experience for the Hell Let Loose community.”
WAR MACHINE While there is no cap right now on how large the new studio could become (or indeed a name for it - although an announcement is due), there is instead a plan to grow the team according to the demands of the community, suggesting a degree of flexibility and agility that isn’t necessarily afforded a team anchored to a physical space. “We’ll do that in a measured way,”
says Pattison. “But I think what’s fundamental to any virtual studio is the culture and building a culture and a sense of team. It’s been demonstrated many times now that that is possible, if you do it in the right way.” Pattison believes that experience and talent breeds dedication, a shared vision that everyone in the team can get behind. “Inevitably we will bring people together to build bonds, which are sometimes not always possible in the same way virtually. And so we’ll create opportunities for that. But we want to make this as open and as flexible as possible for everyone that’s joining whilst building a sense of team and a positive culture around it.”
HIRE CALIBRE Much has been written in recent months about the skills shortage in tech and the creative industries that has been building over many years. It’s got to the point that 10 per cent of UK studio vacancies are forever unfulfilled. Is the creation of a virtual studio, which is able to draw from a far wider pool of talent, simply a means to get around the shortfall? “I think it’s a challenge for everyone at the moment,”
admits Simon Halkyard, Team17’s head of talent acquisition. “By democratising location and being able to hire, essentially across Europe, it’s really going to improve our chances to hire better people than if we were just physically located in one area. So yeah, it will make a big difference having a wider community of talent to go after, for sure.” But, leaving to one side issues around not hiring
locally, would it represent an more immediate solution to the skills shortage issue for UK industry to reorganise itself more rigorously around the idea of remote and virtual working? “You still have to have a compelling proposition,”
insists Halkyard. “There’s still lots of people that will democratise location and hire, like we are, internationally. But I think as much as anything, it’s an opportunity to truly improve the diversity of talent within our business. “You know, we have amazing people working at Team
17. But like most companies, traditionally, the majority of our hiring has been regionalised and linked to physical offices. To move to a scenario where location is not the primary hiring factor really appeals to us. You’ve still got to have the proposition, you’ve still got to have reasons why people want to believe and why people want to join you. But being able to hire internationally is going to be a game changer, I think.”
THE W WORD By acquiring the Hell Let Loose
July 2022 MCV/DEVELOP | 21
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