"We're still seen as the red-headed stepchild of the creative industries, one notch up from pornography in the eyes of most of the establishment," said Livingstone to The Guardian. Livingstone has joined the "Games Up?" campaign to petition the British government for a tax credit to subsidize game development.

The campaign, run in association with English industry organizations Tiga and ELSPA, is asking the British government for a 20% tax credit for game studios--a credit that France enjoys and will soon be extended to the entire European Union--but isn't too optimistic about its approval.

"They forget that half of the world and half of the UK's population play games," lamented Livingstone. "Games help define who we are as human beings--they are as important, culturally and socially, as music and films," he asserted.

The Eidos executive fears that without such a tax credit, the UK game development industry could dry up--something which he has already noticed symptoms of. "In the past six years, half of the independent UK development studios have already closed or been bought by foreign publishers who see more value in our studios and intellectual property than we do ourselves," he concluded.