Small wonder that Canada, France and the US now offer
tax breaks for games production,  (Exer-tainment right) often at substantial levels, so the effect of that is driving investment away from Scotland and away from the UK to these other jurisdictions."

Dr Richard Wilson, (left) head of The Independent Games Developers Association (TIGA), said there had to be a strategy for growth. "The Scottish games industry, and the UK games industry in general, are not competing on a level playing field.

"Many of our competitors, like Canada, France and the US, offer tax breaks for games production, often at substantial levels, so the effect of that is that it is driving investment away from Scotland and away from the UK to these other jurisdictions."

Wilson called on Westminster to create the environment to compete in a market it is estimated could expand to be worth £80bn a year globally.

Right: Games graphic chip usage market.

He said the Canadian games industry had grown by 33% in the past two years, compared with a 10% contraction in the UK, and claimed talented Scottish staff were being "poached" by Canadian firms. ComputeScotland knows of at least two UK games design skills experts now moved or planning to move to Canada.

More than just tax needed
While Scotland's video games companies are reported to be hoping the influential report will back their calls for the industry to receive tax breaks, not all games companies see just tax breaks as the route to a successful games community.

Paul Durrant, (right) director of Business Development at Abertay University is on record  “We continue to strongly support the industry’s call for games tax relief, but recognise  important roles of other support mechanisms, including ways to incentivise private sector project finance.

"At Abertay we incubate start-up companies, link talented students with companies seeking new staff and new ideas, and are managing a £5m project to invest directly in new games prototypes."

Key importance for the games industry is to ensure a good input of young  potential games designers and software experts and that means improving maths and physics education at school level, as these ‘hard’ skills – a key component of Abertay’s degrees – are critical to the creative industries.

Hi-tech firms claim tax aid would safeguard thousands of jobs and generate hundreds of millions of pounds of investment as Scotland still has a significant video games sector, in a market said to be worth £55bn worldwide. It might also act as a carrot for our education system.

The Scottish Affairs Committee report on the industry is due out today. Video games development is worth about £30m to the Scottish economy.

Dundee plays a key part in the sector and is home to around 15 design companies. It has also been joined over the last few years to a quieter extent by Napier, Edinburgh and University of the West of Scotland, Paisley. But tough global competition saw industry cut almost a fifth of its jobs in Scotland last year.

Another Scottish disaspora in the making?