George Osborn – don’t worry, not George Osborne – has written a fascinating analysis for politics.co.uk on Brexit and the British video game industry. Osborn, a co-founder of Games4EU, certainly had plenty to say about the potential catastrophic effect that Brexit could have on our favourite hobby/past-time/life choice.
”Ending free movement will make it harder for British businesses to recruit EU talent.” Osborn wrote, ”It’ll impose additional administrative and financial costs for British businesses looking to attend major European trade shows like Gamescom – reducing their access to international publishers and investors and damaging their businesses as a result.”
This is already having implications for developers, Obsorn again, ”Companies like Sports Interactive have reported that EU nationals are either turning roles down in Britain or relocating to avoid getting caught up in a Brexit backlash”.
Then there are issues for consumers, ”The core economic effects of a chaotic Brexit are also troubling industry insiders. They’re worried about increased hardware costs because of a rise in tariffs or non-tariff barriers, or that there may be weaker domestic demand because of an economic squeeze”.
It’s difficult to predict what will happen to the price of hardware, it will almost certainly rise if we crash out with no deal, but could come down if the UK government does manage to make some trade deals. However, the EU signed a deal with Japan just two months ago that would remove almost all tariffs, so if we had stayed in Europe then it’s almost certain your shiny new PlayStation 5 would be cheaper.
Osborn warns of further troubles from Brexiteers having to resort to a ‘no deal’ option;
”Companies will scramble to separate EU players from UK players in multiplayer lobbies to prevent GDPR breaches. Stores like Steam will be unsure about VAT collection processes. Companies won’t know if commercial deals that cover the EU stand. There is a real risk of the British video game economy being brought to a standstill by a no-deal Brexit.”
He does make some very good points, publishing deals for games will have been granted for EU territories so when the UK leaves they will no longer be legally binding, games that are available in France may suddenly be off the shelves in the UK. The GDPR issue is also a good call, unless the UK copies the GDPR ruling and has it in place before we leave then UK players may be forced in to their own online lobbies, or possibly cut out of online play completely.
”While leading Leavers hark on back to the glory days of the empire and attempt to prop up dying industries like fishing under the ripped tarpaulin of ‘global Britain’, sectors comfortably operating on the global stage are threatened by their actions, “Osborn surmises. “It’s time to change that. The British video games industry and its highly skilled international workforce is a magnificent example of how modern businesses flourish in a tolerant, liberal and open environment. Let’s tell its stories before the dead hand of Brexit claims another victim”.
Source: politics.co.uk
tonyyeb
GDPR is already written into UK law so there is no issue there that doesn’t already exist.
VAT is already handled differently depending on which European nation it is in question. That will be the same post Brexit.
There is no doubt that leaving the EU is going to be bad for the UK but the biggest issue to the UK games industry is any restrictions on the movement of people, not GDPR or taxation.
Tuffcub
If the EU changes the law then we’re fucked. Might not be on day one, but a year later and we’re screwed unless we exactly mirror the EU laws. And that’s what Brexit is for isnt it? Not mirroring EU laws.
So not a problem perhaps on day one, later we’re fucked.
tonyyeb
Which law, GDPR? Data protection laws are not going fuck anyone. Look at the cross Atlantic stuff that goes on now, even since GDPR came into force. Has anything changed in terms of on-line play between the UK and US, or the EU and the US? I certainly haven’t read anything or seen anything.
As I’ve said the biggest threat is any restrictions on the movement of people. Data protection can be dealt with, taxation too. But if the talent isn’t home grown then those companies will either cease or move elsewhere.
bunimomike
Utter nonsense, sorry, fella. The government has already announced that it’ll keep GDPR in line with the EU for the express reason of information trading, etc. Sure, it’ll be tweaked a bit to show how it’s now a UK version of it but the government has details about how it’ll align with the EU so it can trade as a 3rd party with the rest of the EU.
If the EU changes things then we’ll fall in light with that so we can continue trading.
bunimomike
*line (apologies)
MrYd
Actually, it could well be day one we’re in trouble with the GDPR situation. Unless something’s agreed before then, the EU will have to decide if the UK data protection laws are strong enough.
Obviously they should be, since we’ve just translated the GDPR into our own laws already. But there could still be a period where it’s a mess, until such time as an “adequacy decision” has been made. Which should be trivial, but could take a while.
tonyyeb
@MrYD Did you notice any interruption in service between the US and UK/Europe on 25th May 2018? No, you didn’t. Data protection should be the last thing to affect most things after Brexit. There are much bigger things that are going to screw us over before that!
MrYd
Well, several websites based in the US decided to just block the whole of the EU rather than comply with the GDPR.
But there’s a special agreement covering exchanging data between the US and EU. Which won’t apply to us if we leave the EU.
Just saying “GDPR has been written into UK law, it’ll all work out magically somehow” is, well, not really a surprising argument from anyone who thinks “let’s leave the EU, it’ll be great and not a disaster, because reasons”.
In practice, I suspect not much will happen straight away until someone does something about it. And then at best we’ll just end up with less protection (think about who benefits from that), and at worst you might suddenly not be able to use things based in the EU.
bunimomike
VAT? Eh? Already sorted out. Wow… who is this guy? Also, Tony’s already mentioned GDPR which has been pretty much set in stone.
However, if we needed any evidence of bias, this is it.
“Let’s tell its stories before the dead hand of Brexit claims another victim”
My god! :-\
double-o-dave
Agreed.
JR.
What a load of scaremongering baloney. Sooner we’re out the better – if only so we can be spared from reading/listening ridiculous doomsday reports such as this.
Maybe if these knowitall’s accepted the will of the people and worked towards making Brexit a success; instead of focusing their efforts on actively sabotaging it, we wouldn’t have all of this uncertainty.
We see the same thing happening in America… ‘Oh the economy will tank if Trump is elected’. Trump is elected… economy the best it has ever been… Obama: ‘well actually that’s because of me.’ Yeah OK Obama, you didn’t do anything during the eight years you were in office but of course, now that you’re out and the economy is thriving, it’s all down to you. Let me tell you, the only thing Obama was interested in during his time in office was Obama (the brand). He’s still milking it now.
The sad thing is, most ordinary people simply lack the ability (perhaps even the will) to think for themselves. To open their eyes to what is clearly an attempt to manipulate the masses through misinformation, in order to fulfill this warped liberal agenda. They read biased articles like this one and think, well, if the co-founder of Gamers4EU (seriously…) is anti-Brexit then as a gamer (or more specifically, someone employed in the British Gaming Industry), I too must feel the same way. I must oppose and resist Brexit! Otherwise, I risk being branded an ‘intolerant, racist, nazi’ and cast out from the wider, more ‘tolerant’ gaming community.
How awful it must be for conservative / right-leaning individuals who are employed within these (actually) intolerant, liberal dominated industries. How openly offensive and condescending they are to non-remainers and non-liberals and basically anyone with views that oppose their own. Tell me again who the real fascists are.
MrYd
“Tell me again who the real fascists are”
The usual argument of the right these days. Basically a sort of “I know you are, but what am I?” argument most people grew out of at about age 5.
Bonus points for “will of the people” (all 37% and falling) and trying to blame people you don’t agree with for your mess. Presumably when it all goes horribly wrong, it’s entirely down to the remain side for not getting behind some magical plan nobody has worked out that’ll make it all work?
bunimomike
I barely see any sort of fringe elements trying to clamp down on free speech on the right. However, on the left… that’ a different story.
Thankfully, most moderate people (which make up the majority of the population) see through this sort of nonsense straight away but it doesn’t mean it’s not happening.
MrYd
Both the left and right can be quite keen on censorship.
The right tend to go after harmless things they just don’t like, while dragging out the free speech argument for anything they do like.
The left mostly stick to objecting to harmful things. Inciting violence and the like.
Then you get a few idiots on the extremes of either side too, obviously. But we can ignore them.
JR.
Look how fragile the stock market is. And how easily it can be manipulated to control the narrative. Brexit isn’t responsible for fluctuating stock markets or the current value of the pound – pitiful scaremongers like Mark Carney are. They deliberately manipulate the stock market the same way they manipulate the masses, with fear and manufactured ‘facts’. Then they use the inevitable ‘dips’ to give weight to their argument (look, Brexit IS bad for the economy) and conveniently fail to report the ‘gains’ unless they can somehow credit themselves. Negative coverage has a huge impact and they know it. These people are the real deplorables.
I think you underestimate the power of positive thinking and encouragement MrYd. Imagine for a moment you are five years old and your parents are really, really mean and keep telling you what a failure you are and how you’ll never amount to anything. Now take that same scenario and replace the mean, spiteful parents with decent parents who shower you with love and positive encouragement. In which scenario do you think you stand to have a greater chance of becoming a healthy and well-rounded adult? I’m guessing it isn’t the insanely negative one.
Nobody likes a sore loser but we live in a time where it’s socially acceptable for losers to protest, violently in many cases, when a democratic vote doesn’t go their way. We’ve seen it in the UK, we’ve seen it in the US and we can see it happening all over Europe. And why are liberals so wound up? Mainstream media mostly – and powerful figureheads with vested interests in a world without Brexit.
The kind of behaviour we have witnessed from bitter Remainers sets a dangerous precedent for all future elections/referendums etc. If the vote doesn’t go your way, RIOT! and incite violence against those who oppose you. Whatever happened to humble acceptance and common decency?
As for the numbers, by your reasoning we would never be able to vote on anything ever again. A larger number of people, of the people who voted, voted to leave. It doesn’t matter how many people didn’t vote or refused to vote or forgot to vote because they were too busy knitting face masks for ANTIFA thugs. The rules were established before the vote took place. Or are you telling me that if Remain had won by a similar margin you would still feel the same way? I seriously doubt it somehow.
Everyone was aware of when and why the vote was taking place and what the outcome of the vote would mean. If you didn’t vote, well that’s your choice. But it was a choice nonetheless. If you voted to leave and have since changed your mind. That’s unfortunate but hardly surprising, given the unrelenting smear-campaign we have endured on behalf of disgruntled Remainers and their quest to sabotage any hope of a successful Brexit outcome. But sadly, the world doesn’t wait for you to make up your mind. You had months to make a decision and the time for debate has passed. The vote was cast, the results are in and we should now all come together to ensure the best possible outcome in a post-Brexit world.
It will never happen of course. I fear many Remainers would sooner see the country in ruin than see Britain flourish post-Brexit. I imagine they cling to some slither of hope that Brexit can still be prevented. Just as the anti-Trump brigade cling to dreams of impeachment; refusing to move on or move forward. Why not use this time and energy in a positive way? Love not hate. Remember?
Besides, I have yet to see an intelligent argument from the opposition, beyond the usual made up statistics from clearly biased sources. They did give us vagina hats though, that was fun. No. Instead, what we have is a barrage of scaremongering tactics, accusations of (insert)ism and extremely condescending remarks. Because of course, there’s no such thing as an intelligent Brexit supporter. Bunch of old, racist, little Englanders. Right? Intelligence is only bestowed upon those who embrace uber-tolerant liberal ideals. Right! It’s all just so tiresome.
Thankfully, it seems people are finally waking up and seeing how frightening a future controlled by liberal ideologies would be. Good.
ron_mcphatty
Two points, we don’t have free speech in the UK, we have ‘freedom of expression’ which seems to allow the authorities to decide (I think rightly) that someone has gone too far and they should shut up. Secondly, some really intelligent debate going on here that’s made for more interesting reading and subsequent googling than the article, sorry TC!
MrYd
What I really love about the Brexiters is this whole “we had a vote, accept it and move on” nonsense.
Was there not a vote 40+ years ago? Did some people not moan about it for years until 2016? The difference being it didn’t matter when we had the referendum. There was no deadline because if nothing happened, nothing changed.
Now we’ve got a deadline of a few months before something a lot of people feel is a bad idea happens. And we’re supposed to just shut up and accept it? No chance.
And your argument about positive thinking and kids is fine, but not quite the case here. It’s more like shutting a child in a room with some matches, a bucket of petrol, some old oily rags and newspapers and a box of fireworks. And then just saying “think happy thoughts, and it’ll all be fine”. While anyone sensible would be saying “FFS! Give him some Lego or something instead!” No amount of positive thinking is really going to end well in that situation, and it’s not with Brexit either.
But are you saying if the result had been the other way around the Brexit people would have shut up and accepted it? Because that really wouldn’t have happened.
And shouldn’t it be those in favour of leaving that give the sensible arguments? Some of us were quite happy with how things were and couldn’t see any reason to leave. Some fell for all the nonsense about europe that’s been repeated constantly for decades and came up with all sorts of reasons to leave, none of which ever seem to be based on reality.
I certainly wouldn’t call the result democratic either. General elections might be a bit more democratic, but nowhere near ideal either. Or the US election, which was even worse.
And you talk about people waking up to the “frightening” liberal future? It’s just a loud minority getting scared when they suddenly realise they might not get away with all sorts of crap anymore. Sadly in the US they’re the sorts of people who are likely to be armed. Here, the correct response is an angry letter to the local newspaper.
I could go all night on this, but there’s some baking I forgot to watch on TV earlier.
Tarbun84
“The sad thing is, most ordinary people simply lack the ability (perhaps even the will) to think for themselves. To open their eyes to what is clearly an attempt to manipulate the masses through misinformation…”
Really? Manipulation through misinformation is why we are in this mess in the first place. The illegal Leave campaign, the stupid bus.
I personally think this site should just be about games. This article is loosely about games but mainly a political opinion piece. Can we keep this site to being about games?
SolidShiekh
When posters like this claim to be thinking for themselves what they actually mean is that they’ll stubbornly believe what they want to believe no matter what evidence to the contrary is presented to them.
I agree though that this site should stick to games, please no more politics sixthaxis it brings out the worst in everybody.
bunimomike
Be fair about it, Tarbun. The scaremongering and bullshit was being shovelled in ludicrous fashion with both sides. Just do a little research and you’ll see how pathetic it was from the Leave and Remain camp.
Stefan L
If it’s relevant to games, we’ll keep on reporting about it, and I’m sorry to say but Brexit is going to affect games as much as it will affect other walks of life and forms of entertainment.
Ade’s only recently picked up the news reporting mantle, so he’s still figuring out how best to frame things – some of the points that Osborne raises aren’t particularly great – but this is a relevant story to video games.
bunimomike
Agreed, Tef. It affects all of us in some way. Good to know about it although the source article is heavily biased.
Then again, it gets us talking and hopefully clears up a few things. :-)
JR.
I agree Tarbun. I’d happily abolish this political nonsense from all forums and forms of entertainment. Sadly, it appears to be an unfortunate side effect of extreme liberalism, to infuse political jibes and condescending remarks at every available opportunity. You see, it’s perfectly acceptable for liberals to do this. However tiresome it may be.
Ever wonder why are there so few celebrity or public figureheads who openly support Brexit or Trump? It might have something to do with the fact that they face being blacklisted, publicly ridiculed or having their careers and personal lives ruined in an attempt to discredit their character and opinion.
This is 100% a liberal problem.
marvzilla
Can you say why you think it will be a good thing? In between the large rants about why you don’t like liberals and remainers the only thing I see is you say people need to be positive but then provide no reasons as to why.
double-o-dave
… And agreed.
double-o-dave
Agreeing with JR (above). Not the scaremongering drivel.