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APPG for Video Games and Esports holds first in-person AGM since first Covid-19 lockdowns

The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Video Games and Esports held its Annual General Meeting for 2022 last week, seeing the re-election of Alex Sobel MP and Ukie as the Chair and Secretariat of the group respectively.

The meeting also saw the re-election of the APPG’s current membership as well as the introduction of new member, Rachel Hopkins MP.

Following AGM proceedings, Ukie provided a “state of play” of the UK games industry, which provided an overview of the latest robust reports and statistics about the sector. These included:

·       Ukie’s most recent UK Consumer Valuation Report.

·       The British Film Institute’s Screen Business report.

·       Ofcom’s Online Nation report

Electronic Arts and Internet Matters joined as guest speakers to discuss their Play Smart/Play Together campaign, which drove significant behaviour change in encouraging parents to engage with their children’s playtime and set up parental controls upon the purchase of a console. The Online Safety Bill, currently progressing in parliament, regards media literacy as an important part in protecting users online; something which Ukie understands as imperative as well through our Get Smart About PLAY campaign.

Ukie looks forward to supporting the work of the APPG this year.

The minutes of the AGM are provided publicly below according to Parliamentary APPG AGM rules:


Minutes of the APPG for Video Games and Esports AGM 2021
14th June 2022

Attendees

Alex Sobel MP Jonathan Gullis MP Rachel Hopkins MP Lord Ed Vaizey of Didcot Daniel Zeichner MP Sir Peter Bottomley (Observer) Andy Tomlinson (Electronic Arts) Simone Verbert (Internet Matters) Jo Rossi (Internet Matters) Dominic Murphy (Ukie, Secretariat) Grace Shin (Ukie, Secretariat)

1. Welcome and Introduction from Chair

Alex Sobel MP welcomed the attendees.

2. Election of Chair and Parliamentary Officers


Alex Sobel MP stepped out of his role of chairing the meeting in order for the nomination and election for the Chair of the APPG for Video Games and Esports 2022-23 to take place. On receiving two nominations he was unanimously re-elected as Chair.

Alex Sobel MP then moved for a vote to re-elect the APPG membership as well as new member, Rachel Hopkins MP. This was unanimously approved.

The officers for the APPG for Video Games and Esports 2022-23 are as follows:
Alex Sobel MP (Chair)
Daniel Zeichner MP
Jonathan Gullis MP
Sharon Hodgson MP
Matt Western MP
Owen Thompson MP
Dehenna Davison MP
Fleur Anderson MP
Christian Wakeford MP
Lord Taylor of Warwick
Lord Clement-Jones
Rachel Hopkins MP
Lord Ed Vaizey

3. Confirmation of Secretariat


Alex Sobel MP moved to a vote of retaining UK Interactive Entertainment as the Secretariat for the APPG which was unanimously approved.

4. Approval of Accounts and Income & Expenditure


It was acknowledged that there were no finances, income or expenditure to approve.

5. UK games industry state of play


Dominic Murphy, Head of Policy and Public Affairs of Ukie, informed the group of the latest statistics on the UK games industry. This included Ukie’s most recent UK Consumer Market Valuation which measures the amount UK consumers spend on video games and games-related culture and was valued at a record £7.16bn over the course of 2021. In addition to this, he outlined the economic contribution video games businesses make to areas all across the uk.

Grace Shin, Policy and Public Affairs Manager at Ukie, then introduced the beta version of an updated UK Games Map. The interactive website, which will launch later this year, allows users to examine which games companies operate throughout the UK. Users can also see which education providers provide games-related courses. The map can be filtered by parliamentary constituencies as well, which means APPG members were able to see exactly which games companies were operating in their local areas.

6. Play Smart/Play Together.


Electronic Arts and Internet Matters provided an overview of their Play Smart/Play Together campaign and the impact it had on behvaiour change amongst parents.

The campaign goal was to encourage parents to get familiar with the simple steps they could take to support their children in playing games safely. The campaign results included:

·       55% of parents who saw the Winter campaign acted by switching on parental controls 

·       81% of parents reached are now more likely to talk to their children about being safe online when using their games console

·       75% of parents reached are more likely to set up parental controls on their child’s games console before giving the console to them in future

7. A.O.B

There was no further business.