Liverpool councillors have unveiled plans to turn the city into the UK’s leading centre for fostering game development talent.

At the heart of their proposal is the creation of a £5 million National Games Academy, according to the Liverpool Daily Post.

The proposed Games Academy would offer art, programming and technology training, testing facilities, work placement learning, intellectual property and business advice, and high-speed links to MediaCity in Salford.

Liverpool already plays host to the likes of Bizarre Creations and Sony Computer Entertainment Studio Liverpool, with 1,500 games industry workers employed across the city.

“The city region is the UK’s leading games developer catalyst and we need to capitalise on that,” said Liberal Democrat councillor Gary Millar. “The Games Academy has every chance of catching the imagination of the next generation of gamers and workers, and inspiring people to up-skill and get involved. It would also provide the employers with a hub for well- trained potential new employees with which they can grow their businesses.”

In its recently published Digital Britain report the government said it would examine the possibility of setting up a new Usability Centre for Video Games. The centre could offer usability testing, applied research and internship training in a single facility based in the MediaCity complex. The primary aim of the centre would be to address issues around skills shortages by offering graduates training to equip them for work in the games industry.

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