LONDON CALLS FOR THE AMBITIOUS TO QUOTE the evil mastermind Goldfinger: “Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.” There’s nothing evil or enemy about the decisions by Xbox, Konami and Amazon to open new games development teams in London, mind. But there is a wider trend here.
Opening new studios in one of the world’s most expensive cities is not to be sniffed at, nor a decision any publisher takes lightly. The moves were likely buoyed by the promise of tax breaks, but would have started with London’s established reputation as a games development hub. This is the place currently home to Mind Candy, after all. SingStarwas made here. Batmanis made here. Football Manager, The Sims on Facebook… And so on.
night and give them all a try, to separate the junk from the good games.
“There was a lot of people that complained about game rentals at the time, but they were often the people whose product was just bad. “There was this new era where people could play before they paid. Even though I was in the business, I thought it was great; I would go and rent ten games in a
“Think about what that did for the quality of the games. When you hear about – for example – how much it costs to import games in Brazil, no wonder free-to-play has become so big. It really has democratised the price of gaming. Consumers can now vote with their wallet. “If they like it, they can spend on it. If they don’t like it, us developers didn’t do a good enough job making the game.”
7. Medal of Honor: Warfighter Limited Edition 360..........................................................................................................................EA
8. Forza Horizon 360..........................................................................................................Microsoft
“Opening new studios in one of the world’s most expensive cities is not to be sniffed at, nor a decision any publisher takes likely.”
Of course, Xbox, Konami and Amazon will also have their own reasons for expanding – but even then they contribute to a wider picture.
Amazon has no doubt been sweet-talked by the authorities, who secured the commitment of Facebook, Intel and Google to establish East London offices. But while Amazon may complete some politician’s high-tech wishlist, it’s actually one of the more progressive, and new, forces in games terms on that list. It’s a retailer, a distributor, a format holder and more.
Meanwhile, Konami’s decision to staff the
PESdevelopment team with ‘locals’ – who arguably understand the sport and what it means to Europeans better than some nevertheless excellent but far flung team in Japan – speaks a lot to the way publishers have to engage their audience. In this instance, Konami is getting as close to the market as possible.
And the new Xbox team, while almost definitely born of new Microsoft Studios European boss Phil Harrison’s plan for the first-party studios, shows evolution happening at the console level.
Microsoft wants people familiar with cloud, free-to-play and casual to make new titles for Xbox. I can’t think of a more symbolic move to herald the changing of the guard on the UK studio scene. Michael.French@intentmedia.co.uk