How will the UK's Brexit Referendum affect video game developers?

[WYP]

How will the UK's Brexit Referendum affect the countries video game developers?



You can read more on the opinions of game developers about EU membership here.

 

[notcool]

A few points, in the 1990s our games development industry was almost as big as Japan and we had much less immigration than compared with today. Most of the people coming from the EU have little or no skills working in mainly unskilled jobs with poor english.

Also "a mountain of paperwork to get new skilled individuals" erm no, all you do is ask them do they have an interview at said games studio and which, do they have qualification certificates with them, do they have a criminal record, have they money to support them, etc. This is exactly what Australia does, check out Nothing to Declare on Challenge TV if you want to see it action.

All this referendum is is, do we want to be an independent nation making our own laws or be governed from somewhere else. I sure as hell know which way I'll be voting.

 

[Tolemac]

All this referendum is is, do we want to be an independent nation making our own laws or be governed from somewhere else. I sure as hell know which way I'll be voting.

I know which way i'll be voting too. I used to work for HMRC Investigation Division in the early 1990's, I was told back then about how difficult it is going to be to control our borders when they opened them to the EU.

 

[barnsley]

A few points, in the 1990s our games development industry was almost as big as Japan and we had much less immigration than compared with today.

The Videogaming industry was also much smaller than it is now. Not sure what you're trying to prove?


It also doesn't help that successive Governments have neglected education around computing. Its amazing how people blame the EU for everything that has gone wrong with this country when a large amount of our 'problems' are easily traceable to decades of crap policy by the tories and labour.

Yes the EU is crap but alot of things wrong with the UK is not really the EU's fault. We've got a much bigger problem closer to home then a bunch of elected representatives who barely show up to vote (seriously, look at the attendance record for our eu reps, nice job on not showing too, Nigel).

Before anyone says anything, no I'm not a remainian. I despise the remain camp as much as the leave camp. I've had fun debating every idiot whos tried to convince me to vote their side so far.

Its scaremongering at its finest and I hate that the UK has sunk to USA style political crap. Saying that, its also proven that as a country we're still very classist (good job Bob and your boat of guffawing champagne socialist pricks laughing at some fishermen) so nice to know the UK hasn't moved on from the 80s.

The vote should have been cast with the ruling that no political party could endorse a side. That would have made things much more clear.

Vote remain* so we can pool all the money together, build a big rocket, and push the earth into the sun using said rocket so we can end it all.

that all said, its producing some pretty sick memes

*lol jk vote whoever you want, I'm still undecided and I'm sure I'll regret whoever I end up voting for

 

[SeekaX]

A few points, in the 1990s our games development industry was almost as big as Japan and we had much less immigration than compared with today. Most of the people coming from the EU have little or no skills working in mainly unskilled jobs with poor english.

Also "a mountain of paperwork to get new skilled individuals" erm no, all you do is ask them do they have an interview at said games studio and which, do they have qualification certificates with them, do they have a criminal record, have they money to support them, etc. This is exactly what Australia does, check out Nothing to Declare on Challenge TV if you want to see it action.

All this referendum is is, do we want to be an independent nation making our own laws or be governed from somewhere else. I sure as hell know which way I'll be voting.

In 1990 the games industry was nowhere near as big as it is today, no point in comparing.
I wonder what you think the rest of the EU is like, i know of quite a few countries which are more developed in terms of education (or in general really) than the UK. It's also not like the UK doesn't have its fair share of home-grown uneducated, unskilled and most likely unemployed people, every country has those.
Being part of an international community means following the rules of an international community, those rules aren't made up by some foreign brit hating entity but from the community as a whole. It's like complaining that your city can't have its own laws and is instead governed by people from the other side of the country, you need to get away from that 'everybody who isn't from the UK is a potential enemy' mentality. A citizen of the EU (or any civilized country really) is just as likely having your best interest at heart as one of your countrymen.
This doesn't mean that the EU is without flaws, of course it has flaws, it's a huge project. But maybe instead of quitting you could try and improve on it like the rest of us.

Notice how this disgusting foreigner is capable of using the english language, quite a lot better than a few of your chavs even.

 

[shambles1980]

i expected to open this article and read..

"It wont affect it at all"

And nothing else.. To be greeted with this veritable wall of text was some what surprising.

 

[NeverBackDown]

Its scaremongering at its finest and I hate that the UK has sunk to USA style political crap. Saying that, its also proven that as a country we're still very classist (good job Bob and your boat of guffawing champagne socialist pricks laughing at some fishermen) so nice to know the UK hasn't moved on from the 80s.

Was waiting for some USA references Lol
But harsh words... and it's true. You think the people here like our government? Nope. No one does. But i feel that goes towards every government right now. There's no perfect system, never will be.

What I don't get is, if they are not enough Developers with special talent in certain areas, why is it so hard to acquire that talent from abroad? Why does the UK need to be absorbed into the EU to do so? Surely people have the right to move? That's typically what happens when jobs are hard to come by in your area and forces you to move.

*Not trying to start political stuff, genuinely just curious*

 

[barnsley]

Was waiting for some USA references Lol
But harsh words... and it's true. You think the people here like our government? Nope. No one does. But i feel that goes towards every government right now. There's no perfect system, never will be.

What I don't get is, if they are not enough Developers with special talent in certain areas, why is it so hard to acquire that talent from abroad? Why does the UK need to be absorbed into the EU to do so? Surely people have the right to move? That's typically what happens when jobs are hard to come by in your area and forces you to move.

*Not trying to start political stuff, genuinely just curious*

If you need to quickly hire some talented people from outside the EU its a bit of a lengthy process currently. The main argument is that the lengthy process will mean they can't hire 'burst' talent (i.e. quickly hire some devs on a short term contract) as you have to wait for the various forms to be completed and delivered. Personally I don't get why they couldn't just use the internet but I don't work in that area .

The UK is severely lacking in talent thanks to a long term policy of neglecting computer based subjects. We're going to have to rely on talented migrants a whole lot more in the future.

 

[Tolemac]

The main thing for me is controlling immigration more which I think we should. I had my door smashed in by Essex Police last January at 5am and they were after the guy next door who was up to no good and illegally in the country. now don't get me wrong I have African and French cousins but I would like us to be more in control of our borders so the people that were "born and bred" here can at least feel safe for their families.

 

[WYP]

If you need to quickly hire some talented people from outside the EU its a bit of a lengthy process currently. The main argument is that the lengthy process will mean they can't hire 'burst' talent (i.e. quickly hire some devs on a short term contract) as you have to wait for the various forms to be completed and delivered. Personally I don't get why they couldn't just use the internet but I don't work in that area .

The UK is severely lacking in talent thanks to a long term policy of neglecting computer based subjects. We're going to have to rely on talented migrants a whole lot more in the future.

You are right about the lack of computer studies. I never learned any code until Uni. Everything I know about PCs is self-taught.

I'm only 23, so not that old, but younger people now still don't know much about computers.

 

[Dicehunter]

Exiting the EU will not stop people from outside the EU coming in.

We have hundreds of thousands of immigrants coming in every year who can just about speak the language coming in from Africa, Pakistan and India who then take up benefits because they can't get jobs, There's lots of them in houses paid for by the tax payer where I live that do nothing but mooch off the tax payer and it's perverse.

The UK should shutdown it's borders to anyone not natively from Europe.

 

[barnsley]

The main thing for me is controlling immigration more which I think we should. I had my door smashed in by Essex Police last January at 5am and they were after the guy next door who was up to no good and illegally in the country. now don't get me wrong I have African and French cousins but I would like us to be more in control of our borders so that the people that were "born and bred" here can at least feel safe for their families.

If we had a better border force that hadn't been weakened by cuts they probably would have caught them .

Leaving the eu won't fix people sneaking in. What if I told you we can already change the 55% of people coming into this country, even though we are in the EU? That we've had the opportunity for ages but certain governments use the EU as an excuse?

 

[NeverBackDown]

If you need to quickly hire some talented people from outside the EU its a bit of a lengthy process currently. The main argument is that the lengthy process will mean they can't hire 'burst' talent (i.e. quickly hire some devs on a short term contract) as you have to wait for the various forms to be completed and delivered. Personally I don't get why they couldn't just use the internet but I don't work in that area .

The UK is severely lacking in talent thanks to a long term policy of neglecting computer based subjects. We're going to have to rely on talented migrants a whole lot more in the future.

Seems like a better quicker alternative. I don't know why many things are still paper based. They say it's more secure than the internet... But it's just as easy to track, if not easier.

US has also had a pretty bad neglect on Computer based subjects. While there's probably more talent here than the UK(because of far greater population count) we are still lacking quite a bit. As is evident by the technology growth rate in the country against the rate of eligible talent. As far as studies show, we have the people count but in the US the technology sector is growing sooo fast and is constantly rasing higher that after a year or two we will end up basically being in the same situation the UK is.

Oh and Dice.. You think your border control is bad? Live in the US. It's far worse. Especially along the Southern Border. Where I live. Outside my city, it becomes a jungle basically and as a native to this country, I'm the outsider. It's very bad here too.

 

[Tolemac]

You are right about the lack of computer studies. I never learned any code until Uni. Everything I know about PCs is self-taught.

I'm only 23, so not that old, but younger people now still don't know much about computers.

Funny you should say that I have just received my 12 year old daughter's summer school
report and I quote.

Computing:

"She is beginning to understand simple algorithms and has created an excellent game using 'Scratch' software , including features such as extra lives and scores. She is able to use computational thinking to identify areas of progression and improvement when working."

 

[NeverBackDown]

Funny you should say that I have just received my 12 year old daughter's summer school
report and I quote.

Computing:

"She is beginning to understand simple algorithms and has created an excellent game using 'Scratch' software , including features such as extra lives and scores. She is able to use computational thinking to identify areas of progression and improvement when working."

One out of the multi-millions isn't representative of the country as a whole though(not taking anything away from your daughter though)

 

[Tolemac]

One out of the multi-millions isn't representative of the country as a whole though(not taking anything away from your daughter though)

I don't think she is one out of the multi millions fella I am just stating that they do teach computing in Schools these days

When I went to school "I left in 1984" all we had was one Sinclair ZX80 and this big Canon PC to learn BASIC and that was it for 600 pupils

 

[WYP]

Funny you should say that I have just received my 12 year old daughter's summer school
report and I quote.

Computing:

"She is beginning to understand simple algorithms and has created an excellent game using 'Scratch' software , including features such as extra lives and scores. She is able to use computational thinking to identify areas of progression and improvement when working."

Well that is great to hear, but by younger people I kinda meant those in 6th form now or heading to Uni. I'm glad to hear that some progress has been made. All I knew going into high school was how to use a floppy disk and MS word.

Hopefully, this will mean that we have some good tech minds in the future, as we will certainly need them.

 

[Greenback]

Vote remain* so we can pool all the money together, build a big rocket, and push the earth into the sun using said rocket so we can end it all.

Barnsley for prime minister


The referendum is only a sham, all our votes were cast and counted months ago

 

[RobM]

im voting out regardless of the crap being sputed by either side

 

[SPS]

Funny you should say that I have just received my 12 year old daughter's summer school
report and I quote.

Computing:

"She is beginning to understand simple algorithms and has created an excellent game using 'Scratch' software , including features such as extra lives and scores. She is able to use computational thinking to identify areas of progression and improvement when working."

Yes that's right, computing has become part of the national curriculum. Children as young 7 are now required to understand the fundamentals of computer networks and algorithms.