ADHD and the
Games Industry
Ahead of this year’s Develop:Brighton, Chris Wallace catches up with Mediatonic’s Anna Hollinrake, to discuss her journey with managing ADHD in the workplace
D
evelop:Brighton, organised by Tandem Events, is set to return from the 12th-14th of July, with the games industry descending upon sunny
Brighton for another conference packed with talks, networking and business opportunities – and that’s not even mentioning the beach, which is bound to be a more attractive prospect now that Develop:Brighton has returned to its traditional July slot. And as we look forward to our annual trip to
Brighton, we thought we’d get a taste of some of the talks available at this year’s event. There’s certainly a wide range of topics to choose from – from discussions around Houdini to top tips for TikTok. While you should absolutely check out
Develop:Brighton’s website for the full list of speakers, this month we’d like to focus on one specific talk, centering around managing ADHD in the video games industry. Anna Hollinrake, creative services art lead for
Fall Guys at Mediatonic, will be delivering a talk titled ‘ADHD City – Weird Things That Help for the Creative (but noisy) Brain’ – in which Hollinrake will be going through her own diagnosis, how ADHD can present within the games industry, and teaching
42 | MCV/DEVELOP May 2022
strategies for coping with distraction and brain noise whilst working on video games. ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) is
a condition, usually diagnosed during childhood, that affects a person’s ability to maintain their attention and cause changes in energy levels (among other things). It’s a deeply relevant one to the games industry –
particularly right now. According to the 2022 Ukie Industry Census, 10 per cent of the industry have a condition affecting their concentration, such as ADHD. That’s an increase from 3 per cent from the 2020 survey, and significantly above the estimates for ADHD among the adult population at 4 per cent. While ADHD has of course always been here, the
disruptive move to home work due to the pandemic has exacerbated many people’s symptoms – leading many in the industry to be diagnosed for the first time. Since the shift to working from home and hybrid working seems to be a permanent one, it’s more important than ever that both companies and their employees understand the challenges and support required when dealing with ADHD in the workplace. As such, we sat down with Hollinrake to find out more.
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