New in the new normal

Many of those who joined the games industry around the first outbreak of COVID-19 in the UK are approaching their first anniversary in their new careers. Chris Wallace discusses what it’s like to begin a career in our new normal

To say that the past year has been unprecedented and overwhelming is simultaneously a colossal understatement and a very tired cliché at this point.

We all had a difficult 2020 – and not to be a pessimist, but 2021 is going to remain difficult for the foreseeable future. Still, there’s light at the end of the tunnel, and those of us who can work at home have largely gotten used to doing so.

Though I’m sure there’s plenty of us still waiting for the days of office banter, after work drinks and industry events to return. For the more experienced members of our industry, the past year has, I’m sure, felt like an odd pause – without the usual major events that act as checkpoints throughout the year.

But what of us newcomers? We’re almost at the one-year mark since the first UK lockdown, meaning there will be people across the industry celebrating their anniversary without ever having stepped foot in their office or a games event.

It’s a topic close to my heart. I joined MCV/ DEVELOP, my first job in the games industry, in October 2019. So I was lucky enough to be able to attend a few UK events – stepping bleary-eyed around EGX at the end of my first week, heading

up to Yorkshire for my first (and only) event outside of London for the Yorkshire Games Festival, and of course: The MCV/ DEVELOP Awards back in March 2019.

Still, my experience in the games industry is best described by that scene in Community: walking optimistically through the door, pizza in hand, only to find everything on fire. My first overseas trip, to San Francisco for GDC, predictably did not go ahead. My second, to attend Gamescom for MCV/DEVELOP was similarly cancelled.

While I certainly feel fortunate to be here, it feels as if I’ve joined the industry in secret: smuggled in under cover of night. My Twitter feed is full of industry veterans looking back nostalgically on an industry I’ve yet to experience. I’ve been here for over a year now, and by the time I’m attending a major event again, I’ll likely be into my second year – and suddenly dealing with a very different job than the one I’ve grown accustomed to.

But I at least had that 5 month period in the office. I’ve had the (dubious) honour of meeting MCV/DEVELOP editor Seth Barton, and our colleagues at other magazines. But there’s a whole host of people out there about to celebrate their one-year anniversary, having never physically worked with their colleagues.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

We talk a lot about the ‘new normal’, but what about people for whom this is the only normal they’ve ever known in the industry? How does this match up with their initial expectations for their careers?

“Before joining, I think I expected to hit the ground running at work a bit more easily,” says Nikky Armstrong, who joined Ubisoft Reflections a senior gameplay programmer in March 2020. “I was excited about making friends in the wider industry and attending conferences and events.

“I’ve really had to step back and prioritise my mental health, followed by being able to do my job, which has meant being less involved with communities and online events because I don’t have a lot of energy left over. I have discovered what my new level of productivity is and a huge learning curve was understanding and being OK with not being able to be as effective as I was pre-COVID.

“This has been particularly difficult because the people that I work with now don’t have first-hand experience of working with me pre-COVID, so I did at first put a lot of pressure on myself to excel in my new industry and role. My manager and Ubisoft in general have been very supportive and understanding of my (and everyone’s) situation though, so with that support I have learned to go a little easier on myself.”

PART OF THE TEAM

Everyone I spoke to was keen to stress that their companies have been supportive during this time – a good sign, given the initial concerns about onboarding during this crisis. Despite many people quoted here having never physically worked with their colleagues, they nonetheless all reported feeling a valued member of the company.

“I absolutely feel a part of the team,” says Winona Sharpe, who joined Double Eleven as a junior release associate in May 2020. “Our channels of communication are very open and always getting better as time goes on. I’ve been made to feel very welcome. Working from home is new to most of us in the business so in that way I haven’t felt like I’m alone going through this.”

“Marmalade is really good for this,” adds Emily Inkpen, who joined Marmalade Game Studios as a copywriter in April 2020. “Or, at least, the marketing team is. We have daily catch-ups and video is always on. We still have creative brainstorms together for every campaign and release.

“The company has a second office in Lisbon, which is where my design partners are (copywriters and designers generally form ‘teams’ and work closely together). We’ll be working remotely even when we are in the office, so video chat will be a thing even when (if) things get back to normal.”

What seemed to be a theme, though not a universal one, is that building connections at work has been more or Nicky Armstrong, senior gameplay programmer at Ubisoft Reflections

Emily Inkpen, copywriter at Marmalade Game Studios

“A huge learning curve was understanding and being OK with not being able to be as effective as I was pre-COVID”

Venezia Georgieva, junior games designer at Mojiworks

Matthew Denny, development QA engineer at Codemasters less uninterrupted. But when it comes to making connections outside of the company, things become a lot more complicated when working remotely.

“I definitely think making connections in the wider industry has been much more challenging in the current circumstances,” says Venezia Georgieva, who joined Mojiworks as a junior game designer in October 2019.

“Going to a new place for a talk or conference used to be an event in itself for me as it broadened my horizons not only to what the speakers had to say, but also to all of the other developers and professionals in the audience. It was a great way to meet people of all walks of life and be surrounded by healthy discussion.

“Under the current circumstances working almost exclusively in front of the monitor, it can be difficult to attend extra events due to screen fatigue. I have attended a few online events since the first lockdown and have enjoyed my time on the UK Game Industry Slack, but they don’t quite fill the gap.”

GETTING TOGETHER

Online events and communities are welcome for a number of reasons. Not only are they safe during these troubled times, but they’re infinitely more accessible than physical events – without any of the costs associated with travelling and attending events, not to mention much more approachable for people with disabilities.

But while we hope online events are here to stay, for many, they simply aren’t the same experience. Many struggle to make meaningful connections from behind a screen, making networking an even more hellish experience than it ever was.

“My ability to make connections in the wider industry has been hampered in a way, yes” says Matthew Denny, who joined Codemasters as a development QA engineer a few days before the first lockdown in March 2020. “Although I’ve been able to attend online seminars from software companies, I do feel it’s harder to make connections over online events than in person ones.”

“The main reason why online events are not as enticing to me is because it’s largely impossible to facilitate them without the screen,” adds Mojiworks’ Georgieva. “I often find myself a bit drained after hours of work in front of the monitor, which can make it difficult to get excited about what would otherwise be a wonderful event.

“Nonetheless, I am very interested in online events which feature an interactive activity or a Q&A segment. Ideally I don’t want it to feel like another meeting, but like a fun social event or an educational activity. Something to do together with other people is quite appealing to me.”

But all that isn’t to say that, should the pandemic be over tomorrow, that returning to large-scale events won’t be an emotionally complicated experience. While the people I spoke to remained optimistic about adjusting back to the old normal when the time comes, there’s certainly a risk of a culture shock once this is all over.

“I am a bit worried I will be wary of going to events,” notes Ubisoft Reflections’ Armstrong. “Even when they are up and running again, I may miss out on opportunities through being overly cautious, but I imagine that will get better with time”

Though as Marmalade’s Inkpen notes, these fears will hardly be unique to those new to the games industry:

“I think the whole country is going to be a bit agoraphobic. I’ve got a really good sense of the team remotely and I actually can’t wait to be in the office with them all in person! Perhaps I’ll be easily overwhelmed by the crowds in London at first, and I imagine a lot of headphone time in the office, but that was always the case. It’s hard to do words when everyone is talking around you.”

CAREER CRISIS?

The limitations on social interaction is one thing, but what of the potentially more long-lasting consequences of spending your entire career working remotely? Do our new starters feel that this pandemic has hindered their career development?

“I think it may have hampered my ability to be as impactful at work as I would like,” says Ubisoft Reflections’ Armstrong. “Both in terms of reduced capacity and not being able to create relationships with a wider range of team members as easily.

“I think it has been more difficult to demonstrate the value that I bring with me from outside the industry when I’m concentrating so hard on staying afloat. I also have put a lot of my study and personal projects aside because I want to shut the door on my work area at home at the end of the day.”

The pandemic has been awful in many ways – and while they don’t even come close to counteracting the negative aspects, there are positives to be found if you look for them.

“Personally I don’t feel that the pandemic has hampered my career development,” says

Double Eleven’s Sharpe. “If anything, joining the games industry when I did meant that I had the opportunity to start a new career while at the same time prioritising my mental and physical wellbeing. I’m not spending several hours every day commuting, resorting to fast food, and coming home exhausted after a long day at work.”

On the note of benefits, one thing I’ve personally found liberating about the past year is the move to remote work. While there’s certainly a few elements of office life that I miss, no longer having to factor in the costs (and misery) of an early morning London commute was one of the few perks of 2020, and one I hope to be able to hang on to in some form going forward.

Is this a desire we can expect to see spread across the industry?

“This is really tough to say,” says Ubisoft Reflections’ Armstrong. “I enjoy not having a commute, and as difficult as it has been to write code with my dog sat on my lap, it is very nice to take him for a walk when it’s still light out, and he will have severe separation anxiety issues for us to work through if I do go back to the office. I also don’t miss catching every cold that anyone brings in with them.

“But I miss the atmosphere and friendship of an office, and I haven’t been able to experience going to work at Ubisoft with the logos and memorabilia and things on the walls. That’s a superficial thing, but it was something I was looking forward to!”

“Ideally I would love a mixed option,” adds Mojiworks’ Georgieva, “with some days spent working from home and some days spent in the studio. Even though countless game professionals have proven that we can do outstanding work remotely, I believe it is important to nurture the relationships within the team and to get to know each other on a personal level.”

With all that said – this has hardly been the first year any of us had hoped for, I’m sure. If people had known their first year in the industry would be like this, would they still have joined?

“Yes definitely,” says Codemasters’ Denny. “The industry is very hard to break into and I would recommend anyone looking to join the industry to not be put off by remote working. There are even some perks through remote working like being able to be around family, but also some disadvantages like higher energy bills!”

“Yes!” says Marmalade’s Inkpen, emphatically. “Hands down, I’m home.” Winona Sharp, junior release associate at Double Eleven

Has Jagex found the one?

Phil Mansell, CEO Jagex Jagex has new owners, a huge private equity firm, but what does that mean for the company and the industry? Seth Barton talks to Phil Mansell about expansion, acquisitions and some new Runescape games

Consolidation has been the buzz around the game industry in recent years, with Microsoft, Tencent, and many more buying up developers at a pace. However, incumbents aren’t the only financial power in the land, and last week it was announced that Runescape creator Jagex had been acquired by The Carlyle Group.

The Carlyle Group is big business. Considered to be the second largest private equity firm in the world, it manages over $200bn of assets. So it’s somewhat surprising to discover that Jagex is its first proper games industry acquisition.

So we caught up with Jagex CEO Phil Mansell to discuss what the new ownership means for the company, it’s strategy, and for the games industry more broadly.

NOTHING VENTURED...

“I think [the deal] talks not just to the journey Jagex has been on, but also what’s going on in our industry and the renown and resilience and maturity that we’ve now got,” Mansell responds when we ask about the broader environment around the deal.

“It was certainly not the case that the very largest private equity companies were getting really serious about gaming five to ten years ago, when they started on the fringes. And now, while it’s newish, it’s not heart stoppingly shocking that it’s happened.

“You can understand it from their perspective as well. You’ve got the games industry becoming more mature, better known throughout the world, whether it’s in live games or mobile or in AAA, you know that those franchises can be robust, long term, growth vehicles.

“We’ve shown that with Runescape, but I think at an industry level, you’re seeing that increasingly over the last number of years, and COVID has only accelerated that. When other sectors have really struggled, games have remained resilient as we have through recessions and other things in the past.

“It’s a good milestone, certainly for us as a company, but also a good signal of the confidence that the investment world has in video games.”

And Jagex has confidence in its new owner as well. As we went to press, there were allegations from third parties that the dealings of previous owners had not been entirely transparent. Nothing there reflected on the behaviour of Jagex itself, though, and the company is very confident that this move is both proper and correct. After all, the

Carlyle Group certainly looks to know its business.

“We’ve decided not to go into the details on the mechanics of the transaction. But certainly, as you allude to, it has been something of a journey,” Mansell tells us when we ask about the short period under previous owner Macarthur Fortune. “The ultimate destination with Carlyle is absolutely ideal and we’re genuinely, really, really happy with it. It’s been a bit of an intense period, but the destination has made it worth it for sure.”

TATE AND CAR-LYLE

So just what makes their new owners such a sweet deal for Jagex?

“They genuinely embraced our vision for the company,” says Mansell. “We’re in a good place, we’ve had a strong track record for many years of growing the company, we rejuvenated the Runescape IP, and we pretty much doubled the size of the company in four or five years.

“But you can’t just reflect on the past, you’ve got to know where you’re going. And we’ve always wanted to really establish ourselves as a premier, global level, living games company.

“Certainly, we’ve done a lot with Runescape, and Old School, and moved to mobile, with massive growth of the communities that we’ve had there. And the next thing we’re doing is we’ve got even more expansion for our existing games.

“We have new platforms, new territories, loads of cool features that we have in the pipeline. We do want to do more with the Runescape IP which has 300 million users in its lifetime.

“There’s a groundswell of fondness for the world and its stories and characters. Obviously, we love it, we’ve been telling chapters of this story of Runescape for 20 years. We think there’s a lot more to do there. So we’re really excited by the creative potential there as well. I think they could see that, and they really bought into it. They wanted to sponsor our vision for growth, and support us and accelerate that. And I think it was that alignment and that meeting of minds that really made us just really happy.”

SAGE ADVICE

So what can Carlyle offer Jagex? Apart from access to funds, of course. Just how does a non-endemic owner assist running a company in an industry that’s historically misunderstood from the outside?

“One of the reasons they have acquired Jagex, is that they found a really strong management team,” Mansell begins in answer. “I’ve been at Jagex for 10 years, I’ve been running it as CEO for four, running the games for many years before that. But I’ve also built a really strong management team. My executives have built their own teams as well over the last few years. And all of that really inspires a lot of confidence.

“We don’t need someone to come and run the company, what we need is support and help. So some of that is wisdom and advice. It’s the Carlyle tech fund, so they do understand the world of digital, business to consumer, and the internet services side of things. So there’s certainly going to be a lot of wisdom about infrastructure and general tech company running which as we expand, that’s going to be really helpful.”

And Carlyle is providing top-tier advisors too. “We’ve been really fortunate to bring on two nonexecutive directors,” explains Mansell. “We’ve got Niccolo de Masi, who is currently the chairman of Glu Mobile... and was also the former CEO there. He’s got tons of experience in not just mobile games, but the mobile ecosystem as a whole. We know mobile offers more opportunity for us, so that wisdom at a corporate level and investment level is going to be really helpful.

“And the other non-executive director we’ve been lucky enough to bring on is Mike Griffith.

Above: Jagex is having a year- long party in Runescape for its 20th anniversary And he’s a former CEO of Activision. So there’s another whole angle, developing franchises, developing IP... an understanding of high production value development.”

To their role Mansell adds: “They’re not managers in our business, what they are is sage counsel for me and the leaders of Jagex to bounce ideas off, get good advice from, utilise their contacts in the industry.”

PLACES AND PLATFORMS

And those contacts will come in handy as Jagex looks to grow its reach globally.

“We certainly have ambitions... to play in more markets. And that might mean we need presence in more places in the world. Someone like Carlyle, who has hundreds of companies, has the resources and help that can assist you in doing those growth expansions, finding new markets.”

“We’ve got our two MMOs at the moment. Runescape and Old School, which have some degree of localization, but I don’t think we’ve fulfilled the potential there. So that’s not something we’ve got a plan to announce today. But it’s an ambition that we’ve got, we know there’s demand and interesting stuff to do there.”

But it’s not just the current games that will allow Jagex to reach new regions, it’s also thinking more globally about its new titles.

“When Runescape came out, originally 20 years ago, it probably wasn’t too surprising it was only in English. But in 2021, you’re launching a new game, you’re expecting not just the game to be really well localised and culturised, but for you to have the ability to publish, or partner, in order to sell it and build communities around the world. “For us as a company we’re building this expertise overlap between our current games and our new games. But certainly, as we’re bringing new games to market, we expect to cover a much wider reach with those games.” Taking a couple of steps back, we ask what the strategy is for new titles, which would be a huge change of direction for a company that has, in recent years, concentrated on its crown jewels of Runescape and its Old School iteration.

“When we think about new Runescape games, we know that our players have got homes in Runescape or Old School, we’re not looking to jolt them and move them out. Where we are looking at new Runescape games, multiple I would say, not just a third, is where we think there is a really great creative idea. One close enough to home that we’ve got the skill set, generally within RPGs to realise that, although RPG means a lot of different things these days,” Mansell notes.

“Is there something that isn’t going to cannibalise or confuse our current players, or players who come and go from the games we already have?” he continues. “How can we extend that portfolio, but in a really constructive way, rather than forcibly migrating players?

“We’re going to run Runescape and Old School successfully in perpetuity, and hopefully continue to grow and grow for many more decades. But what else does the Runescape IP offer? What else does our skill set and our creative energies want to conjure up that can sit as a complimentary addition.”

We’re sure that Runescape’s passionate player base would be hollering out answers to that question, but we won’t indulge in any of that here.

STEAM POWERED

With all that in mind, Jagex’s recent move to place Runescape on Steam, the first time it’s appeared on another platform, makes a lot of sense. So was that simply an experiment for the future we wonder?

“A lot of things we do, we do treat as experiments, the best thing you can do as a company, especially for games,

is experiment and learn from it... and capitalise on the things that you’ve learned,” Mansell replies. “So Steam was a bit like that.”

That said, it was also simply a good move to build the brand. “I think the main reason we went to Steam was it helps us reach more players. There are some players for whom Steam is their number one venue. It’s got a great toolset behind it. And we want to be exposed to as many players as possible to be building up our communities.

“We’ve managed to grow as far as we have on our own, but we want to further expand our reach. And some of that is from distribution platforms, Steam has had the Runescape release and Old School is coming very shortly as well.” On the 24th of February to be precise.

The company is also looking to make its first move onto console, Mansell reveals: “We are also looking at the potential of console platforms in the future as well, there’s some work started on that, again we’re not announcement-ready, but we’re really interested.

“We’ve got some of the most successful MMORPGs in the world. And, yes, Runescape has a retro vibe to it, but in terms of their growth and the size of their communities they’re really up there. We want to continue to expand that reach. So whether it is Steam, whether it’s innovations we can do with the products ourselves, whether it’s other platforms, and ultimately other regions. We’re working on all of that.”

And speaking of that retro vibe, it’s worth noting that Jagex is having a year-long party to celebrate Runescape’s 20th anniversary. Although those plans have had to be rethought without a tentpole physical event such as its huge annual Runefest fan gathering.

“There’s a silver lining, which is it prompts you to rethink things. And you have to innovate a bit as well, what it’s meant is we’ve rethought how to celebrate these kind of events with players, we’ve got a lot more in-game events, and they’re not just like a moment in time, we have different chapters of celebration going through both games throughout the year. We think of it as a rolling year’s celebration.”

WORLD OF WARCHEST

Returning to what Carlyle brings to Jagex, we wonder if its new parent will enable the company to make acquisitions of its own? But funds were never the issue, Mansell replies.

“We’re very, very fortunate as a company, we’re not particularly constrained by cash. You can see in our accounts we have over £100m in revenue, and around half of that as pure profit. So we don’t lack for cash to put into things. I think the difference with Carlyle is probably more about confidence and accelerating our growth. I think that we do expect to be a bit more punchy, we want to grow our business a bit more aggressively. So I think we’ll speed up a bit on a number of fronts.”

Mansell explains what the new, punchier, Jagex will look for in terms of opportunities.

“Are there studios that we want to invest in ourselves, that could be part of the third-party publishing? It might be separate to that, just our own acquisitions. That’s something we know we’re going to be looking at more actively. So that’s also an exciting change, with our acquisition, that has opened more doors and potential.

“For us, it’s what are the games that make sense? What’s the right size of deal or game where we really think there’s value that we can add, we can team up with a partner and give them something they don’t already have. Some of that is capital, some of that’s funding for marketing, a bit of development funding, absolutely.

“But it’s as much about, do we think a big community can be built around that game? Do we think the game has a special place in the market? The test we talk about a lot is ‘can this game be the new favourite game of millions of players?’ And that’s the test we want to go through. And we’re very fortunate that we have the war chest to be able to do those things.

CONSOLE-IDATION

Which brings us right back round to the industry’s current consolidation spree. So does Mansell believe that the current buy-outs are healthy for the industry?

“Each to their own,” he replies. “I think it very much depends on the company and the people there, about what they want to achieve. Jagex has always been, through different ownership, independently spirited. We’ve got our own IP, we’re not particularly dependent on other parties.

“Carlyle really makes sense for us, that independent spirit. We only need to think about ourselves,” which is in stark contrast to say Microsoft’s acquisitions, which are then aligned heavily with the company’s Game Pass strategy. That doesn’t seem the right course for Jagex of course, although an alternative to venture capital ownership could be an IPO.

“Long term, we’re open, and we know Carlyle is open to those sorts of things,” Mansell muses.

“With Carlyle, we will be working on plans that build the long term value and growth for Jagex. Whether things lead to IPOs, or that sort of thing in the future, we remain open minded, that’s not the driving consideration, the driving consideration is to build our community, make our players happy, do some great creative work and continue to run a really healthy company.”