Meeting of the Parliament 03 February 2026 [Draft]
Presiding Officer, thank you for tolerating my slipping out early from the debate to attend a reception that I am sponsoring this evening. I am keen to speak in this debate.
I count myself part of a lucky generation, because I grew up with computer games. I got my first computer, a ZX Spectrum, for Christmas in 1984. I then had a Nintendo Entertainment System, and SimCity just about ruined my highers. Indeed, I am not ashamed to say that I built my own personal computer about two years ago, and I get somewhat distracted by a combination of Rust, Cities: Skylines and Assetto Corsa.
The point that I am trying to make is that we sometimes talk about computer games as though they are things for kids—a curiosity and a niche interest—but they are not. For many people of my generation, they are part of our lives and they continue to be so right the way through adulthood. If we look at how people use games, we see that, increasingly, people—young or old—do not think of themselves as gamers, but as people who use games. Even my mother likes to play Scrabble on her phone, and my wife is pretty addicted to Wordle. They are gamers, whether they realise it or not.
Games are pervasive—as pervasive as the devices that we have in our pockets. However, when we look at the strategy that is set out in the “Level Up Scotland” document, we must recognise that we still have a disjointed approach to how we think about computer games and the computer games industry.
The action plan calls for leadership and co-ordination across policy areas; a focus on skills and a skills pipeline; and funding and investment. However, those things should not need to be asked for. This is a sector that we have been saying is a jewel of Scotland’s business and industry, yet it is calling out for things that are standard for businesses that we support and seek to nurture. Our approach to games and the games industry is stuck in the 1980s, and we need to get it up to speed.
We should acknowledge that the games industry is a different kind of industry. It is not just about people writing lines of code—in fact, I think that probably very few people working in the games industry write lines of code. It is about writers, designers, artists and people who are involved with the marketing, finance and legal issues. That is why it is a $250 billion industry globally, of which we have a £350 million share. Let us get serious. Let us have a plan. Let us have the necessary leadership, and let us make sure that we deliver the investment so that we can have the next Grand Theft Auto in Scotland.
Let us also be clear that gaming is pervasive. We need to understand that the games sector is not just a discrete part of the economy. Increasingly, as people spend time using games and earning money from doing so—they can earn money in real life—the interface between games and real life will start to look far less defined and far more blurry than we realise.
We need to take the games industry seriously. It is a Scottish success story, and we should back it with a plan.