The UK government will invest £20 million ($25.5 million) into the region’s creative industries to help inspire and attract new talent, scale up existing businesses, boost skills, and provide education.
Only a small portion of that cash will be spent directly on games, however, with just £390,000 ($500,000) being set aside for the UK games industry.
In terms of game-specific investments, £200,000 ($255,000) will be used to upscale the Digital Schoolhouse programme, which brings play-based creative computing workshops to classrooms around the UK.
The additional £190,000 ($242,00) will be put towards building out the UK Games Fund’s new Pitch Development Programme to help promising companies secure funding grants for their projects.
Elsewhere, around £14 million ($17.9 million) will be used to start a new Creative Careers Programme, which will look to raise awareness of employment opportunities in the sector by working with schools and colleges around the country.
A further £4 million ($5.1 million) will be used to scale up creative enterprises in Bristol, Greater Manchester, and the West Midlands, helping those businesses access finance and translate their ideas into investment.
The government will also spend £2 million ($2.6 million) on continuing the ‘Get it Right’ campaign to continue educating consumers on the dangers of copyright infringement.