lawyers to entrepreneurs 13 Game on
The global computer games industry is worth a staggering £86 billion a year. It eclipses the movie industry, yet is still seen by many as a niche sector. Portsmouth’s Climax Studios is at the top of its game, producing some of the most exciting and eagerly-anticipated console and online games every year. Coffin Mew spent the afternoon in its Gunwharf Quay’s studios with chief executive Simon Gardner (pictured left) and founder Karl Jeffery (right)
Running a business is, in many ways, like playing a complex game. There are many different players, decisions to make on a minute-by-minute and day-by-day basis, that all result in very different outcomes. Business leaders will need to fight, cooperate, think ahead and play to succeed.
Unlike most games, however, there is much more at stake if you get it wrong. It is these challenges which Gardner and Jeffery relish, building one of the world’s most respected gaming studios.
Climax Studios employs some 100 people in studios overlooking Portsmouth Harbour. Its staff are drawn from 16 different countries, and include artists, illustrators, programmers, marketing and finance. Staff are young – the average age of its employees is just 28.
“Gaming as an industry sector is still very young – we have been in business around 26 years and are considered one of the old boys,“ says Jeffery. “Yet it is a sector that is constantly reinventing itself – it has to as new technology is emerging almost daily.
“That is what makes it a great sector to be in, but one that does present
some unique challenges. Many outside the industry find it daunting and difficult to understand, but this is our normal.“
One example is funding. Developing a new game can take many months, if not years, and can be enormously expensive. Take, for example, the new console game Destiny, launched in September this year; the game is rumoured to have cost $500 million and taken five years to develop.
“Banks and investors struggle to understand this business,“ explains Jeffery. “It means that we have had to self fund the business from day one.“
One of the biggest challenges facing Climax is recruiting top-quality staff, with Gardner and Jeffery increasingly turning to overseas markets.
“If I place a job advert in one of the national newspapers I can get quite literally thousands of applicants. Everyone wants to be a games designer,“ says Gardner. “But the quality is not there in any depth. I would be lucky to find just one good person in every thousand applicants.
“We recruit a lot of graduates, particularly as programmers, and invest a considerable amount of time visiting the top universities in the
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH CENTRAL – OCTOBER 2014
UK and Europe. It is time-consuming and costly, but there really is no other option open for us. We now have people from 16 different counties working for us in Portsmouth. Our staff do, however, tend to stay with us for quite some time.“
The toughening stance of the UK Government on immigration is as a result making recruitment that much harder.
“If I could ask government ministers for just one thing,“ says Gardner, “it would be to make it easier for businesses like ours to hire from overseas. Ours is a global community and it is getting harder and harder to bring talented programmers and artists into the UK.“
The rise of casual gaming – downloading game Apps that are played for short periods of time while on the move – has again changed the computer games industry, broadening gaming appeal.
“10 years ago, the typical gamer would be male, aged in the mid- teens to 35 years old and relatively wealthy,“ says Gardner. “Now, thanks to smart phones and tablets, gamers can be found everywhere. There are over four billion Internet-connected phones, compared against just 100 million consoles. The future is truly global.“
And the next big thing? Virtual reality, or VR.
“VR has been promised for well over a decade,“ say Gardner, “but it is only now that the technology has really caught up. It is very exciting and offers some terrific game play.
Climax is pioneering VR games, having created a new WWII fighter pilot game for the new Samsung smart phone that plugs into Sony’s Occulus VR headset.
“VR game play provides a more involved and immersive experience,“ says Gardner. “This is going to be on everyone’s Christmas gift list this year.“
Details:
Climax Studios
www.climaxstudios.com
Coffin Mew
www.coffinmew.co.uk
www.businessmag.co.uk
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