Denny rallies developers to continue government lobbying
Sony boss frustrated at govt; Northwest region alone has created $5bn in revenues in last 20 years
Michael Denny, Sony's senior vice president of Worldwide Studios Europe, has called for the industry to continue to lobby the UK government for financial support.
Speaking at Develop Liverpool, Denny aired frustration that the UK – already responsible for some of the biggest titles in the business – still has to justify its success to the government.
He pointed to the Northwest region as evidence of the talent and creativity in the UK, suggesting that the area alone has contributed over USD 5 billion in revenue and over 100 million units of games in the past 20 years.
"I believe the UK remains a creative hub on the worldwide development scene, so when you extrapolate those figures throughout the UK, it's still difficult to understand why it is that the government is still requiring further evidence to give the support that the industry requires," Denny told the conference.
"It was Psygnosis and other publishers such as Ocean and Rage that were at the heart of nurturing talent and building relationships with the independent development community, throughout the UK, and in particular here in the Northwest.
"It was those relationships and those developers throughout the last 20 years that have been responsible for many, many landmark titles. The Northwest does have a rich and successful industry, and it's still a vibrant, creative hub in the UK development scene with a good mix of more established publisher-owned developers and younger independent developers," he added.
Denny urged everyone involved in the industry to continue to put pressure on the government to ensure the UK can remain a hotbed for games talent.
"I would ask everybody, via industry bodies or on your own behalf, to keep on lobbying to ensure our development industry can replicate the success of the last 20 years over the forthcoming future 20 years."