Side sides with TIGA

TIGA, the trade association representing the UK's games industry, has announced that creative production services agency Side is the latest firm to join its ranks.

The award-winning Side is best known for providing externally-sourced acting, mo-cap and direction to the videogame industry. Current projects it is assisting on include Fable III (Lionhead), APB (Realtime Worlds) and Brink (Splash Damage).

Andy Emery, creative director at Side, explained the agency's reasoning for joining TIGA: "Last year a large percentage of our work came from outside the UK, and like UK developers we are concerned about the brain drain to overseas territories who receive more government support in the form of tax relief and subsidies. Therefore we strongly support TIGA's campaign to achieve Games Tax Relief for the UK development industry. We also hope to network with other TIGA members and continue to increase our profile among the development community."

"At TIGA we are proud to represent the games industry and the talented, creative companies like Side that make up this exciting sector," said TIGA boss Richard Wilson. "We also welcome Side's commitment to back TIGA's Games Tax Relief campaign. We warmly welcome Side to the TIGA community."

Britain's erstwhile Labour government promised Games Tax Relief, intended to improve the UK's position on the international development stage, in its March 2010 budget. Unfortunately, it appears increasingly unlikely that the new coalition government will honour that pledge, though TIGA remains optimistic.