IT’S GREAT UP NORTH


Game Republic’s Jamie Sefton managed to tempt Richie Shoemaker from his editorial lair to talk to Yorkshire game industry figures about the challenges and advantages of being based in the region


Y 30 | MCV/DEVELOP July 2023


ou may recall back in our April issue we spoke to Jamie Sefton, the managing director of Yorkshire’s Game Republic, about the 20 year anniversary of


the networking organisation, how Sefton came to lead it after his time editing games magazines and how it had become something of a source of pride, not just for Sefton himself, but for Yorkshire’s gaming community more widely. Sefton was eager for us to not just take his word for it, however, but to speak to some of the region’s foremost industry figures, so a follow-up meeting was set up, at the offices of Red Kite Games in Leeds. Founded in 2012 by Simon Iwaniszak, work-for-hire


studio Red Kite was acquired by Sumo Digital in 2019 and has since has contributed to the likes of Fall Guys and Hogwarts Legacy, among many other titles. Talking to Iwaniszak, however, you get the sense that Red Kite’s


success is part of something bigger, a shared success that Sefton has been integral to.


THE REPUBLIC Iwaniszak recounts the story of his first meeting with Sefton, just weeks after establishing Red Kite. Sefton pressed Iwaniszak to go to GDC, but he couldn’t afford it, in any case, he recalls, the deadline to register had long since passed. Sefton insisted he’d sort it and, of course, he did. “I went over to GDC with pretty much nothing to


sell and nothing to say but came back with loads of friends and contacts and things carried on from there,” says Iwaniszak, who credits Game Republic not just in terms of offering direct support, but by building and maintaining the personal and professional relationships


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