In association with:
MIDLANDS FOCUS | BETA
Centre of Excellence?
As the industry shifts toward a new digital age, studios in the UK’s Midlands are determined to adapt. Will Freeman and Craig Chapple sat down at the recent Launch conference in Birmingham with the leading lights in the region to discuss how the area – and the wider industry – is facing up to the many new challenges
Develop: A continual concern for the entire industry – and the theme for Birmingham’s recent Launch conference – is the transistion to digital. How well positioned are the Midlands area studios and service providers in this regard? Philip Oliver, Blitz Games Studios: I think what Birmingham is doing with this Launch event and incubation centre is actually fantastic for start-ups. When you are a start- up you can now have creative and technological people create games, and they know how to create games. Although when it actually comes to running a business we’re kind of the worst people as gamers. I know because I didn’t do well originally. But I think creating an environment like this and a network of people, supply chains and business leads is fantastic, so I think this particular centre is very good in helping with that transition.
The Midlands games industry is home to some of the UK’s most well established studios. Does that strength in the traditional sector mean the challenge of digital is especially tough here? Oliver: Maybe so, but I think for all kinds of companies it’s a common challenge. What
OUR PANELISTS
I’m encouraged by is how many new start- ups there are here, and we’ll see in two or three years time how many survive and how many will thrive, but its really encouraging. There’s a lot of entrepreneurial spirit around.
With any start-up there is a mortality
rate and there is no getting round that. I always used to tell everyone ‘just don’t do it’.
Philip Oliver, Blitz Games
Matthew Hidderley, Birmingham Science Park: That’s right. And I think we just need to encourage that more. There really are some fantastic studios in the Midlands. If we can all use our resources a lot better and accept that, actually, if we do support these small start-up indie studios then we as an industry will be far better off going forward. So maybe some formal program where we get a lot more industry mentors to get involved with not only this incubation
program in the Science Park, but wider afield as well could be done. And that can be done remotely through tele-presence or through physical presence and conferences as well.
Oliver: With any start-up there is a mortality rate and there is no getting round that. I always used to tell everybody just don’t do it, don’t start your own business, because the mortality rate is quite high. Everybody is quite optimistic and thinks it’ll work out, but you only need one thing wrong to pull you down. You can get nine right; but get one thing wrong and you’re out. But I have changed slightly with digital distribution because the barrier for entry, and the amount you need to invest before you come to market has been reduced so considerably that it’s now an affordable risk. But what I would actually say is make sure it is an affordable risk; don’t mortgage yourself so ridiculously that if anything doesn’t work that you are screwed.
Trevor Williams, Playground Games: I was talking to Oli – the CEO of NeonPlay – yesterday about how they kept going and how you can generate revenue quite quickly. He had no seat capital. It was a risk because
Jamie Macdonald of Codemasters (left), Blitz’s Philip Oliver (centre) and Trevor Williams from Playground (above) ponder the future of the Midlands games industry
Jamie Macdonald Senior VP Codemasters
www.codemasters.co.uk
DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET
Philip Oliver Co-founder and CEO Blitz Games Studios
www.blitzgamesstudios.com
Alex McLean Studio Head Codemasters Birmingham
www.codemasters.co.uk
Pete O’Donnell Design Manager Freestyle Games
www.freestylegames.com
Iain Harrison Studio Manager GamerCamp
www.gamercamp.co.uk
Rich Eddy Communications Director Codemasters
www.codemasters.co.uk
Matthew Hidderley Business Dev Manager Birmingham Science Park
www.bsp-a.com
Trevor Williams COO, Playground Games
www.playground-
games.com
DECEMBER 2011 / JANUARY 2012 | 45
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