BETA | MIDLANDS FOCUS


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bottleneck. It always has been at Blitz and I think it probably is at most these places. When it comes to the artists, we need very


good artists, we hunt for good artists, but there are enough coming through that it’s not the thing that holds your business back. On the programming front, it holds your business back.


MacDonald: I take your point, but I’d also say over the last ten years the biggest skill problem is in the design discipline just because there wasn’t anywhere you could actually train to be a game designer.


Are there other industry challenges the Midlands needs to focus on? Oliver: One contentious issue is that lots of the microstudios have come about because they lost their jobs at the big studios and can’t get back in and therefore are just doing this whilst they’re looking.


Williams: I half agree with that. I think that the fact that someone lost their job gave


them the opportunity to do that. I think some people choose to do it rather than go back into a big studio.


So there’s a feeling that microstudios have perhaps been romanticised, and may be a symptom of another problem rather than a glorious paradigm shift? Oliver: There was some minister talking about it up in Dundee or Manchester who was like ‘wow this is brilliant, there’s all these companies,’ But the main reason all these companies are here is because the big employers have gone down. When you look at how many now have jobs now versus how many did have jobs, it’s horrendous.


MacDonald: But it’s a good thing. I’d rather that than they all go to Montréal.


O’Donnell: The thing for me about digital development studios and start-ups is there is not enough information being pushed about digital publishing. This is my big problem. The guy from Google said you can


THE NEW GENERATION SPEAKS OUT


DISTORTED POETRY Formed in February 2011 by James Booth and Steve Parkes, Distorted Poetry develops games for handheld


and mobile devices, recently releasing Petri-Dash on the App Store. Booth says there isn’t enough financial


support for developers in the Midlands as it stands, after Screen WM closed down and Creative England waits to start its funding schemes. He states, however, there has been great support from Birmingham City University and GamerCamp, the latter of which has trained up four members of the small studio’s team. He adds that one recent improvement in the area is the number of business incubation programs that have started. Distorted Poety itself was formed through one of these programs, called e4f, at the Birmingham Science Park, which provides free office space as well as help and advice on business development. “Something like that is perfect for a


start-up, especially when, like us, you don’t have a background in business,” he says. www.distortedpoetry.com


“Something like the e4f incubation program is perfect for a start-up, especially when, like us, you don’t have a background in business.”


James Booth, Distorted Poetry 48 | DECEMBER 2011 / JANUARY 2012


SOSHI GAMES Social music games studio Soshi Games is a small team of 12 currently working on Music Festivals, a city building style game which


features more than 15 million songs and asks players to sign and book real bands to perform in their virtual world. Countering Booth’s assertion of the lack of financial support, Soshi CEO Kevin Corti believes the Midlands offers good backing and it is improving all the time. “There are some funding opportunities


if you have a strong business case. We just secured £200,000 seed funding through Midven, a regional seed fund, for example,” he says. He is also keen to highlight that there is an abundance of office space available for new creative and tech companies, highlighting the Birmingham Science Park that has supported the studio with cheap rent, equipment and tech services. He adds that the Midlands is also a


great place to be for hiring new computer science graduates, but conceded that it’s tough finding experienced staff. www.soshigames.com


“There are some funding opportunities if you have a strong business case. We just secured £200,000 seed funding through Midven, for example.”


Kevin Corti, Soshi Games


FISH IN A BOTTLE Browser and mobile developer Fish in a Bottle has worked on titles such as a digital version of Activision’s DJ Hero


2, and the World War II web game 303 Squadron for Channel 4. Founder Justin Eames reveals that the ambitious studio has just invested “a six figure sum” of their own money into IP generation, having developed for other companies’ brands in the past. He says that the Leamington Spa area is a hot spot for games development, with lots of support between companies. But adds that unfortunately it is not known for that outside of the core console games industry which made the hub famous. “Anyone who looks at the Midlands games scene and thinks it’s too mature for support, or hasn’t any further potential, is making the mistake of several lifetimes,” insists Eames.


He also claims that rather than rely heavily on institutional backing, young businesses need support through mentoring, opportunity and knowledge sharing. www.fishinabottle.com


“Anyone who looks at the Midlands games scene and thinks it’s too mature for support is making the mistake of several lifetimes.”


Justin Eames, Fish in a bottle


publish your game in five minutes. His point is that you can upload your apps easily, but that doesn’t mean anyone’s going to buy it. All these start-ups can make these great games but it’s so difficult to get out there.


Alex McLean, Codemasters: If I was a business partner for a start-up and I didn’t see a significant allocation of spend against marketing or something like that, I wouldn’t consider their effort credible. I would just ask the question: ‘How will you succeed without that allocation of spend?’


O’Donnell: I think it’s such an important part, even for GamerCamp as well. We can get all these guys that want to start their own studio and that’s fine. But we need such a big part of it to be business and how you’re going to sell, turnover, when its going to come in, the cash flow etcetera, and hopefully that side of it is being covered as well.


MacDonald: One does have to accept that publishers do do something.


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