From Exuberant Youth to Sustainable Maturity - DTI Home

1.1 Purpose and scope of the study
The study provides a historical and current-snapshot
view of the competitiveness of the UK games
software industry. It aims to set out how the UK
industry compares with respect to the games
software industries of other countries. It also
presents a view of the comparative performance of
the games industry with respect to other creative
industries within the UK.
Beyond the data-driven analysis of the UK's
competitive position, the report seeks to offer some
perspective and insight on the issues and challenges
that will limit the competitiveness of the industry in
the future. It provides an outline view of how the UK
industry might seek to secure its future and improve
its competitiveness, and sets out an industry-level
action plan aimed at helping to address some of the
key issues.
This main report includes analysis in the following
areas:
• Mapping of the industry structure and global
market size, including industry issues, future
trends and new technologies
• Evaluation of the UK's competitive position
• Detailed review of the sub-sectors within the
industry, including SWOT analyses
• Action plan for industry and Government to take
forward
The appendices provide supplementary data and
analysis on the following topics:
• Detailed examination of new markets and
technologies provided by convergence
• Economic assessment of the industry including
scenario building and forecasting
• E-commerce impact assessment for the industry
• Summary of existing Government support
available to the industry
• Review and summary evaluation of research
sources used in the study.
INTRODUCTION
1.2 Definition of competitiveness
In seeking to evaluate the competitive position of the
UK games industry we have made comparisons of
two sorts, the first with other major markets (chiefly
the US and Japan) and the second with other UK
domestic creative industries. Clearly, each type of
comparison has different uses and the report
attempts to be selective and deploy the most
appropriate comparison in each instance, rather than
drown the reader in multiple analyses and raw data.
The analysis of competitiveness contained within the
report is defined along three axes in line with the
DTI's approach to all studies of this type These are
as follows:
• Outputs - This covers key market performance
indicators such as turnover, volume and value of
production, value added, market share (domestic
and key overseas markets), export performance
and balance of trade and, as illustration, individual
product performance details
• Inputs - This covers the quantity and quality of
inputs to the UK games industry such as the size
of the domestic games market and industry and
employment statistics
• Efficiency - This examines measures of how
efficiently inputs are used, primarily by comparing
inputs against outputs for the leading national
games industries
In order to add some qualitative "colour" to these
comparisons, a further level of analysis is provided in
the form of a SWOT analysis of the overall industry
and subsidiary SWOT analyses for each of the major
sub-sectors.
Competitiveness analysis of the UK games software sector Main report 5