Downing Street has fired back at the fierce criticism from Microsoft of Britain's gaming industry after the US company's planned takeover of Call of Duty maker Activision was blocked on regulatory grounds.
Number 10 fought to defend the industry following comments from the Silicon Valley giant that the UK's regulatory stance was "bad for Britain", "the darkest day" in Microsoft’s history in the country, which should "shake the confidence among the business community [and] people’s confidence in technology in the United Kingdom", sparking spluttering columns in right-leaning newspapers about red tape "wrecking dreams of a British silicon valley".
Yesterday, PM Rishi Sunak, his wife and the secretary of state for culture, media and sport Lucy Frazer hosted 100 business leaders from the UK games industry at 10 Downing Street.
Today Sunak’s spokesman said Microsoft's claims "are not borne out by the facts".
"The UK’s games market is rapidly growing. It’s doubled in size over the past decade to its current value of £7bn in 2022," he said.
No10 noted that last year the UK became the third country in the world to have a tech sector valued above a trillion US dollars (£802bn).
"That’s behind only China and the United States in terms of investment, and the first in Europe by some distance," the spokesman said.
"We continue to believe, as I set out, that the UK has an extremely attractive tech sector and a growing games market."
He said the government will "continue to engage proactively with Microsoft and other companies; that won’t change."
The UK games sector has 2,000 businesses across the country, supporting 73,000 jobs across the supply chain, and directly contributing £5bn to the economy, the trade body for the UK games and interactive entertainment industry said.
UKIE said its games market valuation showed 16% of all games sold in the country were also made in the UK.
Sunak is a gamer himself with a fondness for Mario Kart and Street Fighter II.
In quotes supplied by the government, Sunak noted that the video games sector remains "globally renowned" and continues to attract investment.
He said the government is supporting video gaming through "generous audiovisual tax reliefs" and the UK Games Fund, which is designed to support early-stage businesses developing new intellectual property and employ graduates.
Listed UK video games companies include Frontier Developments PLC (AIM:FDEV) and Team17 Group PLC, while Keywords Studios PLC (AIM:KWS, OTC:KYYWF) supplies a wide array of services to games companies around the world.
The London Stock Market also hosts US games publishers such as Devolver Digital Inc (AIM:DEVO) and tinyBuild Inc (LSE:TBLD).