UKIE's Jo Twist - Part 2

On piracy, working with TIGA and how to combat boom-and-bust employment

Feature by Dan Pearson Contributor

Published on Jan. 20, 2012

GamesIndustry.bizDo you think the UK needs a big publisher of its own, in the traditional model?

Jo Twist

I think it can be done without a major publisher, but obviously it would be great if we did have that again. I think if you look at the way TV independent communities have evolved... Channel 4 was set up to grow the independent creative companies and industries - it's done that job and continues to do that job, but obviously as they mature companies will come and suck them up and they become super-indies. It's a cyclical thing.

It's one of these things that may or may not happen. It would certainly be great for the UK games industry but likewise there are really great, fantastic developers who are shouting on the global stage, that's something we should be pushing for as well.

GamesIndustry.bizWith the necessarily boom and bust style model of employment in games, as an essentially project lead industry, is there a need for a talent-agency style body which can help workers mmove between projects when a studio no longer requires them?

Jo Twist

That's a bloody good idea! I think that's part of the role we play as a trade association, to facilitate that kind of matchmaking, in all senses of the word - whether it be for people who have money, or people who want to look at new business models for investment, matchmaking talent for people who are just coming out of university or school into young companies or big publishers.

I think there's quite a big education job to be done, and an evangelising job to be done around what the possibilities for formats are for entertainment as a whole.

Matchmaking on all sorts of levels is something that it's our job to help with as much as possible.

GamesIndustry.bizPerhaps involving some sort of mentoring too?

Jo Twist

Mentoring is incredibly important. We have, well, it's not our scheme, but there's the video games ambassadors scheme which we promote to our members, which is going into schools and colleges and sort of doing that sort of thing. Matchmaking at a more senior level, where you're getting mentors in for people who are new in the industry, is absolutely critical.

All of those things are the kinds of things that I'm expecting, over the next three months and speak to members and non-members, all of those things are what I'm expecting people to want and ask me to help provide.

GamesIndustry.bizWith the continuing evolution of business models towards the purely digital, what responsibility, if any do you feel that UKIE has to bricks and mortar retailers?

Jo Twist

Well obviously we have a responsibility to bricks and mortar retailers, particularly GAME, who are one of our members, they are a crucial part and parcel of the games industry, they always have been.

It's interesting to see how they may evolve GAME, what it actually is as a business. I would love to visit some other countries and see how they've dealt with it there.

GamesIndustry.bizSomething which has been raised at the Cloud Gaming Conference this week, and several times before, is whether the UK's infrastructure is actually ready for an all digital future. I know that my internet connection, despite ostensibly being 50mb, is not reliable enough that I would buy a machine which relied entirely on cloud or download games. Whose responsibility is it to ensure that the infrastructure is in place? Is there demand in rural areas, or do people just want to check the news and weather, generally.

Jo Twist

Well, if they had better broadband, they might be chatting to their families online more, skyping, video chatting... You know, they'd be doing all of those things which naturally happen when you introduce people who traditionally haven't been seen as your primary customers. They realise what they can do.

Well obviously we have a responsibility to bricks and mortar retailers, they are a crucial part and parcel of the games industry, they always have been.

I think it's a combination. The era that we're moving into, in terms of connected entertainment and IP connected entertainment is extremely exciting. I think there's quite a big education job to be done, and an evangelising job to be done around what the possibilities for formats are for entertainment as a whole - that's why we're the interactive entertainment industry body - we're interested in where everything is heading.

TV formats have evolved, people are innovating in ways that cloud computing can interact with TV formats - there are all sorts of possibilities that we haven't gone into yet because people are still trying to do YouView.

I think it's one of these things where decision makers need to get excited and be shown the possibilities of what could be achieved, what that could mean for UK business and UK PLC, and that we have to do something about it unless we want to lag behind.

So I think it will come. I think it's a combination of responsibility. I think particularly in rural areas it's a big issue. The infrastructure in some areas is so poor and what you don't want is another digital divide happening. That's already there, but in terms of our industry, that can't happen.