IndustryGamers - Informing the Games Industry

ELSPA Becomes UKIE

Posted September 8, 2010 by M.H. Williams

The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) has announced today that it has transitioned to a new moniker, United Kindgom Interactive Entertainment (UKIE). The trade organization has also expanded its focus away from just game publishers; UKIE now also represents developers and academics with a focus on gaming. UKIE Director General Michael Rawlinson says the change is needed due to shifts in the video game industry itself.

"Fundamentally, the world of gaming has gone from boxed product on console and PC to any time, any place, anywhere. It's social, it's casual, it's mobile - and it's been demanded of us as an organisation to represent this industry,” Rawlinson told GamesIndustry.biz. "The old ELSPA was stuck in the past - publisher-focused rather than industry-focused - so there was a need to move on."

"[The industry] is a rich tapestry, and there is a challenge there to be able to offer something to the multi-national, huge corporations, all the way down to the micro, one- or two-man studio based out of a bedroom," he explained, pointing out the growing number of independent developers. "However, I think we can do that - we can provide a voice for those people, we can provide support at the different layers. And hopefully we can bring the disparate parts together into different policy areas and activity areas, and provide a grid of offerings that meet everybody's needs."

The question is can UKIE and TIGA coexist in the same arena?

“We have member companies that represent development, and we see them having their own identity with UKIE as we go forward. We will continue to work with TIGA wherever appropriate and wherever we can - and would welcome the involvement of TIGA and its members in the work of UKIE,” said Rawlinson. "Let's see how that pans out going forward - I don't know - but we want to be open to dialogue and relationship with that organization."

M.H. Williams has been writing in some form or another for ten years and has been a hardcore gamer since the NES first graced American shores.  You can catch him on Twitter as @AutomaticZen, Google+ as himself, or on his personal Facebook page.