Keith Ramsdale, the vice president of Electronic Arts in Northern Europe, has today criticised the UK government’s plans to introduce a minimum 2 Mb per second broadband speed across the UK. There is a growing feeling within the gaming industry that UK aspirations in this particular field fall short of what is required and are beginning to impact upon the ability of the UK gaming industry to deliver what consumers are demanding.
While sales of PlayStations, Nintendos and other games consoles continue to attract the attention of the financial press, it is the online arena where many gaming companies believe their future lies. The latest games consoles are able to link up to the World Wide Web offering the opportunity to challenge fellow gamers in any part of the world and while companies such as BT broadband, AOL broadband and other prominent broadband companies have recognised this changing trend, broadband speeds are still disappointing.
The ongoing development of the UK wide fibre optic network will obviously the benefit industry in the medium to longer term but there are short-term worries about broadband speeds available across the UK. More investment is required in the short to medium term not only to allow the UK to catch up with competitors overseas but also to allow services such as 3D TV and superfast online gaming to be introduced.