For Scottish games businesses with ambitions to break into one of the world's largest consumer markets, a new seminar offers a rare opportunity to get practical, expert advice on navigating the complexities of doing business in and across the United States. The Doing Business In the USA seminar, organised by the Scottish North American Business Council (SNABC), is designed to provide companies with a roadmap for success across the Atlantic.

Let’s be honest. For many of us in the videogames 'industry' - the developers, the studios, the publishers - esports can often feel like a different world. It’s a scene we associate with elite professional players, massive prize pools, and competitive, multiplayer-only titles. Unless you’re making the next Valorant or League of Legends, it’s easy to dismiss it as a niche, albeit a large one, that has little relevance to your own work.

Glasgow has today launched a major new initiative to formally position itself as the UK's capital for 3D content creation, backed by a powerful new partnership between the city's world-leading academic institutions and its most innovative creative studios. The groundbreaking collaboration brings together the University of Glasgow, the Glasgow School of Art, and the City of Glasgow College, along with a host of industry partners (including…

The Scottish Game Developers Association (SGDA) has opened applications for a major new initiative aimed at fostering the next generation of games industry leaders: the SGDA Games Accelerator. Funded by the Scottish Government’s Ecosystem Fund, the accelerator is Scotland’s first dedicated business development programme for the games sector. It offers a free, intensive series of workshops designed to provide early-stage and aspiring games leaders with the practical skills and expert mentorship needed to build a successful studio.

An Open Letter To Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes MSP and Business Minister Richard Lochhead MSP The Scottish Games Network is celebrating the success and ambition of last week's National Innovation Summit. The event you created - bringing together innovators, pioneers, business leaders, academia, and government - is hugely beneficial for Scotland's future. We were inspired by the Deputy First Minister’s clear and urgent call for "greater collaboration to support innovation at scale" and her vision for empowering people with the tools and freedom they need to succeed.

Scottish Esports, the national body for casual and competitive video gaming in Scotland, has today launched its free National Membership Platform, providing gamers, educators, and families with a dedicated online home. The platform is designed to bring players of all ages and levels together, creating a safe, welcoming space for the country’s growing gaming scene. Membership is open to everyone, whether you’re a parent looking for safe opportunities for your kids, a teacher wanting to guide pupils into positive digital pathways, or a gamer wanting to stay in the loop with local scenes and be part of something bigger.

An ambitious and unique interactive performance that blurs the lines between theatre, installation, and video games is coming to Glasgow this October. asses.masses, a seven-hour “durational video game performance,” will take over the Tramway on Saturday, October 26th. Created by Canadian interdisciplinary artists Patrick Blenkarn and Milton Lim, the event invites the audience to become the players in a live, collaborative video game.

Last week, the global games industry turned its attention to Scotland. Thanks to the hard work of the Academy of Interactive Sciences (DICE Europe), the Scottish Games Association (SGDA), the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise and countless others, there was an undeniable and welcome surge of energy, ambition, and recognition - both in the room and across the media.

Everyone knows Dundee is the beating heart of Scotland's games ecosystem, but how many studios are based in the city? Researchers from Abertay University are calling upon the collective knowledge of the Dundee games community to help verify a comprehensive map of the city's renowned games cluster. The request comes as part of GAME-ER, a major European research project dedicated to understanding the dynamics of local and regional video game ecosystems.

The next meeting of the Cross-Party Group on Scotland's Ecosystem (aka the Games CPG) on Scotland’s Games Ecosystem, which was scheduled to take place at the Scottish Parliament on September 23rd, has been cancelled due to a late sitting in the parliamentary chamber. The legislative business means that MSPs are now required to be in the chamber until late in the evening, making the scheduled meeting impossible.

Asmodee, a global leader in tabletop gaming, has launched a new children's brand backed by scientific research proving that playing board games leads to significant cognitive and social benefits for young people. The findings provide a powerful, evidence-based validation for the work being done in Scotland to champion the wider value of play in education and development. The announcement of the new…

Community hub Game Space has announced its next event for developers, creators, and founders: Power Up Your IP! The event, which will provide expert advice on protecting and leveraging Intellectual Property, is set to take place in Dundee on Monday, 22nd September 2025. Hosted at Abertay University's CyberQuarter, this evening is designed to provide clear, actionable advice on what is often a studio's most valuable asset.

Scotland’s popular games industry talks night, Hubworld's XP Exchange, is set to return to Dundee on Thursday, 26th September 2025, with a diverse lineup of speakers covering art, programming, finance, and authentic cultural representation in games. Taking place at Abertay University, the evening promises invaluable insights for developers, students, and professionals from across the ecosystem. The event offers a fantastic opportunity for knowledge sharing and networking on a wide range of practical topics.

Games CPG: The next meeting of the cross-party group (CPG) on Scotland's Games Ecosystem will take place at the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday, 23rd September 2025, from 18:00 to 20:00. Following a highly productive and well-attended session in April, this meeting offers another crucial opportunity for professionals from across the entire games ecosystem to engage directly with Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) and help shape the future of the sector.

The Scottish Government has announced increased support for Scottish EDGE, the country’s leading business funding competition, in a move that presents a significant opportunity for Scotland’s next generation of game developers and studios. The new £3.6 million of support will see additional funding injected into the prestigious competition over the next three years, offering prizes of up to £100,000 to innovative, early-stage businesses with high-growth potential.

Edinburgh’s iconic Murrayfield Stadium is set to host PHASE 25, a major new conference focused on the dynamic intersection of esports, education, and industry, taking place on Saturday, 26th September 2026 - with a 25% discount on offer to SGN readers. Organised by our friends at eRena, the full-day conference will bring together leading voices from across academia, scholastic esports, and community development to explore how competitive gaming can be leveraged as a powerful tool for teaching essential skills and creating new career pathways.

Scotland’s largest celebration of tabletop gaming, Tabletop Scotland, is set to welcome thousands of players this weekend, from Friday 5th to Sunday 7th September, in its brand new and significantly larger home at the Royal Highland Centre, Edinburgh. Now in its sixth year, the convention has grown from a passionate community gathering into a cornerstone of the Scottish gaming calendar.

A new academic study has uncovered a significant, often unspoken, barrier to engagement within the games market, finding that nearly a third of female players in the UK feel a sense of 'gamer guilt' about their hobby. This vital research provides critical market intelligence for the entire industry, highlighting deep-seated societal pressures that directly impact how a huge segment of the audience interacts with games.

Following the success of the Glasgow Independent Games Festival, the team behind the event is bringing back another of its popular community initiatives this month: the Glasgow Games Soapbox. The free, informal networking event is an "open-mic night for game developers," providing a relaxed space for creators to share their work, discuss ideas, and connect with peers from across the ecosystem.

In an exciting new development for the Scottish games ecosystem, Education Scotland has announced September will be Scottish Games Fest 2025, a month-long series of events across the whole month, dedicated to exploring the power of games across the entire curriculum. This is a landmark initiative from the national body for education, demonstrating a deep and welcome exploration of games and playful learning in Scottish schools.

Get ready for a dose of retro-inspired chaos as ZOE Begone!, the debut title from Glasgow-based solo developer Graeme Hawkins (Retchy Games), prepares to launch on PC and consoles on September 17, 2025. This high-octane, hand-drawn bullet-hell shooter is a stunning example of solo Scottish talent, blending the aesthetics of 1930s drawn-on-film animation with the frenetic action of a classic arcade shoot ‘em up.

Arcanix, the pioneering AI LiveOps platform, has secured investment and accelerator support from ForsVC and imec.istart, one of Europe’s leading tech accelerators. The company was founded in Scotland in 2023 by industry veterans, Ella Romanos, Oscar Clark and Adam Betteridge, who between them have decades of experience of live game development, publishing and support. The company now has a team of six and is hiring.

Scottish studio GLITCHERS has seen its groundbreaking dementia research game, Sea Hero Quest, go viral in South Korea after a social media post mistakenly claimed the game could help diagnose the condition. While the studio has clarified this is not the case, the incredible surge in interest is a powerful testament to the game's global appeal and a perfect illustration of the More Than Games mindset in action.

Ukie, the trade body for the UK’s video games industry, has today launched a major new report, Time to Press Start on Growth, calling on the new UK Government and the devolved nations to implement a series of key policies to secure a £500 million growth opportunity for the sector. The report provides a powerful, data-backed case for the economic potential of the games industry.

Skills Development Scotland (SDS) and the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) have announced that they are developing a new HNC qualification in Esports and are seeking support from sector experts to help shape its creation. This is a significant and welcome development for the rapidly growing esports ecosystem in Scotland. The creation of a formal Higher National Certificate will provide a clear and credible pathway for students looking to build a career in the competitive gaming sector, covering the wide range of skills required beyond playing, to include event management, broadcasting, coaching, business and community development, and more.