In association with: BETA | CAMBRIDGE FOCUS
“The reality is when we’re looking at new
developments, we have pressure,” he admits. “We haven’t succumbed to them yet, but
we have pressure to do things in a different way, to outsource, to do it in different countries and even move the whole company to another country with a better tax regime.
“I think its fair to say UK games developers
are by default at a disadvantage. That’s a hard fact by comparison to America, Canada, France or anywhere else. And if they’re serious about this staying a centre of excellence, not just Cambridge but the UK, that has to be fixed, and hopefully soon before someone turns the lights out on the games industry.”
Top to bottom: Frontier founder David Braben, Sony’s James Shepherd, Games Eden chair Jeremy Cooke, Universally Speaking’s Loreto Sanz Fueyo, Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard, Ninja Theory co- founder Mike Ball and Geomerics’ Rob Precious. Above right, Ninja Theory’s multi-million selling Devil May Cry series has recieved positive reception around the world and is the company’s stalwart franchise
SUCCESS THROUGH INNOVATION Ball says that to overcome the challenges facing the region, local studios need to innovate to stay ahead of competitors, rather than churning out games based on tried and tested formulas that get lost in the sea of available titles. Although he admits this must come at a balance and not at the cost of the company’s future. “It’s one of the biggest things that attracts people to Ninja Theory. Risk has to be balanced with a healthy dose of quality too,” he says. “There are a lot of people out there right
now who are taking big risks and throwing cheap product at the wall to see what sticks. We simply can’t compete with that development approach.” Sony development director at Cambridge James Shepherd also explains that developing new ideas is extremely important to stand out, and that as part of
38 | FEBRUARY 2012
Sony, their brief is to support the PlayStation family, stating: “This means that innovation is key for us in everything we do”. Gerhard agrees that it is imperativ e for
Cambridge studios to take creative risks, believing that with staying inventive and moving with the industry, developers can avoid the mistakes of the past and from falling behind their competitors.
Innovation and agility is core to our
survival strategy. Our philosophy has always been that we remain a moving target.
Mark Gerhard, Jagex “Innovation and agility is core to our
survival strategy. Our philosophy has always been that we remain a moving target. That comes with risk as it means you sometimes go into an area that you have absolutely no expertise about,” he explains. “The right thing to do is to innovate. But
how do you have the bravery to say ‘we totally believe in the new idea’ to gamble on it, and risk the existing subscriber base that props up the business. “The reality is those are either brave decisions to take or foolhardy ones, and time will measure you accordingly. But that’s really it for Jagex. By keeping the smalls studios and keeping it indie and entrepreneurial, great ideas are coming up from the developers, and we’re saying to
them ‘go for it’, rather than being top down and perhaps being less relevant.” Frontier chairman David Braben, however,
says that he isn’t sure the burden should fall on just Cambridge, but feels that “the biggest rewards come when you innovate whilst delivering quality, which is what we strive to do.”
PUSHING TECHNOLOGY Taking development risks is not the only important area studios should focus on. Precious says Cambridge provides an ideal environment for companies like Geomerics for R&D intensive industries, which he believes is the key area studios must concentrate on and put more effort into as a region to stay competitive. “Incentive to invest in R&D is already
available but not heavily promoted or taken up. More prominent and persuasive encouragement is needed in this area,” claims Precious. “Certainly at Geomerics we take this
extremely seriously and continuous R&D is how we keep ourselves ahead of the competition. This commitment to staying at the bleeding edge of technology has ensured that we are relevant for such cutting-edge studios as EA DICE to use in titles like Battlefield. “Investing in R&D is always a risk, but it is one we are always willing to take.” Whilst taking risks and innovating to stay ahead of a global industry is one potential solution to keep the local industry thriving, it is also important for studios to work with the local academic institutions to train talent and turn them into the experienced professionals the industry currently lacks.
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