UKIE, the association for UK Interactive Entertainment -- and one of the country's biggest trade organizations both in and outside the realm of video games -- have today rejected the World Health Organization's recent decision to class gaming disorder as a mental health issue. UKIE -- whom are backed up and supported in their disagreement by more than 30 internationally renowned and respected mental health experts, leading social scientists and academics -- have been joined in their sentiment with support from the Interactive Software Federation of Europe and even unions representing the entertainment industries of Brazil, South Africa and Korea.

Prior to the publishing of a new journal paper by the aforementioned experts -- which argues against WHO's decision last December, claiming the evidence for such a categorisation is relatively low and still debatable -- CEO of UKIE, Dr Jo Twist, added to the concerns, calling WHO's classification an "unnecessary inclusion". Twist continues: "It is clear that there remains significant opposition from the scientific community to the WHO’s proposed position on a ‘gaming disorder’. We join them and others from the global games sector in calling for the WHO to consider the evidence and concerns presented in this new paper."

The UKIE is the latest group to join in the overwhelming criticism of WHO's recent classification following similar comments made by the ESA just last month.