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Ed Vaizey appointed vice chair of British eSports Association

Ed Vaizey appointed vice chair of British eSports Association

British MP Ed Vaizey is taking the vice chair position for the British eSports Association.

Vaizey worked as the Culture Minister between 2010 and 2016, and has been arguably the biggest advocate for the UK games industry at a government level. During his tenure, the UK secured tax breaks for the games industry.

The British eSports Association is a not-for-profit organisation set up in 2016 to raise awareness around and to support this burgeoning sector.

“I joined the British eSports Association as Vice Chair because I passionately believe that eSports has a great future – in the UK and all across the world,” Vaizey said.

“It’s one of the fastest-growing industries we’ve seen. And as a British MP I want British eSports to be at the forefront.

“We’ve got a real opportunity here, even though the industry is growing and hundreds of thousands if not millions of people participate, it’s still a young industry and I think we can really put the UK on the map.

“The British eSports Association is there to promote, inspire and improve young players and promote eSports, it’s fantastic.”

He continued: “What I want to do with British eSports is some of the work they’re already doing, for example going into libraries and teaching kids about eSports. So getting in with young people and their parents and explaining how eSports works, and showing it’s not this scary thing or a waste of time, but has great benefits in playing.”

“It’s an industry and you can make a career in it. And even if you don’t make a career in eSports, you can use the skills you learn in eSports to do other things.

“And also, I’d like us to attract more eSports tournaments to the UK and I’d like to see British players and teams winning some of these leagues that are now springing up.

“So there’s a lot of work to be done and I think the British eSports Association is going to an absolutely vital organisation to communicate the benefits of eSports and the opportunities that exist in the UK for eSports.”

British eSports Association chair Andy Payne OBE added: “We are delighted that Ed has joined us. We have a dedicated and experienced Advisory Board and so with Ed’s appointment this reinforces our aims to make Britain a great eSports nation.”


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.