Dundee is the perfect host city for the inaugural Scottish Games Week, which takes place from Monday.
That is the view of Brian Baglow, the man behind the week-long events, which culminate with a conference and awards ceremony in Dundee.
He is looking forward to the first event of its kind.
“It is weird that we’ve never had a large games-focused event in Scotland before.
“The closest we came was the Edinburgh Games Festival, but that was just an industry conference.
“It’s been a challenge going from a standing start, but I’m delighted at the progress.
“The support from the industry has been phenomenal.”
Mr Baglow said an event like Scottish Games Week hadn’t happened before for a number of reasons.
“The games industry is quite insular,” he said.
“We have a lot of events on around the world, and you could go to them and hear about the studio round the corner.
“We have an amazing legacy and heritage in Scotland but nobody is coming here to talk about games.
“I thought that has to change.”
Dundee Scotland’s spiritual gaming home
Thousands of people are expected to attend the events, which kick off in Glasgow on Monday.
The first event, More than Games, is an event designed for a non-games audience, exploring the transformative potential of gaming to other digital sectors.
It is followed by an event in Edinburgh which will bring together people from education to show them the benefits of the gaming industry to education.
The industry conference and Scottish Games Awards will then be held on October 27 at the Malmaison Hotel in Dundee.
Mr Baglow added Dundee was an obvious choice to host the flagship events given its long-standing links to the industry.
“Dundee is the spiritual home of games in Scotland. It couldn’t have happened anywhere else.”
‘Hugely exciting’ time for gaming industry
Johnston Carmichael is among the sponsors of the week-long programme.
Tax director Andrew McMillan, who leads the video games sector team, said the event represents a huge opportunity.
“It is a hugely exciting time for the Scottish gaming industry,” he said.
“Scotland has an unprecedented opportunity to compete in the global market of video games and esports, with revenue totalling £215 billion in 2021, five times the pre-pandemic global cinema revenue and projected to continue growing in the year ahead.”
Mr McMillan said the sector is punching “above its weight”, with the games development sector worth over £300m in Scotland. It also supports more than 6,400 jobs.
He added: “As the gaming sector evolves, we’re seeing traditional game development continue to thrive alongside the gamification of other industries.
“Johnston Carmichael is thrilled to be sponsoring this event.
“We look forward to contributing to the discussion around how we can continue to evolve the games ecosystem in Scotland.”
Conversation