Gamer’s ‘game change’

Bajan game developers are to get help from Government to take their mobile apps to the next level, as the Ministry of Innovation and Smart Technology has launched a programme to “make culture our business”.

The Game Changers programme was inaugurated on Saturday to lend assistance to those who create digital games, Senator Kay McConney reported today during her presentation on the Appropriation Bill, 2020.

She told Parliament: “Last Saturday at the Barbados Community College we launched what is called Game Changers.

“It was approved by the Cabinet just a couple of weeks ago.

“Game Changers is really an opportunity for us to get young people involved in the mobile gaming industry.”

The senator said that Government was not only providing training but it was also engaging the services of a company to give expert help as well

She added: “There were over 100 children at BCC last Saturday who are interested.

“What we are doing is providing training for them we will help them develop the mobile games and we have contracted a company that will assist them in moving winning games from where they have developed them all the way to the market.”

Senator McConney said Government was eager be a part of the global billion-dollar gaming industry.

She said: “We are excited about that rolling out given that the gaming industry is over $150 billion dollars of which 45 per cent of that is in mobile games.

She continued: “In the manifesto of the Barbados Labour Party we said we would not only help people to develop those kinds of opportunities but we would also seek to use the heritage of Barbados and the culture of Barbados as content.

“We will help them develop that content not only for economic reasons but also because we make culture our business.”