit in the middle where we pretend to do it, I think it's a waste of everybody's time and money."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel