Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

VIDEO: Scottish Parliament told of Dundee’s leading role in video games success story

Versions of the worldwide smash Minecraft have been developed in Dundee by 4J Studios, continuing the city's proud history in video gaming.
Versions of the worldwide smash Minecraft have been developed in Dundee by 4J Studios, continuing the city's proud history in video gaming.

Dundee’s gaming sector has helped the UK creative industries economic input hit a record-breaking £8.8 million an hour.

The UK’s Creative Industries, which also includes the film, television and music industries, are now worth £76.9 billion per year to the UK economy.

One of Dundee’s leading game industry figures, chairman of 4J Studios Chris van der Kuyl, believes the city is a key reason why the creative industries are enjoying such success.

Chris, who helped develop versions of Minecraft, the fastest selling and most successful Xbox Live Game in history, said: “This is more recognition of the value that the creative industries bring to the economy.

“Sometimes I think we overlook the gaming industry. We’re bigger than movie industry now, bigger than TV and music as well.

“In Dundee we have both previously created and are currently making some of the world’s top selling games.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=pSQgqCx_rGE%3Frel%3D0

“As recently as last week, the top two games in the PlayStation charts in America were both developed in Scotland, one being Grand Theft Auto 5, the other being the Minecraft console edition.

“That goes to show the level of impact that Dundee and Scotland is having on the world.

“That would be the equivalent of two of the biggest Hollywood blockbusters being made in Scotland.”

In 2013 creative industries saw a growth of almost ten per cent, three times that of the wider UK economy.

The industry accounted for 1.7 million jobs in 2013, 5.6 per cent of UK jobs, with 2015 expected to be another bumper year for UK creative output.

Among the huge number of highly anticipated offerings are the latest Bond film, Spectre, the next instalment of Game Of Thrones, and the conclusion to the Arkham videogame trilogy Batman: Arkham Knight.

Yesterday Mr van der Kuyl gave evidence at an inquiry held by the Scottish Government into the economic impact of the entertainment industry in Scotland.

MSPs spoke to video games developers about the issues facing the sector and tried out some of the technology at the heart of the industry’s success.

Chris stated: “The Government are asking what more can they do to encourage the games industry in Scotland.

“This is a young industry that has really only been around as a professional industry since the 1990s.

“Its growth has been phenomenal up to now plus there is also the rise and rise of mobile phones and tablets, new generations of games consoles selling even more and Samsung announced this week that they were embedding Sony PlayStations inside their televisions.

“These businesses are completely based on talent and nothing but talent.

“Games are everywhere and the talent to develop them is here, in Dundee and in Scotland as a whole.”