NESTA backs call for Government investment in games

Read Hasan Bakhshi’s excellent blog post on strong cultural reasons for governments to invest in games.

Hasan analyses the DCMS’s Taking Part survey and finds that UK gamers are more likely to engage in cultural activity than UK non-gamers, in particular “more likely to read, paint, attend performing arts and visit heritage sites and libraries”.

Hasan agrees that policymakers “have been slow to wake up to the significance of video games” as a cultural products.

No surprise then that the DCMS dropped video games from the Taking Part survey, which is an annual survey of the cultural activities undertaken by British people.

Why do we still have to argue that games are cultural products?

Time for a change. Time for the BGI.

 

 

 

 

Give us your opinion about the British Games Institute

Through the summer of 2017, the BGI team ran a consultation about the BGI asking for the games sector’s input to the proposal.

One part of the consultation was online, and we asked the sector to let us know what they thought about our proposal for this landmark new organisation supported by over 500 industry leaders.

We were really interested in finding out:

  • What do you think about the proposal for a new national games agency as a whole?
  • Do you think that the proposed structure of the finance programme will assist games companies?
  • If not, what alternatives would you recommend?
  • How do you think we could best promote the genius of British-made games to the public?
  • What do you think about a national games festival that travels like a City of Culture through the different games clusters each year and promotes local talent?
  • What skills gaps or requirements do you have in your organisation or as an individual?
  • Would you be interested in online training in 10 different production and commercial disciplines each year?
  • How should we account for the BGI’s programmes to the games sector once they are up and running?
  • How can we persuade the government to fund this proposal?

All the comments were posted here

Proposal for the British Games Institute

The following high level proposal for this landmark new organisation has been developed by the BGI team with the help of a range of organisations. Please note that this proposal will probably change further following the consultation phase starting 13/07/17.

Draft mission and values

The BGI will be a new organisation that promotes the cultural, creative and economic impact of video games in the UK. To be founded as a registered charity in 2017, the BGI will have 3 objectives:

  • To encourage the development of the art, science and technology of video games across the UK
  • To research and promote video games’ impact on and reflection of British culture, and protect national video game collections that represent the 40-year heritage of British-made games
  • To gather and disseminate the UK’s artistic and technical expertise in games production and distribution, to increase the productivity of British games studios and up-skill its workforce

The BGI will partner with the DCMS, UKIE, TIGA and the National Videogame Foundation (amongst others) and collaborate with many other Arts and Science bodies.

Solutions to strategic challenges

The BGI will provide long term solutions to 3 intractable problems:

  • Finance: Tackle the finance gap which makes go-to-market and growth funding inaccessible to most games companies by investing in cultural games production, encouraging games studios to create new IP, attracting new investors into games and triggering an economic multiplier effect.
  • Culture: Bridge the culture gap in which games are under-recognised as a cultural force by researching and promoting British games culture via a national games festival comprising events, competitions and a high tech red carpet show, as well as funding non-digital cultural projects.
  • Skills: Counter the skills gap in which games companies struggle to maintain productivity and keep pace with the latest production and distribution techniques by funding leading universities to catalogue best practice from studios, and use online training to upskill studios nationwide.

To address these challenges, the following programmes are proposed:

The Finance Programme

A £5m annual programme of financial support for games production.

  • Games funding: Finance £5m in games development using grants and soft loans to between 35-40 projects each year, disbursed across three rounds each year. Projects will be assessed by experienced games staff and scored for their innovation, bringing new talent into the sector, their promotion of diversity and their commercial potential. Funding of £100,000 and above will require matched funding by other finance sources, with certificates provided for successful award recipients. All games will be reviewed against the same cultural test used for Video Games Tax Relief. Awards will be recouped where possible at industry standard rates.
  • Increase games investment: The BGI will promote recipients of awards of £100,000 and above to institutions, angels and other funding bodies to assist companies match the BGI’s financing and widen the investment circle for games.
  • Mentoring programme: Experienced games executives will be paid to mentor recipients of larger awards and utilise their expertise in helping to make recipient games successful.

The Culture Programme

A £1.5m annual programme that celebrates the creativity and diversity of British games culture to the public.

  • Research: A programme of new research into the cultural and economic impact of games.
  • British Games Festival: Fund a nationwide programme of games events, hackathons and competitions focusing on a different regional games cluster each year.
  • Prize competitions: Games innovation contests with grant prizes, judged by experts.
  • Red carpet event: A high tech red carpet event to promote UK games creators to the public.
  • Diversity: Promote the role of women and BAME talent in the sector via PR.
  • National Videogame Foundation: Support the Foundation’s promotion of video games’ contribution to culture, society and education.
  • Culture Fund: 3 rounds of funding will be disbursed annually to a wide range of projects promoting games culture, which could include non-digital games, installations, festivals, research, networking and workshops. The Culture Fund will be overseen by the BGI in collaboration with a range of other arts organisations.


The Skills Programme

A £300,000 programme to acquire and share skills between studios using the latest online training techniques.

  • Skills: Acquire and catalogue the latest best practice games production and commercialisation techniques in 10 new disciplines each year from leading practitioners with the help of top UK games universities.
  • Training: Partner with the Open University’s FutureLearn social learning platform to train British studios and students online in the latest skills to increase their productivity and self-sufficiency.

Working with Government, trade bodies and existing programmes

The BGI will act as the government’s lead agency on video games, providing a long-term strategic vision for the sector and a centre of gravity for other games programmes, in close collaboration with the sector.

It will work closely with the government on a range of public policy areas relating to games, but not act as a lobbyist.

The BGI will work in close partnership with UKIE and TIGA and ensure its programmes do not conflict with theirs.

The BGI’s programmes have been designed to fill strategic gaps in existing programmes, and may indeed fund existing programmes where they represent best practice and the BGI’s funding can take these programmes significantly further forward. It is critical that the BGI proposal and programmes do not damage existing programmes, which are critical to the sustainability and success of the games sector. The BGI team is in detailed discussions with a range of existing programmes and organisations to define if and how such partnerships might work in practice.

The organisation

  • Charitable Status: The BGI will be a charitable company without a fee-paying membership.
  • Budget and staffing: The BGI’s programmes will require £8m per annum for the first 3 years, before expanding to £10-12m. A team of 14 will comprise the CEO and Chairman, a management team of four, with 8 other staff to administer programmes. The total cost of salaries and overheads is just under £800,000 per annum. The BGI will have a modest marketing and PR budget, as well as an allocation for ongoing external auditing and liaison with the Charity Commission. Total administration costs will be around 20% of annual costs.
  • Funding sources: The BGI is bidding for £8m Grant in Aid funding from DCMS, committed 3-5 years in advance. The BGI’s medium term ambition is to win National Lottery funding of £2-4m pa within 3 years. The BGI will also establish a fundraising operation with the aim of raising additional funds for its programmes from industry, corporates and individuals. The BGI will also fund new programmes from recoupment and reasonable overages from funded games projects that succeed commercially.
  • Board: The BGI will be governed by a Board of 12 trustees and 2 permanent Observers (CEOs of TIGA and UKIE) to meet 4 times annually. Trustees will be chosen from stakeholder groups across the sector and will be renewed every 3 years.
  • Location: The BGI will operate a regionally distributed model with the culture team in Nottingham and other team locations TBD.
  • Starting up: The BGI will take six months to start up. The organisation will be founded, premises secured, team hired, Board recruited and appointed, policies agreed with DCMS, programme goals and critical success factors defined in close consultation with industry, trade bodies, partners and other stakeholders and processes and legal frameworks laid down. This will require seed funding from DCMS, before its first programme year begins.

Discover the British Games Institute at Develop 2017

Find out more about the BGI: Develop, Brighton, 1215, Thurs 13th

Develop

The BGI team will be in Brighton to talk about the plans for the BGI on Thursday 13th.

Rick Gibson, Ian Livingstone, Jo Twist (UKIE) and Richard Wilson (TIGA) will present and discuss the proposal for the British Games Institute, a landmark new agency that, if successful, will nearly triple the amount of funding government provides to the games industry and fund games production, cultural events and education for British games companies. This talk will include a question and answer session with the audience.

Details of the Free session here.

Key takeaways:
* Discover what games, cultural events and educational initiatives the BGI might fund if it succeeds in winning government funding
* Find out why UKIE and TIGA have joined together with over 500 industry leaders from over 450 UK games companies, universities, arts and science organisations to call for new government investment in games
* Bring your own questions about the BGI for the panel to answer and find out how you can help lobby the government to fund this

The Develop conference session is part of a wider consultation with the games sector being run by the BGI team and the trade bodies. Details of the online consultation will be announced shortly.

Over 350 Games leaders call for the British Games Institute

The campaign calling for the founding of the British Games Institute now has over 350 British games leaders from every kind of games company, including most of the largest British games companies.

Rick Gibson and Ian Livingstone announced their plan for a brand new agency to champion British games on Monday 23rd January 2017. The proposed new agency needs new Government funding to run programmes that encourage games production, champion British games culture and invest in educational games.

Since the campaign went public, some of the largest games companies in the UK have backed the call for this new organisation. A long list of over 300 CEOs, Directors and influential industry figures from some of the UK’s best known games companies, investors and educational establishments has been growing at remarkable speed.

Sony, Rebellion, Jagex, Team 17, Supermassive Games, Rare, EA Chillingo, Playground Games, Radiant Worlds, Eidos, Future Games of London, 4J Studios, Slightly Mad Studios, Edge Case Games, Outplay, nDreams, SEGA Hardlight and hundreds more have added their weight to Frontier, Sumo Digital, Creative Assembly, TT Games, London Venture Partners, Catalis, Mind Candy, Sports Interactive, Climax, 505 Games, Take Two, Midoki, Warner Brothers, Space Ape Games and Codemasters.

We’re very grateful for the rush of support for our proposal from right across the games industry, in particular to Philip and Andrew Oliver for getting the message out to the Made in Creative UK group.

The timing is perfect for the industry to use a single voice to propose a simple, focused and powerful plan to Government for a new agency that will have deep and long term impact.

If you haven’t joined the call, now’s the time! SIGN UP HERE

Over 170 Games industry leaders support the British Games Institute

Over 170 British games industry leaders have signed up to support Ian Livingstone and Rick Gibson’s call for the founding of the British Games Institute, just 2 days since the initiative was announced.

Some of the UK’s biggest games companies – Frontier, Sumo Digital, Creative Assembly, TT Games, Team 17, Codemasters, Playground Games – and most influential figures have so far backed the proposal.

As well as UKIE and TIGA, senior figures from many of the UK’s leading games and investment companies, charities and educational establishments have added their support. Senior figures now backing the BGI include Peter Molyneux, David Braben (Frontier), Debbie Bestwick (Team 17), Carl Cavers (Sumo), Tim Heaton (Creative Assembly), Ian Hetherington, Frank Sagnier (Codemasters), Jon Burton (TT Games), Miles Jacobson (Sports Interactive), David Lau-Kee and David Gardner (London Venture Partners), Michael Acton Smith and Ian Chambers (Mind Candy), Trev Williams (Playground Games), Tim Woodley (505 Games), John Earner (Space Ape Games), Hugh Binns (EightPixelsSquare) and many more from the sector.

Rick and Ian are particularly grateful to Philip and Andrew Oliver from Radiant Worlds for getting the message out to the Made in Creative UK group.

If you haven’t signed up yet, now’s the time! SIGN UP HERE

Why we need the British Games Institute

by Ian Livingstone and Rick Gibson.

The government has announced its new Industrial Strategy, indicating it will increase support for key UK industries. We as an industry have been working hard to be counted amongst world-leading British industries vital for our country’s future economic success. Today, we, together with UKIE’s Jo Twist and TIGA’s Richard Wilson, are calling for the British Games Institute to be founded with new government money to fund UK games production, culture and education.

There’s never been a better time for us all to shout out about our sector. Games are played across British society, from children to Prime Ministers to OAPs, even astronauts on the International Space Station. Over half of British adults and almost all children play games regularly. Games have wide impact, helping patients recover from surgery, teaching valuable skills to children, employing 12,000 creative technologists and delivering billions in economic impact, as part of a global market that’s growing to over $100bn.

We’re already a world-class digital industry growing at speed in every corner of the country but we face intractable problems. A BGI could help plug the finance gap that can hinder or damage our fledgling studios and put significant new money into funding the production of nearly 40 cultural games every year, some of them up to £500,000. Games play to the core strengths of the UK, creativity and technology, and now we need more funding to trigger more jobs, growth and more global blockbusters. We must encourage more games investment by structuring the funding so it widens the investment circle and helps safeguard success by providing mentoring.

A BGI should champion games’ cultural impact on British life, and negate the continual scapegoating of our industry. Let’s launch a national British Games Week to celebrate games culture around the country. Let’s fund games competitions with grant prizes, hackathons, cultural projects and a high tech red carpet event. Let’s promote the important curation and cultural contribution of the National Videogame Arcade.

We want games to be at the heart of educational policy and would fund games that teach British children STEM subjects. In time, our vision for the BGI is to help tackle the industry’s skills problems, and work with universities and studios to capture best practice and train staff online in the latest techniques.

Both games industry trade bodies have fought hard on initiatives that have benefitted the sector as a whole. We’ve seen long term wins from PEGI, NextGen Skills, Video Game Tax Relief, Games London, university accreditation, migration policy, improved R&D tax credits, Digital Schoolhouse, the Prototype and Skills Investment Fund. The BGI is an opportunity for our sector to take a big step forward. We want to build upon the trade bodies’ initiatives and we’re delighted that both are backing our call for a new British Games Institute:

Dr Jo Twist OBE, CEO UkieWe know games are an economic success story, but games are also a key part of culture and an important form of expression, not just entertainment. We have long supported the call for a dedicated and coordinated approach to supporting and funding content, talent and new ideas, to give our sector and businesses the cultural capital to innovate. In my own commissioning experience at the BBC and Channel 4, as well as the success Ukie has seen through our initiatives such as Games London and Digital Schoolhouse, the need to fund and celebrate the diversity of games as a key part of culture brings enormous longer term economic benefits.”

Dr Richard Wilson, CEO of TIGA “TIGA stands for games developers and digital publishers and our objective is to strengthen the games industry. We should introduce a British Games Institute to drive the sector forward. We would welcome the BGI implementing TIGA’s long standing proposal for a Games Investment Fund, increasing productivity in the industry by working with leading universities – particularly TIGA Accredited universities – to promote best practice, and promoting British games culture with a new national games week filled with events, hackathons and competitions around the UK.”

Theresa May has identified the Creative Industries as one of 5 sectors to assist. Games are one of the least well-funded. Games’ economic impact was worth 23% of the UK’s combined screen sector, compared to 60% for film and the remainder for TV and animation. But film compares favourably to games, getting £170m per annum compared to just £5m for games. That’s 30 times more public funding.

The BFI is a remarkable organisation doing valuable work funding commercial film production, research and educational projects as well as heritage and training projects. We want to use the BFI as a template for a new agency funded by new government money to deliver long term impact for the video games industry.

We believe that games should receive the same recognition and status as other British Creative Content sectors. It should win funding in proportion with its achievements and its massive potential for growth.

Now is the time to get behind this call for significant new public funding and place games at the heart of the UK’s economic and cultural future, where we belong.

 

Give your support to found the British Games Institute

Senior British games sector figures are calling on the Government to fund a new agency that champions the economic, cultural and educational impact of video games throughout the UK. Rick Gibson (GIC), Ian Livingstone CBE, Richard Wilson (CEO of TIGA) and Jo Twist OBE (CEO of UKIE) are calling for a British Games Institute to do 3 things:

  • Fund the development of 40 cultural British games every year, with £75k-£100k grants and £100k-£500k loans that widen the investment circle to more private investors and institutions
  • Promote the cultural and economic contribution of games to the UK through a new national programme of events and research that celebrate British games culture
  • Help train the games workforce with the latest best practice techniques from our leading studios with the help of leading games universities and online training

This new agency should not be a new trade body but a non-membership charity like the British Film Institute. It builds on the long hard work of both trade bodies, taking some of its inspiration from their creative policy initiatives. It should be funded with new money from the Government, the National Lottery and the reasonable commercial returns on games it funds. Its goal should be to help nurture, promote and advance the UK’s games sector in the long term, creating sustainable studios and promoting the cultural value of games. Read more detail here.

We’ve been in discussions with the Government and are making progress but now we need you to join the call for Government to fund this landmark agency by adding your name to this list of over 500 UK games leaders from over 450 organisations including studios, publishers, retailers, artists, universities and arts/science bodies who support this initiative:

Ian Livingstone, CBE
Dr. Richard Wilson, TIGA
Michael Denny, Sony Interactive Entertainment
Chris Lee
Debbie Bestwick MBE, Team 17
Jason Kingsley OBE, Rebellion
Ian Hetherington
Chris Gage, Midoki
Peter Molyneux OBE, 22 Cans
Frank Sagnier, Codemasters
Simon Gardner, Climax Studios
Miles Jacobson OBE, Sports Interactive
David Lau-Kee & David Gardner OBE, London Venture Partners
Mike Hayes, Mercia Fund Management
Saad Choudri, Miniclip
Trevor  Williams & Gavin Raeburn, Playground Games
Shum Singh, Agnitio Capital
Rhianna Pratchett
Spencer Crossley, Warner Bros
John Clark, Sega
David Bailey & Ed Fear, Mediatonic
Phil Stuart, Preloaded
Tim Woodley, 505 Games
John Earner, Space Ape Games
Douglas Hare, Outplay Entertainment
Pete Samuels, Joe Samuels & Stephen Goss, Supermassive Games
Hasan Bakhshi, NESTA
Paul Durrant, UK Games Talent and Finance CIC
Lorna Probert, Aardman Animations
Andy Payne OBE & Robin Clarke, AppyNation
James Brooksby, Edge Case Games
David Hawkins, EXIENT
Nick Button-Brown, Sensible Object
Hugh Binns, EightPixelsSquare
Patrick O’Luanaigh, nDreams Ltd
Mark Craig & Nick Davies, Lucid Games
Ian Goodall, Aardvark Swift/GradsinGames
Mike Cox, Blazing Griffin
Martin Alltimes & many from The Imaginati Studios Ltd
Justin French, Dream Harvest Games
Iain Simons, Gamecity
Adrian Hon, Six to Start
Anil Mistry, Good Catch Games
Brian Baglow, Scottish Games Network
Ella Romanos, Rocketlolly Games
Gareth Lewis, Strike Gamelabs
The Oliver Twins, Made in Creative UK
Mark Williams, VooFoo Studios
Federico Cicci, Supersolid
Chris Payne, Quantum Soup
Colin Macdonald, All4Games
Chris Bewick, Testronic
Simon Sparks, Splendy
Kirk Ewing, Veemee
David Banner, Wales Interactive
Ian Masters, Quiztix
Katie Goode, Triangular Pixels
Dr. Kam Star, PlayGen
Chris Mitchell, @zx_spectrum_30
Jonathan Napier, Slingshot Cartel
Dan Thompson, Dan Thompson Studio
Michael Lojko, Jagex
Steve Ellis, Crash Lab
Rosa Carbo-Mascarell, CIF
Alex Calvin, MCV
Kath Bidwell, State of Play Games
Jeff Tawney, The Great Unwashed
Donal Phillips, Northern Ireland Screen
Vincent Scheurer, Sarassin LLP
Nick Baynes, Gunjin Games
Greg Buchanan, Buchanan Productions
Anthony Gowland, Ant Workshop
Paddy Sinclair, Proper Games
Mark Sorrell, Rovio UK
Holly Gramazio, Matheson Marcault
Gary, Sigtrap
John Cook, Bad Management
Anthony Caulfield, Gracious Films
Mark Hardisty, No Yetis Allowed
Mark Faulkner, Play Fusion
Daniel Emery, Beattie Communications
Daniel Read, Rebelephant Limited
Ste Pickford, The Pickford Bros
Howard Tomlinson, Astraware Ltd
Michale Brown, Boneloaf
Kish Hirani, BAME in Games
Stoo Cambridge, Hobeka
Jeremie Texier, Another Place Productions Ltd
Jamie Macdonald, Fosse Games
Peter Lovell, NaturalMotion
Barry Meade, Fireproof Games
Tom Kinniburgh, mobilefreetoplay
Darren Redgrave, Execution Unit Ltd
Stefano Petrullo, Renaissance PR
Andy Chambers, Reforged Studios
Martyn Bramall, Mars on a Stick
Andrew Bennison, Prospect Games
Steve Owen, Game Press Ltd
Martin Caine, Retroburn
James Marsden & Kirsty Rigden, Futurlab
Adrian Curry, Kent House Solutions
Anthony N.Putson, Orchestral Media Developments
Jonathan Kane, Iglu media
Neil Hutchinson, AlphaBlit Ltd
John McCormack, Another Place Productions
Robin Jubber, Jubbernaut Ltd
Nele Steenput, A Brave Plan
Matthew C. Applegate, Creative Computing Club
Jamie Firth, Monkey 99
Tim Newsome, Desktop Daydreams Studios
Rachel Weston, Virttrade Ltd
Gary Foreman, Slipstream Games
Byron Atkinson-Jones, Xiotex Studios
Phil Duncan & Oli De-Vine, Ghost Town Games
Joe Moulding, Fallen Tree Games
Mark Jackson, Red9
Andrew Richards, Codeplay
Caspian Prince, Puppygames
Brian Rodway, Affinity Studios
Luke Whittaker, State of Play
Basar Simitci, Joyful Works
Michael Walter Van Der Velden, Vandie Studios
Andrew Joseph, Yolkfolk
Rhys Lewis, Squarehead Studios
Roderick Kennedy, Simul Software
Nick Burcombe, Playrise Digital Ltd
Bob Makin, SockMonkey Studios
Tim Constant, Panic Barn
Zarrar Chishti, Tentacle Solutions
James Cox, YoYo Games
Laurence McDonald, Origin8 Technologies Ltd
Philip Ings, No Bull Intentions Ltd
Paul Kilduff-Taylor, Mode 7
Jason Forth, JForth Designs
David Fullick and Dan Griffiths, Monster and Monster
Jonathan Ridgway, Rebourne Studios
Eric Youngblood, The Digital Toy Company Ltd
Peter Ainsworth, A Collection of Bits
Rhys Clarke, Rogo Digital
James Carroll, Evil Twin Artworks Ltd
Guy Simmons, My Little Planet
Ben Beckford, Boondoggle Studios
Shan Blackwood, RIE Studios Ltd
Alex Curtis & Steven Golding, PolyInteractive Games
Dr. Luke Dicken, Robot Overlord Games
Gavin Powell, Deceptive Games Ltd
Rik Alexander, Super Punk Games
Ewa Aguero Padilla, MuHa Games
David Cooper, Cooply
Jake Willey, Sumo Digital
Ric Lumb, Putty CAD
Karen Reynolds, Tall Studios
Huw Marshall, Games Wales
John Kirriemuir, Silversprite
Adam Boyne, BetaJester
Chris Spaks, Retroactive Creatives
Natalie Griffith, Press Space
Jonathan Harris, Bulldog Interactive
Peter Marcus, Officially Group
Jennifer Schneidereit, Nyamnyam
Andy Brown, Replay Events
Dean Hulton, BlueBlaze Studio Ltd
Dave Sharp, Binary Asylum
Jason Guthrie, Laireon Games
Neil Campbell, Viewpoint Games
Alice Guy, PaperSeven
Anthony Lewis, pixeldough studios
Christian West, Playsport Games
Ellie Lawson, GameSparks
Cumron Ashtiani, Atomhawk Design
Rich Stone, TrueGaming Network
Gordon Hall, G Hall Management
Ros Mansfield, Furious Bee Ltd.
Andy Gibson, Team Pesky
Chris Bateman, International Hobo Ltd
Simon Smith, thumbfood
Adam Willingham, Reflections
Paul Norris, Mad Fellows
Ian Hamilton, IHDC
Kenny Young, AudBod
Kitty Crawford, Blackstaff Games
Rhodri Broadbent, Dakko Dakko
Simon Davis, Mighty Bear
Alex Zoro & Andy Wafer, Pixel Toys Ltd
Dann Sullivan, Big Boss Battle
James Vaughan, Ndemic Creations
Dugan Jackson, Tikipod
Kevin Wolstenholme, RisingHigh Apps Ltd
Jonathan Ackerley, Triple B Games
Ken Bird, West Coast Group
Paul Jennings, Totem Learning Ltd
Geoff Newman, Endlife Studios
Jamie Degen, Isom-metric Games
Paul Roberts, Playing with Giants
Alex Darby, Darbotron
Tom Elliott & Jonathon Wilson, Coatsink
Liam Twose, Adliberum.com
Georg Engebakken, Reform games CIC
Alexander Birke, Out Of Bounds Games
Paris Stalker, ALL iN
Mike Hassett, Red Video Creative
Des Gayle, Altered Gene
Peadar McMahon, Mojopin Studios
Kris Kelly & many from Enter Yes
Albert Millis, Virtual Umbrella
Louise James, Generic Evil Business Ltd
Matt Phillips, Big Evil Corporation
Robert Bond, Bristows LLP
Adam Dickinson, Mi
Dean Baker, Red Chain Games Ltd
Dr Andrew Hague, Very Good Friend Ltd
Mark Holland, Sync Interactive Ltd
Ben Barker, Run An Empire
Adam Betteridge, Authentic Media Group
Leo Zullo, Wired Productions
Mark Selby, Development Strategies
Viki Johnson, A Little Red Panda
Greg Maguire, Humain Ltd
James Thompson, Automaton
Tracey McGarrigan, Ansible
Benjamin Woolf, ANDi Games Ltd
Lee Fogarty, Creative Spectrum
Alexander Joshua Davis, SYNCHRONIC DESIGN
Stewart Thompson, Dark North Studio
Will Barr, Billy Goat Entertainment Ltd
Andy Yoeman, Focus Games
Rich Barham, Round Table Games Studio
Phil Wilson, Reagent Games
Rob Davis, Playniac
Daniel Cleaton, ObSkewer Games
David Shenoda, Funny Looking Games
Rob Shaw, The Cambridge Geek
Benjamin Ryalls, Linx
Anthony McGaw, Litmus Games
Evtim Trenkov, Playright Games
Ian Th
omas, Talespinners
Charlie Scrimshaw, Modux
Richard McClaughry, Well Played Games Ltd
Rick Gibson, GIC
Dr. Jo Twist OBE, UKIE
David Braben OBE, Frontier
Phil Mansell, Jagex
Philip Oliver, Andrew Oliver & Richard Smithies, Radiant Worlds
Carl Cavers, Sumo Digital
Jon Burton & Jonathan Smith, TT Games
Tim Heaton, Creative Assembly
Phil Rogers, Eidos
Andrew Wensley, Rare Ltd
Stephen Hey, EA Chillingo
Dominic Wheatley, Catalis
Michael Acton Smith OBE & Ian Chambers, Mind Candy
Ian Harper, Future Games of London
Chris van der Kuyl, 4J Studios/Team 17
Dave Gould, Take Two
Ged Keaveney, Steve Dunn, Andy Tudor, Dr Stephen Baysted & Dave Flynn, Slightly Mad Studios
Chris Southall, SEGA Hardlight
Jude Ower OBE, Joost Schuur & Lou Fawcett, Playmob
Travis Winstanley, Kuju Entertainment
Paul Sulyok, Green Man Gaming
Oscar Clark, Unity/Rocketlolly
Derek Pettigrew, Strawdog Studios Ltd
Matt Edmunds, Stainless Games
Stuart Dinsey & many from Curve Digital
Nick Gibson, Gunjin Games
Noirin Carmody & Charles Cecil, Revolution Software Ltd
Henrique Olifiers & Imre Jele, Bossa Studios
Nicholas Lovell, Gamesbrief
James Batchelor, Gamesindustry.biz
Daniel Parker, NinjaKiwi Europe
James Anderson
Chris James, Steel Media
Ed French, GameSessions
Darren Garrett, Popogami
Bradley Crooks, BBC Worldwide
Simon Dean, Games Foundry
Paul Gardner, Wiggin
Steve Cartwright, Henderson Loggie
Ric Moore, The Secret Police Ltd
Simon Bennett, Roll7
Leigh Coy, Leandelle
Jamie Sefton, Game Republic
Kate Kneale, HKD
Frank Arnot, Stormcloud Games
Stuart Lee, Interactionman
Maurice Suckling, Mustard Corp.
Scott Richmond & Josh Bishop, Brightrock Games
Oli Christie, Neon Play
Jordan Kirk, Yakuto
Rory Scott Russell, Fusebox Games
Nathan Beardmore & Berni Williams, Centrifuge
Sergey, Mizar Games
Olly Bennett, Cardboard Sword
Peter Williamson, Supersonic Software Ltd.
Venu Tammabatula, Gamar
Paul Colls, Fierce Kaiju
Drew Wilkins, Fish in a Bottle
Mark Phillips, Harbottle & Lewis
Alex Wood, Havering College
Liam Bowles, Enigmatic Studios
Mark Eyles, University of Portsmouth
Graham Morgan, Newcastle University
Christos Gatzidis & Lewis Ball, Bournemouth University
Jon Weinbren, University of Surrey
Jack Lowe, University of London
Paul Hollins, University of Bolton
Simon Scarle, University of the West of England
Justin Parsler, Brunel University London
Julie Taylor, Goldsmiths, University of London
Mark Featherstone, Sheffield Hallam University
Liz Cable, Leeds Trinity University
Matthew Crossley, Manchester Metropolitan University
Luke Herbert, Wonderstruck Games
Ben Trewhella & Dan Page, Opposable Games
David Amor, MAG Interactive
Imran Yusuf, Gamesaid
Kirk McKeand, PCGamesN
Oliver Smith, Brash Games
Jane Birkett, Grey Alien Games
David Mitchell, Two Tails
Lee Clare, 2BITPUNKS
Stephen Swan, Leapfrog Digital
Christian-Peter Heimbach, Actioncy Ltd
Richard Bartle, University of Essex
Nia Wearn, Staffordshire University
Matthew Barr, University of Glasgow
Tim Jackson, East Kent College
Simon Reid, Birmingham Ormiston Academy
Dr Michael Scott, Falmouth University
Aaron Fothergill, Strange Flavour Ltd
Dr. David King, University of the Arts London
Mark Jawdoszak, Gaslight Games
Travis Ryan, Dumpling Design Ltd
Roger Womack, Sports Director Ltd
George Osborn, Go Editorial
Ben Le Rougetel, Indigo Pearl
Stephen Morris, Greenfly Studios
Andrzej Marczewski, Gamified UK
Andrew Roper & Andrew J Smith, Spilt Milk Studios
Fraser McCormick, Grumpy Ferret
Alex Rose, Alex Rose Games
Nathan John, Unruly Attractions
Paul Brooke, Wish Studios
Kim Burrows, Shortround Games
Aron Durkin, Short Spline Studios
Matt Griffiths, Tim Ansell, Cao-hsin Lee & Tom Roberts, BottledBy Games
David Lane, Fat Fish Games
Toby Allen, Microsoft
Dan Wakefield, Antagonist
Rob Sienkiewicz & Rowen Holt, Second Impact Games
Julian McKinlay, Sublight Digital
Paul Hilton, Can Studios
Neil Glenister, 232 Studios
Andrei Buta, Fan Studio
Ashley Gwinnel, Force of Habit
Simon Oliver, Handcircus
Lee Snookes, Flix Interactive Limited
Enda Carey, The Studio School
Pawel Pieciak, 2P Games
Andy Gibson, Brand New Bad Idea
Barnaby Smith, Sabresaurus
Richard Ogden, Red Phantom Games Ltd
Thomas Brown, Burning Arrow Ltd
Adrian Hawkins, Twistplay
Martijn van der Meulen, Snap Finger Click Ltd
Brian Smirth, 48k Applications Ltd
Nitin Thakrar, Elearning Studios
David Ross, The Media Team
Dan Counsell, Realmac Software
Jamie Campbell, Carl Dalton & Richard Badger, d3t Ltd
Philip Crowson, Nomanis / Twitch
John Pullen, After Dark Studios Ltd
Richard Bang, Freekstorm
Pete Everett & Luigi Fumero, Player Three
Richard Smith, Totem Learning Ltd
James Niesewand, Illyriad Games
Clemens Wangerin, vTime
Hussein Chahine, Yazino Technologies Ltd
Laurent Arhuro, HistoryApps
Daniel R Steer, Back To Basics Gaming
David Smith, Women in Games
Jason Lord, Liquid Crimson
Daniel Collier, Tundra Games
Nicoll Hunt, I Fight Bears
Matthew Hanlon, Bit By Bit Games
Lee Hickey, Games Faction Ltd
Steve Ince
Richard Vanner, The Game Creators
Robert Sliwinski, Codematic Systems
Luke Amer, Square Mountain
Dave Kirk, Desktop Gaming
Kirstin Whittle, VMC
Mike Tucker, Bitmap Bureau Ltd
Ash Colclough, Binary Planets
Rocco Loscalzo, PlayStyle Games
Simon Brislin, SIMIANB LTD
Bruce Grove, Polystream
Philip Bray, Braysoft
Jack Cooney, Nerd
Colin Jones, Potassium Frog Ltd
Jonathan Seymour, TickTock Games
Mike Delves, Yippee Entertainment Ltd
Ivan Davies, Catalyst
Alan Boyce, DragonfiAR
Jonathan Beales, Digital Depot Ltd
Ollie Clarke, Modern Dream
Nic Makin, Makin Games
Jeffrey Sheen, Stargazy Studios
Veronique Lallier, Hirez Studios
Mike Montgomery, The Bitmap Brothers
Kostas Zarifis, Kinesthetic Games Ltd
Russell Harding & Claire Boissiere, Conspexit Games Studio
Tim Meredith, Motion Corps Ltd
Dan Marshall, Size Five Games
Richard Logan-Baker, Dream Walker Games
Craig Watson, AceViral Ltd
John Stewart, Hunted Cow Studios Ltd
Sean Oxspring, Hitpoint Games Ltd
Alexander Illes, Made With Numbers
Tim Stoddard, Gamepopper
Dean Noakes, Noaksey
Roberta Saliani & Danny Goodayle, Just a Pixel
Simon Iwaniszak, Red Kite Games
Jonathan Price, aPriori Digital
Matt Gambell, Skatanic Studios
Jay Britton, Voice of Jay Britton
Elizabeth Henwood, Sock Thuggery
Chloe Goodchild, Ragechild
Bruce Slater, Radical Forge
Holly Grant, DigitalCity
Rob Ollett, Gameco
Lee Hutchinson & Darren Arquette, Double Eleven Ltd
Laith Al-Janabi, Digiment
Shaz Yousaf, Honey Tribe Studios
Adrian Hirst, Weaseltron Entertainment Ltd
Mike Rouse & Xu Xiaojun, Studio Gobo
Kevin Beimers, Italic Pig
Amy Dinsey, Premier PR
Mark Hastings, Guerilla Tea
Ben Leggett, The Machine Ltd
David Baxter, Boom Clap Games
Joshua Baldwin, Coldwood Interactive
Darren Falcus, Hippo Entertainment
Roger Hulley BSc., Alternative Software Ltd
Mark Greenshields, Firebrand Games
Maurizio Sciglio, Cloudgine
Rodolfo Rosini, Storybricks
Daniel Gallagher, House of Wire Ltd
Gregorios Kythreotis, Shedworks Digital
Kayleigh Watson, Substance Global
Dale Green, Greeny Games Studio
Ken Noland, Fundamental Games
Antonia Koop & Marius Strohschneider, Corncutter Games
Sayem Ahmed
Nicholas Holden, Ocarina Studios
Mark Weber, Atticmedia
Daniel Atherton, Overdose Media
Jonathan Cauldwell, ZX Spectrum Developer
Jevvrey Sheen, Stargazy Studios
Owen Davies, Arcfire Games
Charles Burt, Colossal Games
David Statter, Costume & Play
Anthony Bowler, Razor Sharp Studios
Mevlut Dinc, Pixel Age Studios
Charles Hunter, Mudlark
Matthew Duddington, Everture Studios Ltd
James Dillon, War Hungry Productions
David Christensen, Leviathan Creative
Matthew Syett, Table Flip Games

Add your name to the list

Entries to this form will not automatically update this page. We will publish valid entries as soon as possible after submission.