MCV/DEVELOP 968 May 2021

MCV/DEVELOP ISSUE 968

THE ART AND BUSINESS OF VIDEO GAMES

MAY 2021

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RACING AS ONE CODEMASTERS AND EA ON THE $1.2BN DEAL Codemasters’ Frank Sagnier and EA’s Andrew Wilson on the future relationship of sports and games 03 MCV 968 Editorial Cover V9 FINAL.indd 1

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MAY

05 The Editor

Opportunity and responsibility

06 Critical Path

The key dates this month

10 PoC in Play #StopAsianHate

12 Industry Voices

Comment from around the industry

14 30 Under 30

This year's list of talented youth

25 Ins and Outs

This month's hires and moves

28 Recruiter Hotseat

Sharkmob is hiring!

14 50

29 Debugging D&I

Talking to Autistica

30 EA & Codemasters

The biggest deal in UK games

36 The 4 Winds

30

Exploring untapped markets

40 Sumo Group

Acqusitions, publishing and 2 BAFTAs

44 Fanatical x Fandom

62

When retail meets fan content

46 The event horizon

Lessons learned for the future

50 Rust

Double Eleven on its console ports

54 Unsigned

58

The best indies looking for partners

58 The Art Of...

Hades

62 When We Made...

Townscaper's miniature marvels

66 The Final Boss

Bulkhead Interactive's Joe Brammer

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“A global industry, with increasing costs, massive cultural cachet, and little meaningful regulation…”

TheEditor Opportunity and responsibility Making comparisons between our industry and others is not always helpful or illuminating. However, the recent shitshow of the European Super League announcement was so mindboggingly mishandled by all involved that it acts as a cautionary lesson for any industry with a committed fanbase.

While our industry is far from perfect. The commercial interests at the top of the ‘football pyramid’ (a name that’s long made me feel they might be sacrificing something up there to keep the money rolling in), have shown themselves to be far, far worse.

The pursuit of profit in top-tier football has created a desperate competition to stay on top. Enabled by a lack of meaningful regulation, in large part due to the sport’s global nature. The wage bills of the biggest clubs are perilously poised at best and often laughably unsustainable.

A global industry, with increasing costs, huge competition, massive cultural cachet, and little meaningful regulation due to its globalised nature…

Yes, football is a very different game, its international governing bodies have proven to be inept or corrupt many times over, and its storied history of social and political significance makes game’s current history look like a day at kindergarten in comparison.

But the day will come when future generations will look back at the history of video games and point out where we should have done better. And this ongoing boom period for games – from iPhone, to digital distribution, to live service games, to the pandemic profits – will be much more than a footnote in our collective history.

So now, more than ever, we must be careful when choosing who we partner with, in making sure that our businesses are on strong moral ground, and that they are sustainable, in every sense of the word. In short, that we remain a force for good and not end up as the next European Super League.

In our interview this month, EA CEO Andrew Wilson, spoke eloquently on the industry’s immediate future, saying: “I think we only go forward from here. And I think that’s a tremendous opportunity and a tremendous responsibility for us to continue to deliver great sports and entertainment that fulfil [the] need for social interaction.”

We agree with that sentiment wholeheartedly. Now we must all live up to it.

And while we’re discussing our post-pandemic future, I’d like to announce that MCV/ DEVELOP is planning an in-person event for after the summer.

It will be very different from our usual MCV/DEVELOP Awards. We’re planning something more inclusive and more casual. An event that celebrates our broader successes – in opportunity and responsibility, both individual and collective – over the past year. A celebration of everything that makes us a force for good.

While no event plan can be a certainty yet, please pencil Thursday 24th September in your diaries. We’d love to see you all there.

Seth Barton seth.barton@biz-media.co.uk May 2021 MCV/DEVELOP | 05

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Critical Path

Here are the key upcoming events and releases to mark in your calendar...

Mass Effect Legendary Edition

Resident Evil Village You’d think people would have a lot to talk about in the leadup to a new Resident Evil game, but no. Instead, for months, all I’ve heard is people being performatively horny for Lady Dimitrescu. I don’t care if it’s good for site traffic, she has claw hands and probably smells of mothballs. Please stop asking respected game developers about her shoe size, I’m begging you. Oh damn, now I’m banging on about her too.

The original trilogy of titles from Bioware’s space opera mega franchise returns (for PS4, Xbox and PC) in a fully remastered format. Commander Shepherd will once again fight the mysterious and highly-advanced machine race called the Reapers.

More memorably though, the game is popular for its characters and particularly its romance options – with socially awkward sniper Garrus being a particular fan favourite.

MAY 7th

14th

Famicom Detective Club This is actually two games, The Missing Heir and The Girl Who Stands Behind, which originally released in 1988 and 1989 respectively, and are now being remade for the Switch by developer Mages.

Originally only released in Japan, these adventure games/visual novels were the first writing project for Yoshio Sakamoto, now much better known for his work on the Metroid series.

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An Airport for Aliens Currently Run by Dogs Miitopia Originally released for the 3DS in 2017, this remaster sees Nintendo return to the marmite zone of Mii creation. In this RPG/life sim, the player characters are all Mii creations – who we thought had (thankfully) fallen out of favour in the Switch era (apart from as never-selected options in Super Smash and Mario Kart). In Miitopia your Miis will hold grudges, and combat will become more difficult if they aren’t getting along. Each to their own we suppose.

Developed and published by Strange Scaffold, An Airport for Aliens Currently Run by Dogs (or simply Dog Airport Game as the developer now refers to it) is maybe the game we need right now. The game is inhabited by a series of stock photos of dogs, and yes, you can pet all the dogs, all the time. The player and their fiancée are the last two humans left in the universe, trying to navigate an airport run by dogs.

MAY 21st

25th

Biomutant This game has been delayed enough that it’s an act of reckless optimism to put its current release date in print. Still, we remain hopeful that Experiment 101 and THQ Nordic’s action RPG title will be with us soon. The game’s world is one populated by mutated animals, with players able to create their own for their player character. Interestingly, the player’s character creation choices will affect gameplay – weightier characters will be slower but hit harder, for instance.

King of Seas This pirate action roleplaying game is set in a procedurally generated world, coming from developer 3DClouds and published by Team17. The game’s dynamic world will react to the player’s actions, with changing navel routes and adaptive difficulty to keep the experience challenging and satisfying.

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We’re Playing...

CONTENT Editor: Seth Barton seth.barton@biz-media.co.uk +44 (0)203 143 8785 Staff Writer: Chris Wallace chris.wallace@biz-media.co.uk +44 (0)203 143 8786 Design and Production: Steve Williams swilliams@designandmediasolutions.co.uk

ADVERTISING SALES Senior Business Development Manager: Alex Boucher alex.boucher@biz-media.co.uk +44 (0)7778538431

MANAGEMENT Media Director: Colin Wilkinson colin.wilkinson@biz-media.co.uk +44 (0)203 143 8777

SUBSCRIBER CUSTOMER SERVICE To subscribe, change your address, or check on your current account status, please contact: subscriptions@bizmediauk.co.uk ARCHIVES Digital editions of the magazine are available to view on ISSUU.com. Recent back issues of the printed edition may be available please call +44 (0)203 143 8777 for more information.

INTERNATIONAL MCV/DEVELOP and its content are available for licensing and syndication re-use. Contact Colin Wilkinson for opportunities and permissions: colin.wilkinson@biz-media.co.uk

Am I still playing Warzone? Yes, yes I am. Developer Raven has finally overcome whatever nastiness was tripping them up these last few months (I suspect a most poisoned chalice was involved) and not only has Verdansk been reborn in glorious 80s hues but the gun balance is being properly addressed too. Congrats to all.

With lockdown over, I have returned to London and I’m playing the game of LIFE my friends. I’m outside. I’m drunk at least 90 per cent of the time. I’m not going back. I’m NEVER going back. Video games? Never heard of them.

I’m a park drunk now. Please get in touch with your park drunk-related press releases or else leave me in peace.

Chris Wallace, Staff Writer

This month I’ve mostly been spending my time with the LEGO titles, and I’ve been diving deep into both the Lego Marvel and the Lego Star Wars games.

Though on a slightly less LEGO-y note, I’m also really looking forward to UnderKnight as well.

Alex Boucher, Senior Business Development Manager

Seth Barton, Editor

Paws the game The best furry friends the industry has to offer. Send yours to chris.wallace@biz-media.co.uk

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Pet: Jinx Owner: Tom Ryan-Smith Owner’s job: Channel manager, GAMINGbible

Pet: Dink Owner: Lorraine Ansell Owner’s job: Voice over artist, BAFTA games member.

Pet: Mika Owner: Kuan-Ting Chin Owner’s job: Quality assurance tester at Roll7

Jinx is a three-legged void. He was adopted after he fell out of a window and his previous owners couldn’t afford to pay for the leg amputation operation.

This is Dink the cat. She likes long naps, fighting PS4 cables and being a right Diva. She likes drinking from showers and ponds and play fights for the duvet!

Mika is an almost 4 year old Pomeranian that’s hyperactive (although she sometimes just lazes on our sofa), mischievous, furry bundle of joy.

+44 (0)203 143 8777

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SAVE THE DATE

Thursday 23rd September We’re planning a very special and very different event this year. To applaud the industry’s incredible response to the pandemic and to celebrate being able to gather together again.

We’re now looking for key partners to support an inclusive and positive event for everyone.

Very last chance to take part – contact us today

For more details contact alex.boucher@biz-media.co.uk

Jobs

Show your best side to potential candidates This special advertorial feature will consist of double-page studio profiles including short interviews with key staff, so candidates can put a name and a face to those they will be working with.

Boost your recruitment drive in this difficult year with a concise summary of everything that makes your studio a great place to work from the people who know it best: your team.

Distributed via print, digital edition, email newsletter and online.

All studios will also receive a PDF version for future use as they wish.

To get involved with DEVELOP JOBS then contact: alex.boucher@biz-media.co.uk May 2021 MCV/DEVELOP | 9

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Content Warning: Discussions around racism and hate crime What is #StopAsianHate and why is it trending right now?

The Coronavirus pandemic, which started at the beginning of 2020, and still persists today across most of the world, has been an incredibly trying time for us all. Without a doubt, this has also led to a significant increase in the levels of inequality we see through society.

Due to discrimination, racial minorities have for generations seen disproportionate effects of negative social determinants such as hate crime, policing, quality of education, healthcare and more.

As the World Economic Forum reports: “Women, alongside the poor, elderly, disabled and migrant populations, have borne the brunt of the fallout from the pandemic. Minorities have been hit harder and are recovering more slowly from the downturn.”

Based on the knowledge we have; this is an unsurprising yet still very urgent situation to tackle.

#Stop Asian Hate When the pandemic began, early links were made to China as the potential source of the outbreak. Whilst scientists generally agree that the source of the outbreak was indeed Wuhan, China (where cases were first reported); this has become a new source of senseless anti-Asian hatred with very clear impact particularly in the western world, where Asian people live as part of minority communities across Europe, Oceania and the Americas.

An increasing number of violent attacks against East Asian people in particular has been recorded over the past year, but the shocking murder of eight people including six East Asian women across three spa parlours in Atlanta, USA, this became the catalyst for a viral movement on social media with the hashtag #StopAsianHate. The intention being to raise visibility about the very real dangers East Asian people face at this time in addition to being a way to bring together resources and tangible actions that the whole global community can get behind.

What is the history of this form of discrimination?

In the UK, anti-Asian hate crime has seen a significant spike since the pandemic started, where according to the Metropolitan Police, a single month in the first quarter of 2020 saw more than 350 per cent rise in such incidents compared to any month in 2019.

Like all forms of discrimination, anti-Asian discrimination has a long and complicated history. This history of course has

implications relevant to the situation today. One example of this would be the mass deportation of Chinese seamen after World War II, this was due to widely recognised discrimination against Chinese people and perceived suitability for their place in British society. The result was hundreds of separated families with implications for years to come.

Similarly, in the United States during this period; JapaneseAmerican civilians were indiscriminately held at internment camps, as retaliation for the involvement of the Japanese government in World War II. Discrimination from this period and generations prior have not simply disappeared over the years. It has contributed to a frame-work by which hatred, distrust and violence against East Asian people is continually perpetuated to this day.

How it affects games industry people and the wider community In the video games industry, we are a close-knit community of incredibly creative people, with a true passion for our craft and entertaining the general public via the world’s biggest entertainment medium. However, we are also very much part of wider society.

It must be appreciated however that marginalised people carry a weight with them every day. A weight of experience, of expectation and of hypervisibility. With this in mind, imagine how a person already experiencing negative outcomes due to their background may feel when seeing very public expressions of violence against those who look like them.

But for many, this is not just something happening to someone else on TV, or the internet, it’s happening to them too when they walk down the street or turn up to work.

It should be considered how cultural aspects of our industry may also cause issues of inclusivity. For example, because drinking and pub culture play a central role in the UK games industry in terms of networking, team building, and idea pitching, many Asians who suffer from alcohol flush reactions, sometimes referred to as Asian flush, are placed at a disadvantage.

They are either excluded from these activities if they don’t want to experience the uncomfortable symptoms or don’t want to be seen having the physical reaction or persist in participation, often receiving ridicule or mockery.

Responsibility of Games Companies As previously stated, the video games industry is the world’s largest entertainment industry, vastly exceeding film, TV and music. Along with impressive revenue statistics, video games

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have long had a significant cultural impact with majorities of several populations actively participating in gaming.

The internet and social media platforms such as YouTube, Twitch, Facebook and Twitter. This has meant not only has the influence of the medium only grown stronger, along with game studios’ connection with the players.

With this in mind, video games companies need to make a visible stand against anti-Asian hatred across every available platform they command.

Practical advice for Employers We’ve spoken about the external declarations of support games companies can do relatively easily but we must remember they are employers with accountability to their staff too. If you are an employer there are some practical things you can do to support your staff who may be struggling at this time: Internal policies on racism and discrimination and grievance process • Letting employees know where you stand on the important issues can be a great source of reassurance.

• This also means being vigilant about anti-Asian sentiment in internal chat spaces.

Access to counselling & mental health support • There are a number of organisations that can provide access to services such as counselling, stress management and mindfulness.

Internal mental health first aider • Mental health first aid training is a great way to ensure a dedicated person(s) can be the point of contact for anyone who is struggling at work.

Flexible time off / rest days • Consider offering time off for those who are going through a difficult time in the form of compassionate leave.

Consider offers of subsidised/safe transport for individuals at risk of violence when travelling to the office • This can be a temporary measure if your staff are being asked to visit during the pandemic.

Wider context / Advice for representation in games Representation matters. We have previously discussed the broad cultural impact of video games. One of the biggest ways in which this impact can be shown is via the on screen representation of characters, cultures and stories.

Games studios have a responsibility to ensure that depictions of people and societies do not lean on stereotypes or eurocentric ideologies. Some examples include:

• Avoid common stereotypes such as a submissive or ‘dutiful’ Asian woman included only to support white male characters. Silent Asian characters or the ‘martial artist’ are also commonly overused.

• Non English languages and languages using non-Latin alphabets should be displayed correctly and should not be used only to create a sense of exoticism or discomfort for the player.

Representation behind the scenes is equally important and when proper input is allowed from team members and consultants of diverse backgrounds, many of these incorrect or stereotypical depictions may be avoided.

Advice on Hiring Improving hiring practices in order to build a more diverse & inclusive environment is something that every game studio should aim to do. A few areas we commonly remind employers to think about: • Job advertisements should aim to reach as a broad and audience as possible. Hiring should not be focussed only on the personal networks of a few people.

• Make entry requirements fair and realistic. “5 shipped games” for a mid-level role would put off most candidates, but people from marginalised backgrounds are even less likely to apply. Those from sectors outside the video games industry, where representation may be higher, could be completely ruled out even if they are qualified.

• Interview processes should be structured and consistent.

Where possible diversity in interviewers and rounds designed to reduce bias should be considered.

• Avoid cultural stereotyping in roles. East Asian people are underrepresented in creative roles in the UK video games industry for example. Consider how stereotypical ideas of subjects or roles an East Asian person may be ‘good at’ could affect hiring decisions.

POC in Play is an independent organisation creating a range of initiatives and programmes of events designed to increase the visibility and representation of People of Colour in the video games industry. We aim to work with industry, educators and other diversity organisations to create more opportunities for all.

For more information and support visit: https://www.pocplay.org

• POC should not appear in games simply as mythical or magical others.

• Be mindful of casting dark skinned minorities as being exclusively from deprived backgrounds or villains.

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Industry Voices

New Subsidy Control System must support the UK’s high technology sectors Richard Wilson, TIGA

MCV/DEVELOP gives the industry a platform for its own views in its own words. Do you have a burning hot take for the world of games?

Get in touch!

Now that the UK has left the EU, the Government intends to introduce a new subsidy control system. The Government has the opportunity to create a system that works for firms, employees and the wider UK economy.

Subsidies (e.g. a cash payment, a loan with interest below the market rate, a loan guarantee) need to be used judiciously in order to minimise the potential for harmful and distortive effects.

Yet the UK has scope to increase support for businesses in the form of state aid subsidies.

In recent years, the UK public sector has spent less in state aid than many other EU countries.

In 2018, the UK spent 0.38 per cent of GDP on state aid (excluding railways, and agriculture and fisheries). Comparatively, Germany spent 1.45 per cent.

TIGA, the trade association representing the video games industry, is calling for a subsidy regime that is focused on achieving the UK’s strategic objectives. These objectives include: improving productivity (e.g. incentivising investment in physical and digital capital and training); addressing market failures (e.g. in the provision of finance for high technology start-ups); and promoting social goods (e.g. encouraging job creation as part of the levelling up agenda). TIGA has also recommended a subsidy regime that enables sector specific support, efficient oversight and enforcement and a system that is both agile and transparent. TIGA has advanced this argument in response to a recent Government consultation.

The video games industry is one of the sectors that the UK should aim to promote over the coming months and years. The sector provides high skilled employment: around 80 per cent of the development workforce is qualified to degree level or above. The industry supports economic growth in clusters throughout the UK: approximately 80 per cent of the workforce is based outside of London. Games development

is export focused: around 95 per cent of games studios export at least some of their content.

The video games industry is relatively resilient to Coronavirus engendered lockdowns: games development is a digital sector and work can be undertaken and delivered remotely. We have the potential to grow our high skilled, export focused industry further.

Access to capital, an endemic issue across high-tech industries, has consistently been one of the top factors holding back many small and start-up UK games developers. The Government now has the opportunity to ensure studios get the funding they need to grow, expand and succeed. TIGA has proposed that the new subsidy system should enable the introduction of a Video Games Investment Fund (VGIF). This would improve studios’ access to finance by making grants or loans of between £75,000 and £500,000 available to games businesses on a matched funding basis throughout the UK. Research shows that a VGIF would create approximately 1,200 highly skilled jobs by 2025.

Our new subsidy control regime should also be designed to permit subsidies for training development staff, particularly in small studios and the continued operation of the UK Games Fund.

High-tech industries like the video games sector have further potential for expansion.

An agile, transparent and flexible subsidy control system, allied with an enhanced Video Games Tax Relief, will help to drive investment, employment and growth throughout the UK.

Dr Richard Wilson is the CEO of TIGA, the award-winning trade association representing the UK video games industry. At TIGA, Richard has successfully campaigned for the introduction of Video Games Tax Relief and introduced an accreditation system for university games courses.

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Why the games industry’s CSR focus must be maintained post-pandemic Kelvin Plomer, Jagex

2020 did much to accelerate the adoption of gaming as a popular pastime among new audiences around the world, something which we saw in RuneScape and Old School RuneScape as well. With the pandemic and associated lockdowns limiting outdoor activities for months at a time, video games became the best form of escapism, giving people the chance to jump into new worlds for the very first time. Case in point, 62 per cent of UK adults played computer games during the pandemic, according to Ofcom.

With life gradually returning to a new normal, the conversation has moved on to how the industry will keep hold of both its new and returning players. People will likely be playing games less when other activities become available, though it’s unlikely that they will be throwing away their new PC or games console even when everything opens up again. Strategies will vary from company to company but, on a macro level, the fact that video games provided positive escapism and support, and a way for people to meet old and new friends in online communities over the last 12 months is a huge opportunity for the industry at large.

This ties into another area at which gaming has excelled in the last year, rallying to offer support – in the form of fundraising and delivering gateways to wellbeing help – during the pandemic. Games for Heroes gave UK health workers free access to video games, and the Play Apart Together campaign, supported by the World Health Organisation and a host of game studios, brought ways to raise much needed funds for charities, as well as support the public at large. Here at Jagex we donated £204,000 to three mental health charities to support their work during lockdown, and over £445,000 across the whole year.

It is important to recognise that these are not just gestures. The gaming space’s dedication to CSR and mental health specifically is an excellent example of the industry’s maturity and is an important part of demonstrating this to audiences still on the fence or stuck on old perceptions of games as a whole. This means continuing its commitment to both the large

fundraising projects, and the smaller, personal level initiatives to continue to protect players and their mental health – something we have been doing in earnest at Jagex since 2017.

Working more publicly and more closely with charities and initiatives beyond fundraising is an excellent way to maximise the amount of good that video game companies can do for their players. At Jagex we work hand-in-hand with our charity partners to amplify their messages of support and education to our communities, both in-game and externally – also contributing our time and resource to enable them to be even more effective in the essential work they do. The sheer depth and breadth of talent across disciplines within the games industry can be instrumental in amplifying important messages for other organisations. Even with the lightest of contributions.

And this relationship should be symbiotic.

Exchanging the skills of the employees at gaming companies for a greater understanding and new perspectives on important issues delivered by experts in those areas is key.

A good example is elevating the focus on diversity and inclusion, both in gaming communities and within organisations. Another is the focus on mental health, an area that, as an interactive medium, gaming is uniquely positioned to tackle.

To that end, we are happy to announce that Jagex will continue our support of mental health with CPSL Mind and Rise Above the Disorder, and also, for the next two years, we will partner with Blueprint for All to promote diversity and inclusion, within our games, within our company and within our local community.

We hope that other video game companies will continue their commitments to their CSR initiatives beyond the pandemic and that collectively we will continue to show the world what a force for good the video games industry can be.

Kelvin Plomer is Senior Director of Player Experience at Jagex. He has cross-studio responsibility for improving the player experience, duty of care, player support, anti-cheating, online safety and he heads up Jagex’s charitable giving strategy.

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PARTNERING with the 30 Under 30 has always felt natural to us, attracting and retaining the next generation of talent is important to the long-term success of the games industry.

It’s where the industry’s future ideas, innovation, inspiration & leaders will all come from. That is why we are so proud to be supporting this initiative, which identifies and celebrates the younger players within the industry - and showcases their contribution so far. Congratulations to you all!

Kim Parker, founder and MD, OPMJobs

THIS year we’ve once again been inundated with entries for 30 Under 30. With nearly 15 entries for every place awarded. If you’ve made it onto these pages then congratulations, if you didn’t then don’t feel bad. It was really tough, and do please apply again in future. This year’s entries were more numerous than usual, likely because all our opportunities to be ‘seen’ by the broader industry have been so massively curtailed by the pandemic. We sincerely hope to once again see you all out and about in the coming months.

Seth Barton, Editor, MCV/DEVELOP

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ART & ANIMATION SUPPORTED BY FIRESPRITE

“A massive congratulations to the nominees from all of us here at Firesprite. It’s great to see such incredible talent coming through in the UK games industry.”

Lee Carus, Studio Art Director

JORDAN MOSS Senior Hardsurface Artist, Creative Assembly

After coming to the UK from Brazil with “nothing but herself and her dog,” Luciana Nascimento got her first job in the country working at Chucklefish and leading their art team for Wargroove. A couple years later she went on to co-found Bunnyhug while simultaneously working on the illustrations for Ustwo’s Assemble with Care.

She’s been acknowledged

by MCV in the past too, going home with the Creative Impact of the Year Award at the 2019 Women in Games Awards.

“With her debut game being announced soon, you’ll see the amazing world she’s managed to orchestrate all on her own,” said a supporter.

Despite only graduating in 2017, Jordan Moss has already made his mark on our industry, having begun his career at Splash Damage before joining Creative Assembly, where is working on its new FPS IP. “He is a senior level artist and brings creativity to his art

LUCIANA NASCIMENTO Art Director and Co-founder, Bunnyhug

“Every project she touches flourishes by her influence”

and technical expertise as if he’d been in the industry a decade,” said a supporter.

“Jordan has such a ‘can do’ attitude being easy to work with and flexible which, alongside his artistic prowess and technical expertise makes him an ideal candidate for the 30 Under 30 awards.”

“Brings creativity to his art and technical expertise as if he’d been in the industry a decade” SOPHIE NORTH Concept Artist, Mediatonic

If you’ve ever admired the characters and costumes in Mediatonic’s smash-hit title Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, you might well have experienced Sophie North’s excellent work.

Joining the project post-launch, her Santa and season 4 costumes have been featured centre stage in the game’s CGI trailers. Outside of her work, she has also been part of the Momentum mural project to decorate bathrooms in childrens’ hospitals.

“Every project she touches flourishes by her influence,” said one supporter. “Mediatonic and the industry are very lucky to have an artist – and person – of her caliber.”

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COMMUNITY & EVENTS ELTANIN CASCIANI Communications & Community Lead, Team Junkfish

“Her ideas consistently push the boundaries of creativity, and her commitment to every project is unwavering” AMY MALLETT Branded Content Manager, IGN

Eltanin Casciani has had quite the meteoric rise at Junkfish, progressing from an intern to head of communications in under a year. During their time at Junkfish, Casciani has grown the Discord server by 400 per cent, won Junkfish its first-ever award (UK Game of the Show) and even raised £15k for homeless charity Shelter over the Christmas period.

Casciani is also credited for ensuring that Junkfish’s games are fully inclusive, namely by including binder options for AMAB characters.

“I believe El is a fantastic candidate as they are constantly working to improve the culture in the games industry and connect people to each other,” said one supporter.

“A fantastic candidate, constantly working to improve the culture in the games industry and connect people to each other”

Rares Chirita (also known as Chris Filip) has a truly absurd number of cheerleaders in the industry. And it’s no wonder, as he’s the co-founder of Games Anglia and event coordinator of the Tentacle Zone.

Filip’s supporters credit him as a hard-working, proactive and skilled promoter, supporter, and nurturer of our industry. Through his work at Game Anglia, Filip helps the people in the East of England to get access to opportunities which may otherwise have passed them by.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, he has worked tirelessly to help organise 60+ events for Tentacle Zone residents, with topics ranging from mental health to remote production, and welcomed over 600 game devs to online public events.

In fact, Filip does so much work in this industry that we barely have space to fit it all in here. Needless to say, he’s very deserving of a spot on this list, as his hordes of supporters would surely agree.

In just two and-a-half years at IGN, Amy Mallett has managed over 60 successful sponsored content campaigns for publishing giants such as Bethesda, Activision, Square Enix, and Ubisoft. “Amy pitches, produces, creates, voices and stars,” said one of her supporters. Her commitment to her work saw

CHRIS FILIP (RARES CHIRITA) Event Coordinator, Payload Studios

her even converting her twobed flat into a studio to shoot a PC build video for ASUS – which has gone down a storm with IGN’s audience.

To hear her supporters tell it, “her ideas consistently push the boundaries of creativity, and her commitment to every project is unwavering.”

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DEVELOPMENT & DESIGN Nida Ahmad’s first role in the industry was at Exient Leamington as a UX & game designer, where she was promoted from intern to full time within a year. She’s now at NetspeakGames, working on a “wholesome, non-violent MMO” as the team’s only UX designer.

Outside of her work, Ahmad is one of the founding members of PoC in Play,

NIDA AHMAD UX Designer, Netspeak Games

DANNY HEY Music Composer & Sound Designer, Team17 Digital

Since joining Team17 back in April 2018, Danny has consistently provided inspiring audio for hit games such as Worms, Overcooked! 2, and Moving Out. Last year, Danny worked on The Survivalists, composing the soundtrack and creating an audio system to drive the music in-game. The game’s soundtrack was warmly received by fans and the media alike, and was nominated for ‘Best Soundtrack’ at the Steam Awards.

“Danny’s talent and hard work shine through in everything he creates, and there is no doubt he will continue to have great success in games,” said one sponsor.

The majority of Sarah Longthorne’s work over the past year has been as a narrative designer on a triple-A title based on one of the “world’s best known and best-loved fantasy franchises,” with Longthorne’s role making up a crucial part of the game’s development.

Outside of her work at Sumo, she regularly gives talks and workshops at local universities, and works tirelessly to help others enter the industry, and to make minority voices heard.

“I believe she will not only be involved in many more great games but also become a leading voice to make our industry a better, more representative place,” said one sponsor.

an organisation that works to increase the visibility, inclusion and retention of PoC in the games industry (see page 10 for more).

“There’s a fundamental empathy core to all of Nida’s work,” said one supporter.

“She not only wishes for games to be for all, she has the skills and willingness to find out what is keeping people out and address that.”

“She not only wishes for games to be for all, she has the skills and willingness to find out what is keeping people out and address that” SARAH LONGTHORNE Narrative Designer, Sumo Digital – Nottingham Studio

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DEVELOPMENT & DESIGN

“She is committed to game design in all it’s forms – and doesn’t pigeon hole herself or player experiences” ELIZABETH (ZIZ) SIMOENS Game Designer, PRELOADED

BEN HEAPY IT Manager, Payload Studios

After making fanfiction games in RPG Maker XP as a teenager, Christopher Andrew McGerr pursued a career in games, joining TT Games as a junior designer in 2015, before quickly moving up to the role of designer.

During his time at TT Games, McGerr worked with over eleven distinct license holders, bringing life to their LEGO forms, and writing and designing content based around multiple beloved characters such as the cast of Teen Titans Go and many of DC’s most notorious super-villains McGerr is also a member of TT’s Equality and Diversity Group, having come from a working-class background and is eager to help to diversify the overwhelmingly middleclass background in the industry

CHRISTOPHER ANDREW MCGERR Game Designer, TT Games Studios

Elizabeth Simoens (also known as Ziz) joined the games industry six years ago as a game designer, and has over 20 commercially shipped games under her belt – across PC, mobile, VR, AR, street games, audio-only games and even installed games in both museums and raves.

Simoens has worked for a number of studios over the years, such as Fire Hazard, Thunkd, Int/Night and most recently at PRELOADED. She comes highly recommended by all studios, with one telling us: “She is committed to game design in all its forms – and doesn’t pigeon hole herself or player experiences. I know that she has a bright future ahead of her.”

At the start of the COVI9-19 pandemic, Ben Heapy was instrumental in ensuring that the Payload team were able to transition to fully remote working within just 24 hours.

A tall order, and one that Heapy managed under huge amounts of pressure and in the face of unprecedented challenges.

Heapy’s enthusiasm and love of games, as well as his knowledge

and expertise have seen him make a big impact across Payload, well beyond the areas traditionally associated with IT, and he has had valuable input in the development of the studios’ projects.

“Ben has had a massively positive impact on the studio as whole, and we feel very fortunate to have him on the team” said a supporter.

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MARKETING & COMMS The past year has been difficult for the BGI charity and its National Videogame Museum, and Conor Clarke has played a pivotal role in ensuring they survive. After the museum closed in March 2020, Clarke played a key role in its fundraising efforts, helping launch a successful campaign that grew far beyond its initial JustGiving Campaign.

As the pandemic continued, Clarke was instrumental in keeping momentum going through livestreaming, video production and promoting a range of games content which won the museum its first award: Best website activity from Kids in Museums Awards.

CONOR CLARKE Marketing and Comms Officer, National Videogame Museum and the BGI

PIP HOSKINS Marketing Lead, No More Robots

Katie Laurence, a recent finalist in the MCV/DEVELOP Women in Games Awards, immediately impressed Ubisoft upon joining – earning her promotion to communications manager in just two years at the company. Laurence’s success at the company will see her managing some of the company’s biggest triple-A campaigns, such as the upcoming Far Cry 6.

On top of her work, she is also dedicating time to studying a Masters in Marketing at Glasgow University, in the hopes of one day becoming a marketing director in the future, and according to one of her many sponsors, “there’s nothing stopping her.”

Heather Dower is the founder and CEO of Hotdrop, a rapidly growing gaming and esports creative marketing agency.

Under Dower’s leadership, Hodrop has secured major clients from its inception, allowing the agency to generate revenue that exceeded its year three targets in its first year, and expanding the team from one to ten full time employees within twelve months.

“Heather has pushed the industry forward on a national level,” said one of her supporters, “leading the marketing efforts of the UK’s first ever Valve Major event, ESL One Birmingham, and led similar efforts on a global scale.”

HEATHER DOWER Founder and CEO, Hotdrop

Pip Hoskins was the very first hire at No More Robots, just 9 months into the life of the publisher. No More Robots has gone on to see considerable success, and her nominees credit her work for much of this.

Hoskins wears many hats in her work, managing the publisher’s “crazy Discord shenanigans,” scrutinising every No More Robots game to ensure they are as accessible as possible, constantly checking in with members of staff and much more. Above all that, she is credited for being a big reason why the publisher is 50 per cent women, 25 per cent POC, and 38 per cent LGBTQ No wonder why her supporters “can’t think of someone who deserves being on this list more.”

KATIE LAURENCE UK Comms Manager, Ubisoft

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PR & MEDIA HIRUN CRYER Freelance Reporter, GamesRadar

After repeatedly making our honourable mentions, Izzy Jagan has won her spot in our 30 under 30 list.

During her career, Jagan has gotten to work behind some of the industry’s biggest titles, such as World of Warcraft, Pokemon GO, Candy Crush, and most recently Life is Strange.

Outside of her job, she has spoken extensively on panels and events about being a young queer woman of colour in the industry for organisations such as Black Girl Gamers, EGX, MCM Comic Con, London Gaymers, and Out Making Games.

“Her advocacy for LQBTQ people and people of colour in games generally is really inspiring and a great example to everyone,” to quote one of her many supporters.

Hirun Cryer is credited as one of games journalism’s brightest up and comers.

Credited for his hard work and professionalism, Cryer is a rising voice in games journalism. His supporters praise his work at the (sadly departed) USGamer as being a defining feature of the site, and he has since gone on to work

IZZY JAGAN Jr. Global PR Manager, Square Enix

BECKY MULLEN Account Director, Bastion

Having joined Bastion in 2017, Becky Mullen has gone on to become an integral part of the agency’s growth over the last four years.

Mullen has taken to her leadership role “like a duck to water,” inspiring and motivating the Bastion teams with her passion for games and knowledge of the media landscape.

Additionally, as communications lead on Ustwo Games and State of Play, in the last year Mullen has launched critically acclaimed indie titles Assemble with Care, Alba: A Wildlife Adventure and South of the Circle.

“Becky is a talented and diligent communications professional who thrives in the rigours of a fast-paced agency and displays daily insight and leadership skills that are rarely seen in execs under 30,” said a supporter.

for GamesRadar on a freelance basis.

“Hirun is one of those rare and valuable people who keeps his head down and just does really good work, changing the industry by doing rather than saying he’s doing,” said a supporter. “I wish we had a hundred more of him.”

PAUL STONE Senior Account Manager, Indigo Pearl UK

Paul Stone first ran across Indigo Pearl at Rezzed in 2015, when he was attending as a consumer. The team were so impressed by his enthusiasm that they felt they had to give him a job. Since then he has become an important member of the Indigo Pearl team, and was instrumental in the PlayStation 5 launch with his help distributing all PlayStation announcements and their first-party game keys to media around the globe.

Or to put it a little less kindly, as one of his nominees did, “I’m desperate to get him included this year as he’s not getting any younger!”

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PRODUCT & CHANNEL MEGAN GARRETT Commercial Manager, Genba Digital

Megan Garrett has built up extensive experience at some of the biggest names in gaming, ever since she graduated from London South Bank University.

Garrett has held commercial positions at Activision and Sega, where she helped launch award-winning titles such as Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Total War: Warhammer. She’s now at Genba Digital, helping to grow some of its biggest triple-A accounts.

To quote one of her supporters, Garrett is “an energetic, skilled young exec who will contribute to a successful future for the UK games industry.”

NEAL MCCANN Product Marketing Manager, Sony Interactive Entertainment

When Green Man Gaming took on a summer graduate for 8 weeks back in 2012, they had no idea that Kamil Przybyla would go on to be such a vital member of the team for years to come.

Originally joining with no prior experience, Przybyla has devoted his time to developing his skills, and embraces new challenges within the company.

It’s this drive for selfdevelopment that inspired his supporters, with one saying to us that “Kamil is one of the best and embraces all of the positive, and yet is humble enough to know and work on his weaknesses.”

Neal McCann began his career at Playstation UK in 2014, after winning a highly soughtafter university placement. Since then he has worked his way up through the ranks, and has been behind a number of the company’s biggest moves.

McCann played an instrumental part in the PlayStation 5 UK launch, including the development and execution of the partnership with TfL – which saw the London Underground roundels changed into the iconic PlayStation brand shapes.

“Neal is an incredibly promising talent for the future,” said one of his supporters, “and certainly one to watch.”

KAMIL PRZYBYLA Head of Fraud & Payments, Green Man Gaming

Honourable Mentions Alex Beddows, Counterplay Games / Hollie Newsham Lucid Games Ltd / Ryan Shepheard PlayStation London Studio / Dami Nuga Ubisoft Reflections / Mark Storey DPS Games / Alice Winter Playground Games / Abigail Flores Square Enix / Samantha Luzon Payload Studios / Hannah Watts Ubisoft Reflections / Ruth Caulcott-Cooper The Chinese Room / Laura Martin Digital Schoolhouse (Ukie) / Samuel Read Enterprise M3 / Samuel Roberts DoubleJump Ltd / Lisa Baxter Assembly Inc, Edelman / Matthew Clements Neonhive / Jade Lee King TheGamer / Anton Korubov Payload Studios / Chloe Sinclair Firesprite / Tom Lavelle Click Entertainment / Lucy Hale Square Enix External Studios / Joe Kinglake Sumo Digital

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PRODUCTION & MANAGEMENT HANNAH BRADSHAW Senior Production Coordinator, Rockstar North

David Jones has quickly worked his way up through the ranks in the games industry, having begun his career in 2013 as a QA tester for Rockstar Games.

Joining Dambuster with no previous production experience, he has since impressed the company so much that he was promoted to associate engineering producer, working with one of the most integral departments in the studio with a responsibility for 45 members of staff.

“David’s ability to go from zero to hero despite everything life has thrown at him is testament to how hard work can pay off, how important it is to believe in yourself, believe in your dreams and never give up,” said one supporter.

ADAM DA ROCHA Co-Founder, Jaw Drop Games

Hannah Bradshaw has spent almost five years now with Rockstar North, and has routinely impressed the world-famous studio. She’s been promoted multiple times throughout her career, after joining the company in 2016 as a QA tester.

Bradshaw has also impressed the industry outside of Rockstar, and

DAVID JONES Associate Producer, Deep Silver Dambuster Studios

As Operations Manager at Toxic Games, Adam Da Rocha played a crucial role in the selfpublishing of the award-winning puzzle game, Q.U.B.E. 2 – on top of directing and producing the game’s two DLC releases.

He then went on to secure business deals for the game, with the likes of Epic Games, Twitch Prime and Xbox.

Over the past year he has co-founded Jaw Drop Games and has already secured major platform deals and significant publisher investment for the studio’s two new games, Gun Jam and Deathground.

was in 2020 was listed as one of the POC In Play #BHMGames100.

“Hannah is a passionate voice for the celebration and inclusion of voices of colour in the games industry. She cares deeply about her work and the human aspect of game creation, inspiring both her colleagues and her friends,” said one supporter.

VICKY POTTS Co-Founder, Whitepot Studios

Vicky co-founded indie studio Whitepot Studios in 2016, and recently the Whitepot team secured nominations in the Best Game, Best Studio, and Best Art Direction categories at the 2021 NI Game Dev Awards.

Additionally, she works to support the Northern Irish games dev community by volunteering her time to act as a game jam mentor at Jamfuser and to help NI Screen with the remote interview process for their technical skills development programme.

“Overall, I feel Vicky is a passionate game developer and a driving force for the local industry, consistently making time to help out new talent or to grow the Northern Irish game dev scene,” said one sponsor.

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TECH & PROGRAMMING SUPPORTED BY SHARKMOB

“30 under 30 is a great way to recognize rising stars in the industry and we of course hope some of them will take the opportunity to join our adventure at Sharkmob.”

Fredrik Rundqvist – CEO Sharkmob “We’re really happy to support the Tech and Programming category and can see that videogames have a bright future with this talented generation of game developers.

James Dobrowski – MD Sharkmob London

JOE ALAM Lead Programmer, Sumo Digital – Nottingham Studio

Sumo Digital first recognised Joe Alam’s potential several years ago, when he was whisked away from work on a racing game project and assigned to the Hotshot Racing as lead programmer – a game that went on to be warmly received by critics.

“His fantastic technical knowledge, superb communication skills and foresight make him such a valuable member of the team” said a supporter. “It is hard to put into words how easy it is working with Joe on your team.”

BRADLEY POLLARD Lead Programmer, Frontier Developments

Bradley Pollard first joined Frontier Developments back in 2014, as an intern programmer on ScreamRide. However, he proved himself so reliable that he became an integral part of the team, and following his second internship he left with a guaranteed job offer, returning as a graduate programmer.

Since then he has continued to impress through his work on Planet Coaster, Jurassic World Evolution and Planet Zoo, developing key gameplay features to a high standard – Setting him on course to work his way up through the ranks to senior programmer in just four years.

“Brad is an inspiration for anyone that wants to excel in the games industry,” said one of his supporters.

SOFIE DEBLOUDTS Software Engineer, Netspeak Games

After moving to the UK, Sofie Debloudts began her games career at Brighton’s Studio Gobo in 2014, and has taken great strides in her self-development.

Debloudts returned to university to study for her MSc in Artificial Intelligence in 2017, juggling her work there with her career at Criterion Games.

Now at Netspeak, Debloudts is developing her leadership skills, as a feature team lead.

“As a leader she is learning, driven & capable,” said one supporter. “As a person, she is fantastic. Definitely a future industry thought leader, diversity representative & role model.”

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Brought to you by

RECRUITMENT

Ins and Outs: Industry hires and moves 1

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Wizards of the Coast’s EMEA team is looking forward to a “hugely exciting year” with new hires and promotions. The team has big plans for Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering over the next 12 months.

First,the team has expanded with the hire of MARK WARD (1) as senior corporate communications manager EMEA. Ward has moved on from nearly 12 years at Warner Bros and has almost 30 years of industry experience.

In addition, LOUISE CLARKE (2) has been appointed as finance manager – EMEA & Asia Pacific. Clark spent 16 years in the commercial finance department at Hasbro supporting various markets and projects across Europe.

Within the Wizards team, VANISHA KAVIA (3) has been promoted to director of marketing – EMEA. Kavia has extensive industry marketing experience, having previously worked with both Nintendo and LEGO.

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Still at Wizards of the Coast, LOUISE HANDA (4) has been promoted to sales and retail marketing director – EMEA. Handa has extensive industry experience across both videogames and distribution with Nintendo and Gem. AILISH SULLIVAN (5) has been promoted to Wizard of the Coast’s channel sales manager – EMEA. Sullivan has been with the studio for 2 years now, having joined as an ecommerce specialist in 2019.

Finally at Wizards of the Coast, ALEKSEY OSIPOV (6) has been promoted to channel development manager – EMEA, after having worked at the studio for four years.

“Our recent appointments and promotions highlight our commitment to engaging and developing the very best talent from across the games industry.

Our team embraces experience, collaboration and creativity in the pursuit of excellence” said Brian Trunk, head of EMEA, Wizards of the Coast.

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There’s been a changeup over at Nintendo Life.

Sumo Digital has four new hires at the company.

First, KATE GRAY (7) makes her return to games journalism by joining the site as their full-time staff writer. Gray began her career at Official Nintendo Magazine, and has also worked at Official Xbox Magazine. More recently, Gray worked as a narrative director over at Goodbye Volcano High and GNOG developer KO_OP.

First, KEITH BURDEN (11) joins as senior artist at Sumo Leamington. Burden was previously senior car artist over at Codemasters, where he worked on GRID, Dirt 2, Dirt 3, and more.

Next up, THOMAS WHITEHEAD (8) has returned as the site’s deputy editor. Whitehead had previously worked at Nintendo Life from 2011-2017, before leaving to join publisher Circle Entertainment.

Finally, GAVIN LANE (9) has been promoted to the position of Nintendo Life site editor, having worked as the site’s features editor.

Over at GAMINGbible, TOM RYAN-SMITH (10) has been promoted to channel manager. Smith was previously the site’s video editor, having joined during the UNILAD days back in 2017.

Meanwhile, JAGADISH KUMAR PATNALA (12) joins Sumo Sheffield as senior technical artist.

Patnala has previously worked in software development, architecture for 12 years in the 2D, 3D, animation and VFX domains.

STACEY SMITH (13) also joins Sumo Sheffield, as head of IT operations.

Smith has over 18 years’ of experience in the IT industry working in various sectors such as manufacturing, banking, and healthcare.

CHRISTINA HARALAMBOUS (14) also joins Sumo Group, as group director, communications and marketing. Haralambous joins from Kambi, where she was working as global chief marcomms officer.

Secret Mode, the publishing division announced by The Sumo Group has announced that AMILA GACANICA (15) has joined the team as head of commercial strategy. Gacanica has three years of commercial experience in the gaming industry at SEGA and a further six plus years of experience across data and analytics in the fashion apparel world.

SILVIA GOMIS-LOPEZ (16) has been promoted to UK communications executive at Ubisoft.

Gomis-Lopez was previously the company’s UK marketing assistant.

Finally, there’s two hires over at Kwalee to shout about. BEN ELLIS (17) joins as a publishing scouting manager. Ellis previously worked for nearly four years in product acquisitions at Team17.

ARTEM CHUPRYNA (18) also joins as a publishing manager, working on the hypercasual mobile side of Kwalee’s business. Artem was previously working at Homa Games where he held the same title.

Got an appointment you’d like to share with the industry? Email Chris Wallace at chris.wallace@biz-media.co.uk May 2021 MCV/DEVELOP| 25

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Brought to you by

RECRUITMENT

Rising Star

Every month, we pick the brain of an up-and-coming talent

Bianca Sarafian, community manager (Fall Guys) at Mediatonic talks about how Fall Guys inspired her move into community management and her childhood dream come true

How did you break into games?

I’ve always wanted to work in games, but felt it was perhaps too late for me after spending so long in other industries, such as healthcare and fintech. I couldn’t have been more wrong!

Following Fall Guys’ rise to social media stardom in August 2020, I remember checking out the game’s Twitter account and thinking, “hot dang, I wanna do that!” I began following vacancies for ‘videogames marketing’ on LinkedIn immediately.

A community manager role at Mediatonic was posted at the end of that month and I jumped at the chance as it felt like the perfect job for me. Since then, I have had an amazing time starting my career in the industry and have met so many awesome people both at Mediatonic and at other companies to learn from and that I admire endlessly.

What has been your proudest achievement so far?

Growing Fall Guys’ TikTok to over 400,000 jelly beans in the six months it’s been active has made me super proud. TikTok is a channel that brands are a little afraid to dip their toes into, but it’s one that I adore and know a lot about. The freedom that Mediatonic has given me and the trust I feel from my community management colleagues has made this journey a breeze and a joy!

What has been your biggest challenge to date?

With any game that relies on seasonal content releases, it can be difficult to keep your audience engaged through the quieter periods.

generally make them happy wherever I possibly can! Fundamentally, I get to contribute to the development of a videogame which is genuinely a childhood dream come true.

What’s your biggest ambition in games?

Keep making big contributions to the games that I love. That is all. If I do that, then I am happy.

And of course it can be challenging to manage community communications during bugs, fixes, and patches. But these challenges continue to teach me a lot about our community and their valuable feedback directly helps the development of the game—so there are always silver linings.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

Fall Guys is a fun, lighthearted game with an abundance of silliness—so that is the world I am immersed in and it’s just the best!

But beyond the game itself, community management really helps satisfy the empath in me; the role grants me the opportunity to guide players through fixes, point them to support, chat about the future of the game and

What advice would you give to an aspiring community manager?

Look at the social media pages of your favourite games and think about the breadth and variety of comments in there. They are always a real mixed bag. Understand that no matter what you do, some people will adore it, others not, and try not to take those responses personally. Most of all, take the time to truly understand the aspects of your game that makes people happy - and hold on to it!

“Growing Fall Guys’ TikTok to over 400,000 jelly beans in the 6 months it’s been active has made me super proud.”

If there’s a rising star at your company, contact Chris Wallace at chris.wallace@biz-media.co.uk 26 | MCV/DEVELOP May 2021

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RECRUITMENT

Cherry picked advice to help you reach the next level in your career

Liam de Valmency, senior principal programmer at Media Molecule, talks about the importance of communication and a flair for problem solving in programming

What is your job role and how would you describe your typical day at work?

I’m a senior principal programmer at Media Molecule, and a typical day at work can involve a wide variety of things. Generally, I look to be writing code, whether that’s prototyping new features for our players, improving existing parts of the game in some way, building the foundations for future work, or just making the code neater and fixing bugs.

However, a large part of the role of a programmer is also based in communication.

This means talking to producers about technical timelines so that they can schedule tasks and releases, discussing the code architecture and potential changes to it with

other programmers, working with designers and artists to figure out what features and

systems and features, so you can spot those opportunities to add that invisible layer of extra polish and finesse.

You can pick up a lot of this by sitting down and trying to make something! Tackle each

tools they need to do their jobs best, or sometimes just being a part of the conversation about how things are going in the studio and how they could be better.

problem as it arises, treating each one as an opportunity to learn something new. Search engines are your friend!

What qualifications and/or experience do you need to land this job?

Games programming encompasses a huge range of areas, from physics to rendering to gameplay to code architecture. The sorts of experience and things you’ll need to know can depend a lot on what sort of programming you’re interested in engaging with – there’s something for everybody! With that said, there are some common threads across areas.

A knowledge of 3D maths is incredibly useful, as is knowing the ins-and-outs of your language of choice; C++ is still extremely common, but languages like C# have become much more frequently used. A knowledge of basic data structures and algorithms is a huge asset as well. And personally, I often advocate for taking an interest in design and usability if you’re interested in programming player-facing

If you were interviewing someone for your team, what would you look for?

First and foremost I look for a portfolio, some evidence of something you’ve made. This is a great way to show your interests, design sensibilities, and your technical abilities before you’ve even said a word.

In the interview itself, there are two key qualities to show off: a flair for problem solving, and the ability to communicate your thought processes while you do so.

If you can demonstrate that you can find and discuss potential solutions, weigh up their pros and cons, and even ask for assistance when you’re unsure, you’ll be showing that you have some of the most core skills that you will need on a day-to-day basis as part of a programming team.

What opportunities are there for career progression?

Programming sits at the crossroads of so many areas that you can take it almost anywhere.

You could choose to hone your skills in one or more specialist areas of tech; you could take on leadership responsibility and help shape the direction of your team; you can explore the boundary between areas, exploring the areas of Technical Art, Technical Design, Creative Coding, and more. The sky really is the limit!

Want to talk about your career and inspire people to follow the same path? Contact Chris Wallace at chris.wallace@biz-media.co.uk

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RECRUITMENT

Recruiter Hotseat Sharkmob is hiring in their London and Malmo offices! We talk to senior talent acquisition partners Josefin Slorafoss and Michelle Simon to find out more What differentiates your studio from other developers?

Sharkmob was founded in 2017 because we wanted to make games differently and to create a company culture where ownership was central and work/life balance was promoted and prioritized. The studio was built on the notion that happy employees who have fun at work will flourish creatively and make awesome games.

Sharkmob is a triple-A game studio that develops and publishes our own games.

We have three projects in the pipeline – one is based in the Vampire: The Masquerade universe and the other two are proprietary IP. What is the culture like at your studio?

The most important part of Sharkmob is its crew – so we strive for a healthy, productive atmosphere where everyone plays an important role. We have a passion for our craft and want to excel – from office managers, to writers or coders, to art directors.

We give direct feedback to each other, allow for work-life balance with flexible working hours and 6 weeks holiday, distribute ownership while still making sure that we have time for social events like beer-tasting, kitbashing sessions and game jams.

Sharkmob’s culture could be defined as the sweet spot between a summer camp where you try new things, be social, and challenge yourself, and a tech powerhouse with technology at the forefront, and all the tools you need to work on triple-A games.

Is it a weird mixture? Perhaps... but we like it that way!

If you have recruited internationally what is the process like?

We are on the lookout for the best global talent for roles in Malmö and London. Depending on the role, we can assist with relocation e.g. help with paperwork such as visas and permits, flights, covering moving costs, finding housing and a tailor-made settling in service.

English is our operating language, but for those who are settling in Sweden we also assist with language courses and facilitating cultural integration.

What processes do you have for onboarding staff remotely?

Onboarding is really important to the Sharkmob crew: our intention is to immerse you in the company and projects and to make you feel part of the team from day one.

You’ll have early contact with your team leads before you start so that you’re familiar with the company culture and can hit the ground running. Once on board the process takes about two weeks and includes some formal online presentations with directors and leads in addition to a buddy system and some social activities.

You’ll also get a care package with some company merchandise and hoodies, and we have some social events too – the idea is to still create a sense of fun and inclusion despite the remote working.

What advice would you give for a successful interview at your studio?

A key thing we’re looking out for is a passion for games – so make sure this shines through!

Josefin Slorafoss, Sharkmob

Michelle Simon, Sharkmob

We look at the CV, the cover letter, and the portfolio for positions where that is relevant, so we advise you to send a complete application, don’t forget the attachments!

Come prepared to answer a wide range of questions based on professional experience and competencies – e.g. how people describe you or how you deliver and receive feedback.

We try to ease candidates into interviews to make them comfortable and help them perform at their best. Finally it’s likely that you’ll go through a few interviews – including meeting the team you‘ll be working with.

If you’d like to feature your recruitment team on this page then contact Alex Boucher – alex.boucher@biz-media.co.uk 28 | MCV/DEVELOP May 2021

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Brought to you by

Debugging D&I Amiqus’ Liz Prince talks to Jake Mackey, games partnerships manager at Autistica and the lead of Autistica Play about how studios can make their working environments more welcoming to neurodiverse individuals and why they should get involved with the DARE programme What unique skill sets do you think that autistic individuals can bring?

While everyone’s an individual, there are certain traits that can be recognised in many autistic people.

Those traits include the ability to focus and attention to detail. This could mean that an autistic person will focus on a task or deadline and be completely dedicated to that goal. It could mean that they become hyper focused on solving a particular problem. Or they could focus on a particular topic – and learn absolutely everything there is to know.

Their attention to detail may mean they spot details that others miss.

Why do you think that autistic people struggle to find a job or to keep a job?

Autism impacts how an individual communicates and navigates the world so going for a job interview, for example, and working in an office environment can be a challenge. In the majority of cases, an individual will not know the interview questions they’re going to be asked in advance, the faces and names of the people they are going to see, the building or how to get there, or what to do when they get there. This can all add to the anxiety of an already difficult experience.

An autistic applicant may be perfectly able to do the job but may struggle to communicate that in an interview and be discriminated against.

If an autistic person gets a job, they may also be misunderstood, under-appreciated or not adequately supported in the workplace.

So, in terms of the recruitment interview process, what can studios do to put neurodiverse people more at ease?

Providing the information upfront is vitally important, particularly during the interview process - setting an agenda, providing the interview questions, sending

photos and names of the people involved, sending a guide of the building, etc. Also, language in job listings. Are you open to someone needing certain adjustments for the interview? Consider wording like: ‘We are an inclusive employer. If you need any reasonable adjustments, do let us know and we will facilitate those needs’.

It’s really important to have a foundation across the industry that we can use as a baseline for understanding, adaptations and inclusion. And that’s why I’d like to discuss the DARE programme.

If organisations want to make a long-lasting change - not just tick a box – then take a look at DARE and become a DARE partner with Autistica.

If more games industry companies become DARE partners, it means our games industry benchmark can expand. We can begin to have a baseline through which policymakers and organisations can have a template to work from that’s based on actual knowledge of what works and what doesn’t - instead of what we think might work.

DPS Games are industry pioneers as our first Games industry DARE partners. I would love to see more companies in the games industry join them and us as we continue to break new ground for neurodiversity employment.

A survey published in February by the Office for National Statistics said 21.7% of autistic people are in some form of employment. That is the lowest employment rate of all disability groups.

We have BAME in Games, we have Women in Games. We need something that represents Neurodiversity in games that makes a systematic, long-term difference. For me, that’s DARE. Find out more about the DARE programme at https://www.autistica.org.uk/news/autisticpeople-highest-unemployment-rates

Jake Mackey, Autistica

At Amiqus, we have many resources available to help, so please do get in touch via liz.prince@amiqus.com

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RACING AS ONE At $1.2bn, EA’s acquisition of Codemasters is the UK industry’s biggest deal to date. Seth Barton talks to Codemasters’ Frank Sagnier and EA’s Andrew Wilson, about the strategy behind the move, how the pair plan to drive things forward, and the relationship between sports and games in a post-pandemic world

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Above (left to right) Frank Sagnier, Codemasters and Andrew Wilson, EA

I

t’s one of the biggest players in the industry, but EA has never been highly acquisitive, and by modern standards it’s positively reticent when compared to many.

The home of FIFA has focused instead on its existing stable of huge franchises – with the only major acquisition of the last ten years being its 2017 move for Respawn Entertainment for £315m.

It came as something of a surprise then, when late last year EA outgunned strong competition from Take Two to secure Codemasters for an eyebrow-raising $1.2bn (£860m), some 14 per cent above Take Two’s bid.

Even in a period of big acquisitions, this one made a splash. And so we were delighted to be able to talk to both Codemasters CEO Frank Sagnier and EA CEO Andrew Wilson about the deal, the future, and the relationship between not just the two new partners, but also between real-world sports and their virtual counterparts.

But we started with a simple question, why did EA, a company not known for making big purchases, go the extra mile to acquire Codemasters? “$1.2 billion is a big number. But in a world where you’re looking for strategic strength, cultural fit, and really strong leadership, we think it’s a great opportunity to bring two great companies together.” replies EA’s Wilson.

“But you’re right. In my tenure, nearly eight years, we have not been highly acquisitive,” Wilson adds. “We’ve looked at lots and lots of things. Due to our position in the industry, we see most things that end up on the market, or where people are exploring strategic opportunities. And to this point, Respawn had been the only one that really made sense for us.”

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Pictured: Codemasters’ own Phil Hall with his Junior World Rally car

Respawn was a different kind of deal, of course.

The studio had worked with EA already on Titanfall and Titanfall 2, but that IP had not seen the success it arguably deserved – so it wasn’t an IP-driven deal.

Since then Respawn’s efforts both on the Star Wars license, with Jedi: Fallen Order, and with its homegrown battle-royale hit Apex Legends have more than proved its worth. And Codemasters will also have to step up, as $1.2bn is a lot of money for a company that made £18.2m EBITDA in FY 2020.

Wilson continues: “We’ve been big fans of Codemasters and the games they make for a really, really long time. They are the leading developer of racing entertainment properties in our industry,” he says emphatically, and we certainly can’t fault that statement.

“And when we think about acquisitions, price point is certainly a meaningful part of the consideration. But the other thing that’s really important is does it make strategic sense for us? Are we adding something to the foundational strength of our company?”

And Wilson clearly feels the answer to those questions is yes, both in terms of specific brands and more generally with its expertise in the racing space.

“The opportunity to add F1, which is one of the true global sports properties,” was too good to pass up, says Wilson, especially alongside its owned IPs: DiRT and GRID. “Codemasters have established a racing portfolio that was clearly the leading portfolio in the industry.”

And of course, those titles now join EA’s own racing IPs, and that has made the new partnership quicker off the line, says Codemasters’ Frank Sagnier:

“They’ve got expertise in racing... they already have Need for Speed, Real Racing, Burnout, it’s an amazing pool of IP. So it’s not like we’ve been acquired by somebody who doesn’t understand racing, and that makes a big difference.”

The combination puts EA in pole position when it comes to strength in breadth in the genre. Especially given that two key competitors, Forza and Gran Turismo, both remain hardware exclusives in a landscape where cross-platform and crossplay are increasingly key.

On that vein Sagnier continues: “Joining forces is going to make us the ultimate destination for the delight of millions of racing fans. You know, after only a few months together, I feel confident we will deliver all of that and more. There’s so much more growth ahead of us than behind us.”

And there will need to be more growth ahead, as even given Codemaster’s impressive pandemic year figures, the two companies will need to both grow and dominate the racing sector in order for that valuation to pay dividends in the long term.

Sagnier is confident though that it’s a good deal for EA: “It may look expensive, but I think in hindsight in a few years. You’ll be looking back thinking my god, that was the deal of the century.”

To which Wilson agrees: “I actually don’t think it’s expensive at all. I think it’s very fairly valued. We felt very good about it across the board. When I said it’s a ‘big number,’ it’s simply a big number, but I don’t think the acquisition was an expensive one. I think it was just right.”

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ALL HANDS ON THE WHEEL Speaking with Sagnier and Wilson, you get the feeling they’re already comfortable working together.

And that makes sense, as they have worked alongside before, back when Sagnier held a series of VP roles across marketing and publishing at EA between 1999 and 2007, and Wilson was the company’s rising star at the time.

It’s also worth remembering that in those days EA used to hold the F1 license for itself. So it’s not wholly surprising to find that meshing the companies’ work together has been smooth sailing to date.

“The good news is, it’s been way faster than I anticipated,” Sagnier tells us. “We are in the process of integrating. And I could tell you that within just two months, it’s amazing how much we’ve integrated so quickly. And in all departments. It’s like the glove fits perfectly, like we found our Cinderella shoe, it is a perfect fit!”

Culture of course goes beyond the teams themselves, it’s a part of the community as well. There are big questions to answer about how the now-conjoined companies speak to Codemaster’s existing fanbase, but for today Wilson wants to talk at a higher level.

“I think about this more at a values level, so at Electronic Arts we have core values of creativity, passion, pioneering, learning, determination and teamwork. We think these are the core values that add up to building amazing entertainment for a global fanbase.

“And when we think about bringing organisations together, what we’re really looking at is do we share a value system?

“We may use different words, but when we sat down, what we recognised, between EA and the Codemasters’ teams, we really did share a very similar value system, those things that motivated us to come to work every day and build great games, we’re kind of rooted in the same centre.”

And Wilson refers back to Respawn as an example of how EA goes about such things: “Similar to Respawn, our orientation isn’t to come in and take over Codemasters; our orientation isn’t to come in and turn Codemasters into another Electronic Arts studio; our orientation is around the provision of opportunity.

“This industry is all about amazing, creative talent. And we see little upside in the indoctrination of that amazing creative talent.

But we do want to provide them access to the things that we get by virtue of our position in the industry.”

THE CUPBOARD OF DREAMS And that ‘provision of opportunity’ is certainly something that any studio head would be appreciative of. With EA’s full support now swinging behind Codemasters to turbocharge its products as they come to market. Wilson describes it as a cupboard of wonders.

“At Electronic Arts we have this amazing cupboard of IP ...and of technology, an amazing cupboard of marketing breadth, depth and reach on a global basis, and an amazing network of players. And so the way we’re thinking about this, and it’s how we worked with Respawn, it’s more about handing Codemasters a set of keys to the cupboard, and they can come and take what they need from that cupboard, but they get to continue to be who they are, because that’s what made them special in the first place.”

Sagnier is even more specific about the opportunities: “EA brings scale with its sales and marketing muscles, live services expertise, state of the art analytics platform, EA access, EA Play, Origin – just so much wealth that EA brings in terms of their services.”

“We’ve had access to every single opportunity,” confirms Sagnier. “I’m not saying that we’re going to take everything. And that’s why it’s fantastic, EA is offering all the services, but not forcing us if it doesn’t fit. So it really is the perfect world at this point. And this is why I’m so confident about how much EA can bring to Codemasters and hopefully vice versa, because they listen and we listen too.”

ON THE GRID The first test of those opportunities will be the upcoming F1 2021 title, a ‘truly global sporting property’ as Wilson described it earlier. And a game that will be launched under one of the best known brands in gaming.

Pictured: It’s early days for F1 2021 with only a handful of car renders available at present

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“We are launching our first game together with F1, which will be an EA Sports game,” says Sagnier. “We can immediately see the impact of that and it’s a very positive one… And by the way, I don’t think EA would have agreed to put the game under the EA Sports banner, if they didn’t think it deserved it, the fit is there.”

Wilson certainly sees the parallels between F1 and existing titles: “You think about what we can do with respect to our marketing reach and what we’ve done to grow our football business in FIFA, and how we might be able to apply that to F1. To grow that on a global basis, particularly as we’ve just had a new race in Miami, announced in the US, we think we have a unique opportunity there to grow the business.”

“So while we were well known for authentic racing and simulation, EA can help us on culture, lifestyle, and [reaching] a huge audience, in a way we couldn’t on our own” In fact, EA’s marketing muscle makes us wonder if the Codemasters deal is a bigger coup for EA or for F1’s organisers, the FIA. Which must be licking its lips at the kind of additional reach that EA can provide their brand.

But Wilson is thinking about growing EA’s cohort of race fans well beyond just one sport.

“Think about all the creativity, and creative leadership that the Codemasters teams have shown, and how that might affect our growing Need for Speed, and Real Racing businesses on console, PC and mobile, we just think it’s a match made in heaven. It establishes us as the leading racing entertainment organisation on the planet. That’s a pretty big opportunity for us, racing continues to grow in fandom, both F1 and other forms of racing, and it continues to be a very accessible form of gaming.”

And accessible gaming is a big draw right now, with the pandemic (more on that later) having brought many new gamers into EA’s open arms, says Wilson.

“In a world where we’ve added nearly 50 million people to EA’s network of nearly half a billion people just in the last 12 months alone – and as we think about growing that to a billion people – racing is just one of those natural entry points for so many people to come into games, and build their love of games, and build engagement. And so for us the opportunity was one we just couldn’t pass up.”

And Codemasters was already on an upward trajectory Sagnier reminds us: “We’ve grown massively over the past few years at Codemasters. From 2014, when I

joined, to our latest numbers in March, we’ve multiplied our revenue by five, and we’ve added £14m in EBITDA. We’ve achieved this by focusing on premium quality games. We’ve seen how adding talents, like we’ve done with Evolution Studio and Slightly Mad could bring us to a new level, but EA will unlock our maximum potential and in a way that we’ve not seen before.

“So while we were well known for authentic racing and simulation, EA can help us on culture, lifestyle, and [reaching] a huge audience, in a way we couldn’t on our own.”

And Sagnier points out another benefit behind bringing the two racing stables together, one that Codemasters has already seen from its own past acquisitions, a reduction in competition.

“It’s fantastic when competitors get together because we don’t have to fight each other – we’ve seen it when we acquired the Evolution team or Slightly Mad. We can strategize on how to best address our consumers, segment the various IP or areas we want to target and focus on making the best games for our consumers. Of course, there’s always going to be competition, but working together with such knowledgeable parties about racing is going to make our overall strategy way more efficient.”

REAL RALLYING The relationship between sports and the games that represent them is an endlessly intriguing one. We often wondered whether the actual FIFA’s well publicised 2015 corruption case affected its game namesake. Or more recently, it was intriguing to see potential European Super League teams making reference to games in defence of their need for a new organization.

On a happier note, as we sit down to talk, news has just broken that Codemaster’s own DiRT Rally Team had won the inaugural Junior World Rally event in Croatia – with the car driven by its in-house rally expert and games designer Phil Hall.

“We’re very happy to support our game designer, who is a big rally fan. And it’s great for us to be a part of the sport,” comments Sagnier. “I think in this area, we’ve got so much to learn from EA in what they’ve done on Madden or FIFA. And it’s one of the aspects which I believe will help us get to a much wider audience than we’ve been able to achieve on our own.”

And Wilson is happy to speak more broadly to the changing dynamics of a globalised audience of fans that love both the sport and the game.

“I think what we are seeing globally, across all sports is a blurring of the lines between what happens in the real world and what happens in the interactive world. For the longest time, all that happened was things would come

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from the real world into the interactive world. And what we’re now seeing across many sports, is that things that happen in the interactive world are moving into the real world, and whether that’s footballers doing things on the pitch that they were doing in a game the night before, or whether that’s a deeper integration into the World Junior Rally series.

“But what we think about is, more and more, games are becoming deeply, culturally important on a global basis.

More and more games are the central strands of the fabric of the sports that they represent. And our commitment to sports fans, racing fans and gaming fans across the globe is to do all that we can to build a seamless integration and seamless connection and give them that direct emotional connection to the sports they love, the athletes they love, the drivers they love.

“And I love what Codemasters are doing and if you look at what we do across sports, you should imagine that we’re going to continue to try and build those really strong connections and further establish ourselves at the very centre of these sports on a global basis with respect to fandom.”

And those varying sports are increasingly tied together notes Sagnier: “It’s amazing when you see that the F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo was actually in FIFA 21 this year,” with the McLaren driver appearing, along with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, in the games Volta street football mode.

“That’s the power EA can bring. So why not bring Messi into F1? I’m not saying it’s gonna happen, but EA is so well known for all their brands and franchises, and it’s so strong in each of them, that there’s so many ways to collaborate. It goes far beyond just gaming, it goes into culture, the people we’re working with, the synergies are just amazing.”

WE RACE AS ONE Of course sport has had a torrid year, while games have boomed, because of the global pandemic. How then does EA see this recovery year and the year after, and how do you judge future success when recent times have been anything but normal?

Wilson pulls back a bit first in answer: “I would tell you going into the pandemic, we were seeing two fundamental secular trends. One was that social interaction was moving from physical to digital. And the other was the consumption of sport and entertainment was moving from linear to interactive. The pandemic only accelerated those two trends.

“For much of the last 12 month, games were sport and entertainment in a world where many sports had to shut down. In a world where there wasn’t new television and movie content, we were entertainment,” he notes.

Pictured: Codemasters’ office has a strong racing theme

“We were a means of connecting with friends and family around the world, while we all had to spend so much time apart. And while it’s too early to tell what this year is going to be versus last year... What we’re seeing is that tens, maybe hundreds of millions of people have discovered or rediscovered just how wonderful games are in their ability to fulfil needs and motivations and connect you with friends and family around the world in the context of sport and entertainment.

“And I don’t see that going away. Will there be some shifts and changes over time? Of course, but I don’t think about this on a year-versus-year basis. I hope that we move through this pandemic quickly. I think we’re certainly seeing a light at the end of the tunnel at this juncture. But in many countries, and many geographies, there still some challenges, that I hope, as a global community, we get to move through soon.

“But on balance, as you look at this over the next three to five years, what we have seen is maybe hundreds of millions of people have discovered the power and the wonderful nature that games bring. And I don’t think that goes backwards. I think we only go forward from here. And I think that’s a tremendous opportunity and a tremendous responsibility for us to continue to deliver great sports and entertainment that fulfil this need for social interaction, and gives people a much stronger part to play in the context of the sport they love.”

EA has shown repeatedly that sports and games are an incredibly powerful, and profitable, combination. If it can achieve in racing what it has achieved in football then that $1.2bn will indeed be money well spent and the benefits will stretch well beyond EA’s own profits, into the sport in its many forms and its broad global community of fans.

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The winds of change A brand new publishing business has launched to tap into opportunity markets that have been underserved by the industry. Chris Walace talks to Steven Huot to find out more

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T

he 4 Winds Entertainment is a brand new publishing business, run by industry veterans with a wealth of experience gained working for the likes of Activision Blizzard.

The 4 Winds team is built from a pool of talented and diverse industry experts, with dedicated experience in opportunity markets such as the Middle East, Turkey, Russian speaking nations, India and LATAM – just to name a few.

They hope to seize the opportunity presented by markets that make up 40 per cent of the total population, or one billion people. Despite the enormous potential in these areas, few of the big names in games are taking full advantage of these opportunities.

The 4 Winds Entertainment’s CEO is Steven Huot, who has 20 years of experience at Blizzard. Huot led publishing and go-to-market across the company’s brands and regions – from the 1994 launch of Warcraft through to Blizzard’s mobile and console hits across all EEMEA. Additionally, he led the establishment of Blizzard’s Latin America & Emerging Market divisions.

To find out more about the company, and its vision for the future, we sat down with Huot.

What’s the main objective behind forming The 4 Winds Entertainment?

As big publishers pull back from regional markets, they quickly lose the regional knowledge and expertise that allowed them to expand there in the first place. Their desire for a one-size-fits-all marketing solution does not work outside of the western mature market. Demand is growing in these other parts of the world at an exponential rate, where there is a yearly 12.5% revenue growth fuelled by big install of mobile devices and record internet penetration rates.

Yet these markets are deeply misunderstood, and do not react the same way to standardized, big budget messaging. These new gamers have the same national pride and want to be seen as people that matter, as countries themselves, and be truly understood by the brand before they commit themselves to a game.

This is why we decided to create The 4 Winds, to offer a rare, high quality service to other publishers and developers focused on the ‘Opportunity Markets’.

We see ourselves as a one-stop solution to grow their business in those markets, thanks to our regional expertise, analytics and market insights, business model and forecasting and product management. If needed, we can also switch to a traditional outsourcing service provider, executing customized go-to-market, find partnership with locally relevant alliances or co-publish their products and IPs in the territory.

With this kind of industry, there is no such thing as a unified approach to servicing publishers, as it needs to fit their global visions and how eager they are to sail in these waters.

You spent over 25 years with Blizzard, why did you leave?

I am an entrepreneur at heart. I launched Blizzard’s brand and first 10 games, then left Blizzard for a few years to launch a web design and early social media focused online agency. I returned to Blizzard when the opportunity to lead their international expansion happened, starting with opening up Latin America.

I knew the enormous potential of Latin America firsthand, and Brazil alone was just screaming for attention in 2009. Yet no one at Blizzard HQ could see it.

I recognized this blind spot as a huge opportunity.

So, I made that happen and it was a wild, successful ride up. I called the role being that of an ‘intrapreneur,’ never fearing to be fired or challenged for presenting big ideas that push folks beyond their comfort zone.

To change a large organization from within you must push constantly against complacency, and break conventions and fight stereotypes. It took a lot of energy to do so, and over the years, the rate of change slowed down as the company got bigger, and more “corporate think” took over internally. The fear of taking risk or of the unknown just does not play well in a typical Western corporate culture. Few companies are the likes of Google or Tesla, that innovates regardless of their size. Most get

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complacent, senior leaders do not stick their necks out and are unfortunately rewarded for towing the company line. That was never my way, and so I could see it finally as a time to do things differently. If they were not going to build upon market expansion, that left a huge hole for a company to do it for them.

Seeing this different path, where a localized, specialized marketing approach was working, and each of our actions resulted in successful, high margin growth, proved this had to be done. Yet if the big publishers did not want to add headcount to expand their ability and capacity, then if we did it, they would desperately need us, more so every year. So, I am building a company that knows exactly what to do and will exceed benchmarks every time for the best games and IPs. What could be more fun than that?

The 4 Winds Entertainment team has experience in opportunity markets such as the Middle East, Turkey etc. Do you feel these markets are often ignored by publishers with a one-plan-fits-all globalised perspective?

Oh dear me, yes! That is exactly what is happening.

Today big publishers measure markets based on what they each did in that market the previous years. They tend to forget that they did not actually launch in the region; or if they did make something “available,” they likely did so while missing even the most basic of things necessary to succeed, such as giving the ability to pay in local currencies or localizing in the language that which the audience understands.

The Russian game market for example started booming in the late 1990s, when the jewel case was introduced, which allowed the market to grow tenfold, and curbed piracy thanks to a price strategy matching those illegal products. All that turned Russia into one of the top gaming markets in EMEA. .

Publishers need to be measuring these Opportunity Markets on what they are today if you launch even remotely correctly, then multiplied by their uncommonly high growth rates. And sadly, success hides many sins.

When you are printing money with high profit from your success in the West, and Wall Street measures you based on last year’s results using the wrong growth rates, (the regional ones not the global one) to measure you by, well, you feel OK. And bonuses are strong. So one doesn’t feel compelled to reach for new opportunities and push yourselves any further. And that mistake repeats, year after year for most publishers, only fighting it out for market share in the saturated, been-there-donethat markets they are familiar with and understand. And what happens is they just leave money on the table and

leave large communities unsupported, getting a subpar level of service and content.

How will you use your and your team’s experience to better serve these regions?

We have seen success when even just the most basic of things were changed: a proper localization of assets and the addition of a culturally relevant marketing message or local content.

That is the bare minimum, yet enough to see step change, and a huge percentage of an untapped market is gained.

Last year, our team pitched the idea to include a subtle honour to Islamic culture, in the forms of Ramadanthemed sprays in Overwatch (around lanterns and fasting). The story has been picked up by regional communities but also many international outlets like Polygon pointing out that this has been long overdue in the gaming industry especially when other holidaythemed events like Christmas and Halloween are found in most games.

We always champion ideas of bringing misinterpreted traditions and cultures in games, to truly connect with different audiences which have been alienated for years.

It does not need to be a complete rework of the game, but just a gentle nod can be as impactful. We will start there, making the world’s best games approachable, playable, and payable for that region.

And then we will build upon that momentum, further connecting to local partners, content creators, community leaders and the esports ecosystem. We will partner with the best publishers or developers that have the best content for each market and bring those games to each of these regions in the right way. When we make examples of them, other publishers will see what they are truly missing. And the local gamers will scream for more as they are so hungry for a chance to play what they can only dream about today.

And we will keep going from there. We have amazing partnerships already cooking in India, MENA, Russia, and Turkey. The world is waiting for us!

Pricing (and often piracy in relation) seems to be a key issue for many ‘emerging’ markets, what are the problems and how can publishers best approach them?

For online games, and the SaaS model today for games, the speed of new content coming to the authentic game is too rich, piracy is not much of an issue now that a game never really ends.

You can steal it, but it is always a lesser version of what you could get. Most people in these countries do not buy

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pirated copies because they want to, but because they have no other alternatives.

The big publishers rarely give would-be buyers a way to pay with their local currencies, native payment solutions, and usually price them out of the market by 3x or worse.

So would be payers, become players in the only way they can, with a ‘free’ version. This applies to Russia, MENA and Turkey. Let me pay, and I will pay to play.

And nowadays, with gates for payment from Steam, Apple, and Android pricing correctly for the market is not that hard either. Technology makes this easier by the day. In a perfect world, when you move from a low-priced market to a high-priced market, take your catalogue with you, but charge me more to “upgrade”.

The same can apply to anything else in the realm of digital entertainment, that if priced right, it will pull them into the subscription offered. In Turkey, Spotify’s monthly subscription is €1.5 while Netflix is barely €3. The volume and a lifetime of payers makes this work. And there is no grey market loss because you have IP checks, local payment methods and currency restrictions. Price it right and watch profits grow, year after year.

Streaming services are often talked about as being a key technology for such (often console adverse) markets, do you think that is a solution?

It is a solution but will happen in the West first.

Markets ready with mature infrastructure and server nodes everywhere, and the ‘last mile’ solved to ensure less latency issues. So, it will happen there, but not everywhere else, for a long time to come.

Streaming services in gaming are so far badly limited by content. No big publisher will give the game to them early, so you are stuck with a very limited back catalogue. Eventually, a winner will arise, and they will buy a massive content provider and move ahead of the pack. The current path seems to try to create their own games, but there are just far too many pitfalls to creating original content due to inherent game development challenges of time, live ops, etc.

We have seen this happen recently with the likes of Stadia. So, it is well into the future even in the West, and even further in Opportunity Markets for streaming to make much of a dent. Sadly for the players in these high demand new markets, it’s not a solution they can count on to fill the gap anytime soon.

There is also the limitation of internet literacy in that region, and no proper regulations that control ISPs and other key solutions to make this a viable possibility. Most of the nations in Opportunity Markets

have strict internet bandwidth quotas, and due to the lack of regulations and transparency in these sectors, those services could become plagued by latency issues, when hidden bandwidth throttling starts hitting their connection.

You say that you are seeking to support, not compete with developers and publishers in these regions. What does that mean practically speaking?

We will partner with the best developers from the Western world, China, wherever. We are not going to develop our own games. We will ask the triple-A game makers with pioneering spirits, who are hungry to expand and establish their brands first in the most exciting of markets left on earth to join us.

Most in the international business community know what first mover advantage means for a brand and understand how different a brand can be in one country versus another impacted largely by how and when it arrived. Luxury brands in some countries fight to be the low-price leader in another when they arrived late or launched wrongly.

KFC, as an example, is a high end, premium fast-food chain where they got in first. Brands that got there early, and do it right carve out an optimal position. And these first moves make all the difference.

“We have amazing partnerships already cooking in India, MENA, Russia, and Turkey. The world is waiting for us!”

What was the inspiration behind the name ‘The 4 Winds Entertainment?’

My team and I were moved in our own lives by the spirit of adventure, and we recall how the winds moved early adventurers around the globe in a romantic, thrilling way. Those sailors returned as the conquering heroes, laden with the treasures and capital from the massive new trades and markets they found: the silk road, the Dutch West Indies Spice trade, etc.

We want to instil that age-old tradition of dreaming of new worlds into the complacent gaming industry, where it has lost much of its spirit of expansion and discovery. We want to unite the world through playing games, but today so many are left out across the world, 40% of the earthlings in fact. The digital age of gaming needs to go North, South, East, or West, wherever the biggest opportunities await and let more of us in.

We know where they live, a billion+ gamers, and we can help our partners sail there, with the trade winds at their backs, to let more onboard.

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SUMO GROUP: Acquisitions, publishing and two shiny BAFTAs “Our ability to find good acquisitions” is what will drive growth says Sumo Group CEO Carl Cavers, as he talks to Seth Barton about the group’s recent successes and future plans

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umo Group’s annual results were released in April and the company is in very good shape indeed, with revenues up by 40.7 per cent and profits up 17.1 per cent.

Big results are currently expected for gaming companies of course, given the current climate.

Although Sumo Group CEO Carl Cavers notes that Sumo is “one step removed from both the commercial risk but also the commercial opportunity” that the pandemic presented businesses. That said, the business has grown, organically and through acquisitions, and its order book is stacked for the future Cavers tells us.

“We announced last September that, at that point, we had 85 per cent of our revenue secured for that year, so basically needing 15 per cent, which is normal.” But this year it’s six months ahead on hitting that same figure. “We’re already at 85 per cent this year, we’re at 60 per cent for 2022 and we’re at 35 per cent for 2023… so you know we’re in a phenomenally good position.”

Part of that pipeline strength is thanks to the pandemic. Cavers admits he was at first worried about securing business for the future without the usual round of events and in person meetings, but that the opposite proved to be true.

“It was one of our deep concerns initially, although we’ve got a lot of revenue already, years ahead. But because we’ve got such strong partnerships with our clients already… they just doubled down on the relationships they already had, so that helped tremendously.”

HAVE DEV KIT, CAN TRAVEL Another potential issue was whether clients would allow sensitive data, and hardware such as dev kits, to be moved to remote working environments.

“If you’d have asked me before the pandemic, could we work from home? It would have been a no, mainly because our clients wouldn’t let us.

We’ve now proved, over the last 12 months, that we can maintain security and integrity around IP. So hopefully, that experience will feed into a solution going forward.”

Sumo Group was already making acquisitions before the recent pandemic-driven spree, with US-based Pipeworks and Leamington-based Lab42 being the most recent. And it plans to continue to expand in this respect, despite a highly competitive environment.

“Our ability to find good acquisitions,” is the single point Cavers highlights when considering

future growth. “We’ve grown the business with headcount, so while we came to market with 489 people, we’re now just over 1,000 people.”

“One challenge there is that when you find a good acquisition target, they’re already busy, it doesn’t actually solve our pipeline!” He notes that the best developers always have plenty of work booked ahead, so acquiring great talent is a long term solution rather than a quick fix.

“In terms of acquisitions for us though, we want to remain quite disciplined in what we do, we absolutely believe that being part of something larger is better. That’s partly because most of the projects we work on now need teams of over 200 people at peak and as a small studio, even a smaller studio with 150 people, can’t really fulfil a large game anymore and that’s what people of that size studio want to work on, so being part of something larger gives them that opportunity.

“We’re trying to buy businesses that aren’t in competitive processes so we’re relying on our network and where we’ve been approached by people that recognise that opportunity. We absolutely invest in management teams rather than buying businesses, we want people that are ideally going to stay with the business going forward and help it grow with the synergies we’ve got across the rest of our group.”

And those synergies create great content, and the strong results are simply an indication of that, he feels.

“They’re great, and we’re really pleased. But ultimately, the results are a reflection of something we’ve always said, we just keep running a good business. And by that I mean making great games.

Keeping everybody happy at Sumo and having that right culture, the numbers only happened because of that.”

Above: Carl Cavers, Sumo Group

Below: Secret Mode is Sumo’s new publishing initiative

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ENTERING SECRET MODE While we started by discussing how Sumo is one-step removed from the market, plans to create more IP and bring that IP to market for itself are progressing – with the recently launched Secret Mode publishing arm. And it plans to operate beyond just games made behind Sumo’s own doors.

The new venture is led by James Schall, director of publishing, who is best known for his time leading digital distribution at Sega.

Along with head of marketing Derek Seklecki, who worked on localisation at Nintendo and marketing at Sega.

“We’ve decided to be a bit more formalised about our own self publishing efforts,” Cavers explains. “Rather than just looking at things we do ourselves, like Snake Pass or Dear Esther, it’s having James and Derrick lead a publishing team that can then make very clear decisions based on their own mandate.

He explains that makes for better decisions, “rather than being a developer that’s wearing both poacher and gamekeeper hats at the same time.

“It’s always a difficult balance – you always love your own baby!” But Cavers explains that game developers can then be biased when gauging something’s true commercial potential. “When you’ve got a separate publishing division you’ve then obviously got that discipline in place.”

And that newfound discipline will be clearly visible in Sumo’s reporting in future. “We’re going to run it as a separate operating division, so once it starts making money, it will start to report on its own basis,” Cavers notes.

“[The BAFTAs] are absolutely everything to us... Being recognised in that way is tremendously important” “Obviously the Chinese Room had Dear Esther, that was almost dead from a sales point of view when we acquired them but we’ve been able to help drive that. So having a bit of IP is absolutely a selling point to us, partly because it gives us a way of monetising going forward.

“But more importantly because we don’t provide capacities to our clients, we do pretty much all turnkey, full video game development, so we need creative people that have proven that they can make great games. That’s what we’re doubling down on, and without that there’s no way we’d have delivered something like Sackboy.

And that seems a fitting note to end on, Sumo’s recent double BAFTA win for Sackboy: A Big Adventure. With the studio carrying on its work on the IP from Little Big Planet 3. “[The BAFTAs] are absolutely everything to us. To our businesses, our people, the creative environment and culture that we have.

Being recognised in that way is tremendously important,” Cavers concludes proudly.

Below: Sackboy: A Big Adventure picked up BAFTAs for Family Game and British Game

ACQUIRING THE RIGHTS So how does that fit with the acquisitions strategy? Will Sumo be buying up IP? After all, the prices of IP-holding developers such as Codemasters are now eye-watering.

“Ideally not a large price tag of IP, but with Pipeworks, for example, we acquired them and we got Prominence Poker with that. The game has got quite a good following and audience,” approaching 5,000 very positive reviews on Steam for starters, “so that’s something that Secret Mode are already helping with, and will probably take responsibility for, which is great.

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What do you get if you add Fanatical to Fandom? Seth Barton talks to the digital retailer about its new owners and where the synergies could take them

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igital retailer Fanatical was acquired by usergenerated content platform Fandom earlier this year. Fanatical has sold over 82m game keys to date (all officially licensed), while Fandom claims over 300m monthly active users – with gaming being a huge segment of its content. So it’s easy to see why the two working together makes so much sense.

We talk to Craig Johnson, managing director at Fanatical about the huge potential that such a collaboration should bring.

Craig Johnson, managing director at Fanatical

From your perspective, why did Fanatical + Fandom make sense?

From early discussions with representatives at Fandom, it was clear that the opportunities that this acquisition presented for both parties was incredibly exciting. Our knowledge and experience in the e-commerce sector for gaming and officially licensed products, combined with Fandom’s sheer scale and popularity as the world’s largest fan platform, really felt like the perfect synergy between the two companies.

And the team at your end remains the same?

Our devoted Fanatical team in its entirety is still at the helm providing customers with fantastic game deals as

well as exclusively curated bundles, and we remain a UKbased business.

Our staff are excited to return to our headquarters in Rugeley, Staffordshire, pending the official nod from Boris Johnson. We’ve taken every measure to ensure that our workplace is a COVID-free zone and will continue to ensure that each staff member follows the strict guidelines in place to minimize the risk of infection on their return.

With the popularity of your ‘Mystery Egg’ bundles, having a partner that tells people about the games they might get is surely a great match?

Our recent Mystery Egg Bundle has been a ‘cracking’ choice for customers since its launch during our Easter Eggstravaganza sale, this particular type of bundle is a fun and unique way to discover new must-play games and great indie gems at unbeatable value.

Every Mystery Bundle contains officially licensed keys, and we agree confidentiality with our developers and publishers that we won’t reveal what titles will be included – which means that customers have the opportunity to discover incredible games for next to nothing.

As for Fandom content on the Fanatical Store, we currently have no plans to serve third-party adverts on

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the site. However, you may see advertisements for our Fanatical deals appearing on Fandom as we promote our fantastic deals to their ever-growing community.

Specifically, how else can Fandom direct users towards Fanatical, to make them into customers? (both in advertising and links from native content) At present, our primary focus is promoting exciting new releases, our exclusive bundles and many other deals via advert placements on some of Fandom’s most popular and relatable wiki pages, in order to reach more gamers and potential customers than ever before. Hundreds of millions of people visit Fandom each month to find out more information on their favourite TV shows, movies and games – and by providing a site in which visitors can find insightful information with the addition of tailored ads to fantastic Fanatical deals, this synergy is creating a hub for all their consumer needs.

Fandom is a global site, can we now expect Fanatical to take greater steps to cultivate a global audience?

Fandom has achieved milestone after milestone, with a phenomenal number of monthly users and an engaging site encompassing creator tools, experiences, content and commerce. Fanatical has already made great strides in providing an array of products to a global audience, serving customers in over 200 countries with 16 languages available on our site.

Fandom’s audience size will allow Fanatical to grow and accelerate our plans to achieve our ultimate goal: to become one of the world’s best online retailers for officially licensed digital entertainment products.

Will partnering with Fandom potentially increase your range of products?

We’re always looking to bring our customers the very best games on the market, as well as providing them with must-have savings and best-ever prices on timeless classics, popular choices and much more. While we don’t have any specific information on expanding our catalog through this newly formed acquisition at the moment, including new publishers or multi-platform games, we will continue to offer customers a wide range of products and inform them of any new information at the appropriate time.

Our teams have met in virtual groups, sharing expertise and knowledge on each other’s strengths, ideas and where we can grow together – this includes the integration of Fanatical adverts on Fandom’s wiki pages, as well as plans for featured deal shoutouts via the Honest Trailers YouTube channel and sharing some of our creative blog content on the Fandom site for new audiences to enjoy.

It’s still early days, but we’re all eager to work on big plans together for the future.

Generally speaking how is business, how has the pandemic impacted you and how is the rest of 2021 looking?

Fanatical continues to perform well given the unfortunate circumstances that the world has succumbed to over the past 12 months or so. The coronavirus pandemic was a huge shock to us all and everyday life has changed drastically, although we seem to be approaching more lenient restrictions over the coming months, which is welcome news for us all.

We were fortunate that our business is digitalbased, meaning our customers could still visit us and acquire the products that they desired with no hassle or complications. Of course, the pandemic and lockdown restrictions meant that our team had to adjust to working from home – but I couldn’t be prouder of how they’ve all maintained such a high standard of professionalism and motivation during these challenging times.

As the world stood still and millions of people were forced to reside in their homes for their own safety and for those around them, many turned to games as a morale boost and to socialise online with friends, family, and fellow players from afar. This is one of the many reasons why Fanatical is proud to be able to offer customers such a wide range of products for them to enjoy.

We hope that, in some way, that great deal that you picked up from our sale or that curated bundle of titles that you added to your Steam Library has brought you some comfort or enjoyment during such horrid times.

As we begin to focus on life on the other side of the pandemic, our team is working tirelessly throughout to ensure that our customers have access to amazing games, with hopefully lots more exciting projects on the horizon, as we embark on a new adventure as part of the Fandom family.

What other synergies are there, what am I missing here?

The synergy between Fandom and Fanatical is a prosperous opportunity and one that we are excited to share.

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What’s on the event horizon?

As we begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel, Chris Wallace talks to game event organisers to find out the lessons they’ve learned from this most challenging of years Pictured above from left: Heather Stewart of Game Carnival and Unconventional Productions, Jacob Riis of Nordic Games, Tom Jongens of INDIGO, and Chris Wren from XDS And with thanks to event platform MeetToMatch for its assistance in creating this feature

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o say the past year has been transformative has become a huge cliché. But as we’re finally starting to see the light at the end of the long, long tunnel (with MCV/DEVELOP being 25 per cent vaccinated at the time of writing), it’s time to start looking back on the lessons of the last year.

And one thing is clear, games industry events have been particularly hard hit, and have had to adapt in creative ways. To find out more, and what the future of events may look like, we reached out to organisers.

“Moving from physical to digital has been a huge challenge,” says Nordic Game’s Jacob Riis, “but thankfully our core audience, the Nordic dev community, have been very supportive and helped making our online editions succeed.”

GOING DIGITAL As Riis notes, the move to all-digital is a little bittersweet, with the loss of face-to-face contact pitted against the increased accessibility online.

“On the negative side, it’s near impossible to recreate the unique vibe of a physical Nordic Game – nothing digital can replace gathering thousands of industry people in Malmö and feeling that special energy of togetherness. On the positive side of not having to travel all the way to Sweden, we’ve seen an uptake of participants coming from other regions such as South America and US, which has been great.”

INDIGO’s Tom Jongens notes digital events’ ability to reach more people than ever before too, stating: “One change we’ve seen is in the attendee demographic in INDIGO last year, a trend that will likely follow this year. Last year we saw an increase in international attendees. While INDIGO was already maturing as an international game business event, it’s not the type of event most people would book a hotel and plane ticket for.

“But with INDIGO now being accessible online we’ve seen an influx of many nationalities that we didn’t have before. In 2020 we were able to double our

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meetings up to nearly 500 meetings on MeetToMatch in a single day now folks were able to join our business track from overseas.

Therefore we’ve been putting more marketing effort into attracting attendees from America, Latin America and Asia.”

“Last year we were surprised with the lockdown and restrictions and managed to pull off an online event,” Jongens continues. “This year we came prepared. We’ve majorly increased our efforts on creating a studio/TV environment for the conference on June 25th, making sure we have highquality lighting, audio, and video to capture our speakers in the best possible way to make sure they have an environment in which their message is supported in the best possible way but it also makes it more enticing for the online attendee.

“We also changed our submission policy for the showcase.

These past few years we were supporting more and more international developers in our showcase but we felt that wouldn’t be safe with possible travel restrictions that could still be applied in June. With that uncertainty and to prevent any dangers, we decided to focus on Dutch and Belgian developers only. Coincidentally, that helps us bring out the local flavor of INDIGO!” There’s also the events that were born post-pandemic.

Events that, instead of having to adapt an existing format for the digital space, were able to tailor their experiences for online right from the start.

“The event wasn’t changed by the pandemic—it was 100% inspired by it,” says Heather Stewart, executive producer, Game Carnival and Unconventional Productions. “We created Game Carnival when GDC was canceled, and turned this into a recurring event platform when it was clear that COVID-19 would put an indefinite hold on in-person events.

“We imagined a free event, with world-class speakers and that vision, Game Carnival, went from ideation to launch in just two months. We’re proud of the turnout and reception by the industry. The virtual event generated over 11m impressions globally and coverage in major media including MCV, The Hollywood Reporter, VentureBeat, and The Wrap.”

EXPERT ADVICE So what has our panel learned about running digital events, and what advice can they share?

“Running digital events is as time consuming, if not more, compared to creating physical events,” notes Nordic Game’s Riis. “That was a surprise to me. In general, I think we’ve learned to adapt faster than we thought we could. Also, what seemed to be an extremely negative and depressing situation at first, actually turned out to have some positives as well, like us getting new participants from all over the world. So the learning there has been to stay optimistic and focus on the good parts instead of giving up.”

“Digital events are hard for sponsors and partners,” adds INDIGO’s Jongens, “since they really thrive on interaction on

GAME CARNIVAL Game Carnival is a free virtual event that provides networking, education, and inspiration for everyone in the game industry, from large enterprise gaming companies to one-stop-shop developers. Last year, the event hosted thousands of industry attendees, 220+ exhibitors, and 5000+ meetings and they’re excited to bring the virtual event back on May 11-12, 2021.

NG21 NG21 May will be the third digital edition of the Nordic Game conference. Running from 26-28th May, organisers expect over 1500 participants. The NG21 May experience consists of a speaker program with live streamed talks hosted from the NG studio as well as a huge archive of pre-recorded sessions, the NG Discord server and MeetToMatch video meetings for the business side of things.

INDIGO INDIGO is the largest game showcase and business event in the Netherlands, taking place on June 25th. INDIGO started out in 2008 as a showcase event for small indies and gradually grew to this large event where annually between 1,2001,400 people from the game industry join to check out new games, schedule meetings with publishers and other industry professionals, and join the conference track.

XDS XDS is going into it’s 9th consecutive year from September 14th-17th. The event is focused on ‘external development’ the practice of developers/publishers utilizing 3rd party service providers to help build their games and meet the demands of players. XDS brings together devs and service providers from over 45 countries to share knowledge, tackle difficult problems and offer a forum for business connections. XDS is regularly held in Vancouver, Canada in non-pandemic times.

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Pictured above: Fedor van Herpen from MeetToMatch

location to create noise on their products and services.

So you really need to think of new and unique ways for them to engage with your attendees.

“Another difference is the flow of ticket sales, which is maddening to an organizer. With a physical event with maximum attendees, visitors often buy tickets early on. To ensure they get a good price with the early birds and they don’t miss out. Digital events though, with theoretical unlimited tickets, attendees wait until the last few weeks until they purchase their tickets. That can make things quite scary but also something you can take into account.

“Keeping the focus of your attendees is also a big challenge. Anyone working from home will probably agree, you’re easily distracted by work or life around you and focussing on a day-long event is a big ask. We try to keep the energy up by providing several tracks in the conference programme, the showcase stream and networking activities in between.”

“The pivot to virtual in 2020 was new for everyone,” adds Chris Wren, Chair, XDS Advisory Committee.

“You couldn’t just stand still and wait to see what the other guys are doing because we were all faced with the same hard problems; How do we retain sponsors?

Will we sell as many tickets? What will the attendee experience look like?”

“The biggest learnings for us; be comfortable in ambiguity, make hard decisions – even if you’re not sure if they are the right ones, and don’t be afraid to experiment and innovate. If you have a loyal base of sponsors and attendees, they will empathize with your situation and be there to support you no matter what.”

That’s all quite a lot to keep track of, then.

Luckily Game Carnival’s Stewart has advice to keep you focused: “There are many moving parts to a digital event, but it helps to focus on a few key objectives. Have you created a world that is not just user-friendly, but inviting? Do you understand what your sponsors/ partners and attendees need from the event, and have you created the features and capabilities to meet those needs? Do they understand the capabilities of this new world?

If you’re in tune

with what your audience needs from the event, it’s much easier to define and prioritize those moving parts.”

Even with all that advice though, it can be hard to stand out among the crowd as a digital event – especially with working from home draining all our attention spans. How does our panel differentiate themselves from the competition?

“We always try our best to maintain and develop the very special Nordic Game vibe which we’ve been building upon for 14 years now,” says Nordic Games’ Riis. “Our ambition is always to be in motion and to further develop the cornerstones of NG, so that attending Nordic Game, physically or online, should always be like playing a very well crafted sequel to a game. You know the essence of what’s in store, but you’re keen on discovery improvements, adjustments and a few surprises.”

“We’ve put a lot of time and energy into creating an immersive virtual world,” adds Game Carnival’s Stewart.

“We’re using RTX tech that feels like real life, more so than even many video games. While we’re excited about the Game Carnival virtual world and capabilities, a core differentiator comes from how we approach this event. At Xsolla [Game Carnival owners], we power thousands of games/projects for developers, large and small, around the world, so we started with a deep understanding of the kind of challenges developers, publishers and platform partners in the gaming ecosystem face, what solutions work best, and what energizes the industry as a whole.”

STANDING OUT Distinguishing yourself from other online events is easier said than done, though. Physical events often have their own distinct feel – perhaps even if just due to their venue, or hosting city. Elements that have been lost in the move to online.

“I think most events differentiate themselves mainly through their offline program, things that are hard to replicate online through the tools we have today” says INDIGO’s Jongens. “INDIGO is a Dutch event and attending it prior to COVID-19 meant getting in touch with Dutch culture and developers but that also applies to other events across the border. These cultural differences blurred when events started to be hosted online in a global manner during the pandemic.

“To me, most of them started to feel the same.

Suddenly, developers across the world could join any online event and event organizers had access to speakers that could join a conference through the comforts of their own homes. Which is essentially

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great, but again blurred the lines between events.

With our choice to host a hybrid event, in which Dutch/Belgian developers, speakers and streamers can join us on-site we can still present a national flavor and differentiate ourselves through that.”

LESSONS LEARNED This is perhaps an optimistic stance, but with vaccines rolling out worldwide it seems that next years’ editions of events will be able to have physical elements once again. But organisers aren’t keen to just throw away the lessons learned from the past year.

“The next edition of Nordic Game will include digital elements, to cater for the part of people not being able to attend physically,” says Nordic Game’s Riis.

“After nearly 2 years of virtual events there will be presumptions that some aspects will carry forward,” adds XDS’ Wren “For example, the ability to participate remotely in sessions or B2B meetings without the need to attend physically. That will involve greater scope and risk for planners, so it will be interesting to see how attendee expectations could move us into yet more uncharted waters.”

“Virtual events are not a temporary solution until in-person events return,” adds Game Carnival’s Stewart. “Exhibitor partners and attendees alike have adapted to the virtual worlds and they’re benefiting from a reduction of booth costs, travel, time out of the office.

“Even as live events return, we can expect virtual events to continue. They serve as a powerful complement to live events—virtual events expand the breadth of speakers and content, bring in bigger global audiences and even live forever online.”

The success of digital events over the past year is just one of many lessons we’ve learned from the pandemic, as INDIGO’s Jongens notes: “I think one of the biggest lessons of the last year is that we’re able to create and maintain meaningful interactions online. At first, we thought a digital event wouldn’t have the same effect and it still isn’t the same as a physical one, but with today’s tools and services you’re able to create something pretty darn close.”

It should be stressed that these successes didn’t come naturally, but were the result of the hard work of those working in digital events. It has been a difficult year for us all, but as MeetToMatch’s Fedor van Herpen notes, things are looking up: “We are happy to see that most event organizers

in the games industry are focusing on creating unique experiences again, after the challenging year of 2020. They are looking for elements such as incredible virtual venues, speakers that have not been seen elsewhere, or side events that fit to the DNA of the event in physical form.

“We are incredibly happy that MeetToMatch is able to provide a reliable infrastructure with the event platform, but also helping these event organizers out by promoting the event, and to invite publishers and investors to meet up with developers. Soon, we will launch a first big part of our platform redesign, bringing a next step in user experience to events.

“And don’t forget to support your favorite events with the purchase of a ticket, or a promotion on social media: they love you back for that.”

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Last-gen consoles are getting Rusty Chris Wallace doesn’t apologise for the title. He does, however, have a great respect for the sheer amount of work Double Eleven have put into getting Rust to work on the increasingly outdated hardware of the PS4 and Xbox One. He talks to lead programmer Matt Phillips to find out how it was done

O Above: Matt Phillips, Double Eleven

n May 21st, Facepunch Studios’ astronomically popular survival game Rust is finally making its way to PS4 and Xbox One, courtesy of Double Eleven.

The long-awaited console version has been close to three years in the making, and comes almost eight years after the original game’s launch.

One reason for this long wait is the sheer technical challenge of getting the game to function on last-gen hardware. Rust’s PC version may have been around for quite a while now, but with its huge world, its system specifications are demanding – or at least, much more demanding than the now-previous generation consoles can handle.

On top of that, Rust’s popularity, particularly on Twitch, means that fans are unlikely to accept

a hugely pared-back version of the game. Many console players may be playing the game for the first time in May, but will have been experiencing the PC version in its full glory via their favourite Twitch streamers – meaning Double Eleven were under great pressure not only to port the game to significantly less powerful hardware, but also to ensure parity with its PC counterpart.

Which makes the very promising-looking port nothing short of a technical marvel. To find out how the team pulled it off, we spoke to Matt Phillips, lead programmer at Double Eleven.

“Right from the start, we tried to keep the game as close to the PC version as possible,” Phillips confirms, “that’s why it took so long to develop. That’s why we ran into so many headaches.”

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MEMORY LOSS That push to keep parity with the original PC version was routinely hampered by the limitations of the hardware, Phillips relates.

“The main issue was memory for the most part,” he says. “We have about four and-a-half gigabytes to play with on the Xbox One and PS4, but the PC version on Steam needs a minimum of 10GB of RAM. To try and squeeze that down has been pretty much the crux of the project.

“The CPUs don’t help either. I mean, they’re the equivalent of 2013 Macbook Pro CPUs. So when you compare that to PC players with their top of the line processors, you have a lot to contend with. And that’s all down to the sheer amount of stuff in the game. It’s a huge, semi open-world title.

“There’s so many things in the game at any one time. All the trees, rocks, bears, players, all the building pieces... One of the biggest issues, you can build things in the game. There’s a lot of object management happening in the background trying to facilitate that.”

Many of the changes made relate to how and when information about the game world is communicated to the player. Given that players can alter and build upon Rust’s landscape, the map can be changing in real-time as you explore the world.

“PCs can just deal with all objects in the world existing at once, but on consoles we can’t afford the memory or processing cost, so we spawn objects in and out based on a radius from the player. We don’t care about a missing falling animation on a tree that has been felled 8 miles away by another player, or that a bear is attacking a deer on the other side of the map, so we only keep the content relevant to the player’s immediate surroundings in memory at any one time and allow the server to keep their states up to date instead.

“This comes with a few complications of its own, because once you do get close to those things, your console needs to both spawn them in and update them to their states at the current time. It’s been a bit of a nightmare trying to coordinate memory usage, the cost of spawning things dynamically, and keeping them in sync.”

Technical limitations aren’t the only concern the team at Double Eleven had to deal with, of course. Adapting a game designed from the start for a mouse and keyboard setup meant that large

sections of the game had to be entirely redesigned from scratch.

“Every single UI in the game is redesigned from the ground up to work with controller,” says Phillips. “There’s no way to sugarcoat it, that’s a lot of work. Pretty much anything you can read, or anything you can click on needed redoing.

“There are also some requirements from the platforms themselves. For example, on Xbox, if you can see their Gamertag, you need to be able to push a button to see their Gamercard - that’s one of their requirements. So we had to work around UI design to make that work. Which means finding more real estate on the screen, things like that.

“We had to alter a lot of the aiming stuff, like for the gun recoil. If you’ve ever played Rust on PC, it’s a little bit harsh. Obviously controllers exacerbate that kind of problem, so you have to rework things like recoil, things like aim assist – which itself can be a very polarising feature – and PC didn’t have support for any of that. And of course, PC didn’t have controller support at all, so all of that is our own implementation.”

That controller support (or at least, Double Eleven’s version of it) is unlikely to hit the PC version anytime soon by the way. The sheer amount of changes required to get Rust running on consoles means it’s a “very different beast” to the PC original.

“It would be quite tricky to port that back,” notes Phillips. “We’re open to it, but I’m not sure we can afford the time!”

CROSSING THE STREAMS The differences between the two builds means that, while Rust supports crossplay between PS4 and Xbox One, console players will be playing separately to their PC cousins.

“We’ve had to maintain a separate release roadmap to Facepunch,” says Phillips, “or we’d just constantly be playing catch up. That’s because every feature we’ve had to implement, we’ve had to adapt for the console version. We’d have to rebuild quite a lot of features, basically.

“So we created our own roadmap in a way that suits our production pipeline, to bring the best features of the game for the core Rust experience, And then we’ll look at the most popular features and look at bringing those in as a priority basis.”

Mercifully, implementing crossplay wasn’t too much of a headache for the team, though extra

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Above: The ability to build anywhere in Rust makes it far more demanding than many titles

considerations need to be made to ensure players have a grief and harassment-free time.

“The big issues for crossplay are things like how you handle blocking a player from the other side. The two platforms don’t have access to each other’s user databases. So, if you’re being harassed by a player on Playstation, you can’t really block them in that way on Xbox., So we’ve had to develop our own system for that, if you want to block a player, that information is stored on our servers, and not theirs.”

There’s currently no text chat in the game, with a controller-friendly chat wheel introduced instead, with basic stock phrases such as ‘hello,’ ‘goodbye’ and ‘get off me!’ which will hopefully limit harassment. Plus of course there’s the option to turn off proximity voice chat, a feature supported by the console platforms themselves.

THERE’S NO MAGIC BUTTON Still, all these headaches really go to explain why the common refrain of “port this to consoles!” is often more complicated than people think. Sure, Unity does have a ‘port button,’ but it’s not quite the magic solution we’d all like it to be.

“I really do wish it was that simple,” Phillips sighs. “If you press that button, it will compile your game for that platform, sure. But that won’t magically optimise it for that machine. It’s not going to take it down from 10GB of RAM to 5GB to get it to run on a PS4, that’s still your job.

“Nor will it automatically make the controller inputs magically work keyboard mapping, that’s a redesign. It’s not going to make the UI changes.

Everything on Unity deals with hard disks, so if you want the game to load from a Blu-ray you’ve got to write that system, the button’s not going to do that for you.

“There’s also things like different online networks, dealing with PSN, rather than Steam. You’ve got to deal with their save systems, the cloud systems, the entitlement system for DLC is completely different.

I could go on for days explaining the differences between Steam and PSN, and those differences are your problem.

Pressing the button isn’t gonna automatically solve all those issues. So even for the smallest game, it’s actually a phenomenal job, there’s so much more to it than getting it to compile.”

In fact, to get just a small taste of the amount of work Double Eleven have done behind the scenes, just compiling the game for console is a good place to start.

“I think the biggest surprise for us is the amount of time it takes to compile the game for console,” says Phillips. “We started working with the PC version early on to get a feel for it, and it was relatively quick on PC. But on console, if you want to make a change and send the build to QA, you’re looking at up to 14 hours.

“That’s just down to the way that consoles inspect the data, it’s a completely different format to PC. So for quite a while we had to down tools completely. We weren’t doing any work on the game, we were only doing work on the build optimization, to try and get that time down. We got it down about an hour and a half to actually making changes to the game and about an hour and a half before QA got to test that change.

That’s a hell of a lot better than it used to be.”

Maybe keep that in mind next time you take to Twitter to demand a game to be ported to your platform of choice. While there’s no doubt a huge crowd of players eagerly anticipating Rust’s console debut, they’ll have to ensure they thank the technical wizards at Double Eleven for making it happen.

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Brought to you by

A Swift Spotlight: Fragomen LLP How are post-Brexit changes to immigration and visas going to directly impact the hiring of EU talent for UK studios and games businesses?

T

he changing landscape of our relationship with the EU and the end to freedom of movement is now a reality, and with it comes serious implications for games studios who are looking to hire non-native talent from any of the remaining EU member states. Aardvark Swift spoke to Laurence Keir-Thomas, senior associate solicitor at Fragomen LLP, to discuss the concerns and costs of the new rules and regulations.

“I’ve been practising immigration law for nearly 12 years now, having previously worked with asylum claimants. For the last five years, I’ve specialised in business immigration. My particular specialism is within the games industry, making sure that UK studios and publishers understand what is required to allow people to live and work in the British Isles,” says Keir-Thomas.

Fragomen LLP is a global immigration law firm, with offices all over the world. The need for their UK services has seen a noticeable spike since the end of 2020, when we officially left the European Union. “Before Brexit, hiring talent was much more straightforward. Before the 1st of January 2021, EU nationals enjoyed the right of free movement. This meant studios could hire in exactly the same way as if they were a UK citizen.”

Those entering the UK (from the EU) for the first time will now find that they require a relevant visa to live or work.

There are some positives for those already residing within the UK. “EU, EEA (European Economic Area), and Swiss citizens can apply for the EU Settlement Scheme until June 30th. The scheme is part of the transitional agreement and has been put in place to protect those EU nationals (and their family members) who were in the UK prior to 31st December 2020.”

The scheme allows those who have resided here for five years or more to apply for indefinite leave to remain.

Those that have been here for less time can be awarded pre-settled status as a bridge to become settled at a later date. “It’s a really important scheme because it means

the candidate in question doesn’t need to concern themselves with getting work permits or worrying about being able to stay within the UK. We’d implore games businesses with EU nationals already working for them who could qualify for this scheme to apply as soon as possible.”

Missing the deadline for the EU Settlement Scheme has a number of fairly serious consequences for the person in question which will make staying within the UK difficult.

“You may not be able to open a new bank account.

You may find your bank account is closed. You won’t be able to rent new property as you won’t be able to prove your residency within the UK. You may also find it incredibly difficult to access any kind of health care,” adds Keir-Thomas.

For studios looking to hire new talent from the EU moving forward, they’ll soon learn that the costs involved have increased dramatically, with a complicated visa process replacing the old system. “The most appropriate option is going to be the Skilled Worker visa.

This visa type requires the applicant to score a number of points based on a number of variables and personal circumstances.

“Be aware, the Skilled Worker visa carries serious cost implications. To put this into perspective, if you’re a large studio who is looking to hire a developer from Spain for five years, and they don’t have a spouse or a dependant, you’re looking at just north of £9000 in government fees. If the applicant has family that they want to bring across with them, visa fees will be chargeable for each of them. You’re looking at close to £17,000 for that family group.”

“It’s a really important scheme because it means the candidate in question doesn’t need to concern themselves with getting work permits or worrying about being able to stay within the UK”

Laurence Keir-Thomas, Fragomen LLP

Listen to the full conversation with Laurence Keir-Thomas, learn more about the full implications of hiring post-Brexit, and hear what can be done about the new rules, in an upcoming episode of the Aardvark Swift Podcast, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, third party apps, and the aswift.com website.

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unsigned

Unsigned is MCV/DEVELOP’s monthly initiative to bring the best upcoming indie titles to broader industry awareness.

We aim to help them find the support and partners they need to reach the best and biggest possible audience.

ROCKET RUMBLE

Combining the best parts of combat racing and fast-paced action fighting games, Rocket Rumble is a 2-4 player party game where a charming cast of animals in rocket suits smash and bash their way across the finish line. Rocket Rumble features single-screen, online multiplayer, and action-packed combat across nine obstacle courses.

Who do you think the audience is?

Our audience loves party games. They love to customize, unlock and show off their flare. They love games like Mario Kart, Fall Guys, Speedrunners, Gang Beasts and Smash Bros.

What experience does the team have?

PixelNAUTS was started by Alex Golebiowski and Chris Iacobucci, and has spent ten years working on original IP and supporting other developers. PixelNAUTS launched Raccoon Rising for mobile, LOST ORBIT on PC, PS4, Xbox One and the Nintendo Switch.

PixelNAUTS has also created art for Compulsion Games’ Contrast, Ubisoft’s Starlink, and Alien Trap’s Gunhead and over a dozen others.

Why did you decide to use Unity to create this game?

PixelNAUTS has been using Unity for its own IPs since it first started over ten years ago. Unity provides the tools to create games quickly and easily. New employees can jump onto a project and get up to speed in no time. Unity is also taught at Niagara College so having graduates help on projects is incredibly easy.

How long has the title been in development?

Rocket Rumble has been in production for just over a year and is expected to fully launch in early 2022 on PC. If additional funding is secured and we can develop builds for consoles, we would delay the launch and sim ship in late spring or early summer 2022.

What level of support are you looking for?

We are looking for funding to help bring the game to console and to expand features for future season updates. We are already working with Evolve for PR but we would like a partner to take over marketing and help with user acquisition. As an online game, we need a large player base to keep the game going and to bring in and keep new players. We would like a partner with experience in the online party game market and one that could best support the game for years to come.

Developer: PixelNAUTS Games Location: St. Catharines, Ontario Canada Team size: 7 full time, 3 part time Progress: Currently in Alpha, launching in Early Access summer 2021 Contact details: Alex Golebiowski Alex@PixelNUATS.ca 416-554-6620 Left: Alex Golebiowski

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LOVE – A PUZZLE BOX FILLED WITH STORIES LOVE is a puzzle game about finding the things we’ve lost in ourselves and the people who help us find them.

Why did you decide to develop this game?

LOVE – A Puzzle Box Filled with Stories is designed to trigger not love, but that warm corner of sadness that comes with it; the wistfulness found in loneliness and regret. The idea for the game came nearly ten years ago, when Shane heard a song his friend Neil White had written that triggered this exact feeling. A decade later, we’re pleased to say that Neil has provided every note of the soundtrack to help us deliver on that emotion.

What experience does the team have?

Co-founder and CTO Shane McCafferty has been making games professionally since the first days of the App Store, and has had a number of chart-topping hits in that time (Word Forward, Crobble). Together with fellow co-founder Jim Squires (that’s me!), Rocketship Park has released a handful of smaller puzzle projects (Block Droppin’, remastering Word Forward in Unity) on the road to their first big release. The two share concept and design duties throughout a project. Shane is ultimately responsible for our programming, while Jim handles external relationships and company oversight.

Why did you decide to use Unity to create this game?

Given the nature of the game, we knew we wanted to target players outside of mobile devices as our primary audience for the first time. Unity provided us the flexibility to adapt our release to whatever platforms we wanted to pursue.

We were quickly blown away by what Unity had to offer. As we continued development, we were delighted to see how many challenges we expected to face were already solved thanks to the Unity Asset Store. The number of offthe-shelf solutions is, frankly, unbelievable.

How long has the title been in development?

The game itself is complete and already available on Steam. Player and critical reception has been positive, and we’re currently nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for best video game. We’d like to bring LOVE to additional platforms, and would also be open to re-releasing our PC/Mac version through a publisher’s label. Thanks to our use of Unity, we don’t need to rebuild LOVE from the ground up for new platforms.

What level of support are you looking for from a potential partner?

Marketing and porting support. Discoverability is the #1 challenge for any game, and without appropriate marketing budgets and know-how, even the greatest games can be left unattended by audiences. Brand affiliation with the right publisher can go a long way – and if a publisher believes in our game as much as we do, we know they’ll be committed to helping us find our audience.

Being able to leverage publisher relationships with platform holders, too, is key for us. We’re looking for a passionate publisher who will be our strongest advocate on whichever platform they bring LOVE.

Above: Jim Squires

Developer: Rocketship Park Location: St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada Team size: Rocketship Park is a twoman team; LOVE’s initial development also involved the work of a limited number of external participants Progress: Launched on PC/Mac, looking to bring to additional platforms Contact details: Jim Squires, jim@rocketshippark.com

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unsigned TRIVERSAL

Find your chill with Triversal: a casual spatial puzzle experience to reward & relax the mind.

Why did you decide to develop this game?

Triversal started as an experimental concept involving super satisfying physics springs. It tested well internally, striking a nice balance between stimulating and relaxing. We hope that our players will use this game to unwind to or take breaks from more intense gaming or work, just like we do.

Who do you think the audience is?

The game has broad appeal, as it’s easy to learn and can be played in short sessions. Competitive gamers need breaks and ways to unwind; so do parents and students. Triversal also offers a ‘Streamer Assist’ mode that adds numbered labels, allowing stream chat users to join in solving puzzles.

What experience does the team have?

Phantom Compass is an award-winning Canadian game development studio that has been making original titles and providing outsourcing services since 2008. We’re best known for the quirky Pinball-RPG mashup Rollers of the Realm (2014) and an 80s cartoon inspired car combat game Auto Age: Standoff Standoff.

Why did you decide to use Unity to create this game, can you tell us anything about using the engine on this project?

Unity offers teams the ability to rapidly iterate on prototypes, which can save development time in the long run. We were able to prove our concept quickly with Unity’s built in tools before we committed to writing specific code for a shippable game.

How long has the title been in development, how long will it likely take to complete?

Triversal has been in development for about six personmonths and is a few more months away from launch on Steam, with Switch, iOS, and hopefully other platforms to follow.

What level of support are you looking for from a potential partner?

We’re looking for publishing and distribution partners to help maximize our reach on all platforms and get this game into as many hands as possible. In particular, we’d love to work with a great mobile publishing partner since Triversal feels great to play on a touch device.

Developer: Phantom Compass Location: Canada Team size: 8-16 staffers; Triversal core team of 4 Progress: Beta Contact details: ejevans@phantomcompass.com Left: Ericka Evans

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BRAVERY NETWORK ONLINE Post-post-post-post-apocalyptic youth explore their immortality via violence and feelings, all wrapped up in JRPG-style battles.

Why did you decide to develop this game?

We at GLOAM were fans of unofficial Pokemon battle simulators and would play a lot together. There was a mechanical richness there and we felt the genre was underexplored. There was and still is an enormous audience for this style of game, and they often voiced wanting something new.

Who do you think the audience is?

The early audience for the game has been fans of trading card games, as well as Pokemon fans that were looking for a fresh experience. Also, due to the game’s inclusive atmosphere and diverse cast, parts of the LGBTQA+ community have hailed the game as a rare example of creating a welcoming space for competitive online games.

What experience does the team have?

Previously the lead writer and battle designer, Damian Sommer, worked on the cult classic collaborative storytelling game, The Yawhg Yawhg.

Min-Taylor Bai-Woo, our art director and game designer has had her hand in multiple games including Light Fingers, as well as dozens of fun freeware projects. Artists that have also worked on the project include Killian Ng, whose work can be seen on the Legend of Korra comics, and Guillaume Singelin, a prolific indie comic artist.

Why did you decide to use Unity to create this game?

When we were first assembling the team, we wanted to use the tool that was most familiar to the group, and naturally fell into using Unity.

How long has the title been in development, how long will it likely take to complete?

Bravery Network Online has been in some form of development since early 2016, with full production starting in May 2019. We anticipate coming out of Early Access Q1 or Q2 at the latest, 2022.

What level of support are you looking for from a potential partner?

While we’ve launched on Early Access on Steam, we’re looking for a partner to aid with console porting, as well as marketing and PR.

Developer: GLOAM Location: Toronto, Canada Team size: 3 full-time developers, many contractors for art and music.

Progress: In beta, available for Early Access on Steam Contact details: Min-Taylor Bai-Woo, admin@gloam.net Left: Min-Taylor Bai-Woo

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The Art of...

Hades

actually look at you. And even with that little bit of the game and asked questions about their experience – work, with the help of the animation and really smart even if most of these questions were actually very similar. designers and engineers, with everybody working “External playtests were mostly about ‘Okay, how do After winning an impressive and deserved four that together, you could tell from the very beginning people feel when they play? Do they like it or not like it?’,” BAFTAs at the recent Games Awards she was aBAFTA character that people would really gravitate Alderson explains. “At the end of playtest we would ask toward.” to see more of Hades’ the same question eight different ways. The question ceremony, we wanted Quill really becomes a fully fl eshed out character with is really ‘What didn’t you like?’, but we would ask it incredible art and get the story behind its the help of the game’s strong world-building. As an differently: ‘What pulled you out of the experience? What production. So here’s insight from Supergiant interloper in Quill’s world, the player experiences it not took you out of the headset? If there’s one thing you Game’s BAFTA-winning art director Jen Zee through her eyes, but as an observer watching as she could change what would it be? If you had two weeks to lives her life in her familiar setting. It’s a strangely intimate finish the game, what would be the thing that you’d fix?’ feeling, and one which gives way to joint apprehension “Those help bring a playtester into their comfort zone, as both the player and Quill enter new, unfamiliar areas. because no one wants to play something that people put “When you go through Mousetown and you see Quill a lot of care and love into and then turn around and say run through there and you see that she has a hometown, WAS THE APPEARANCE ‘This is what I OF didn’t THE likeGAME about it’.

CORE So it TO takes a little while the feeling of her leaving it, of that town maybe being in ITS INITIAL CONCEPT? to get the playtester comfortable, and we found that danger, gives you more of a bond,” Alderson says.

“Ifvalue artistic We finding integrity different andways excellence to ask in theartistic same question means that part was left out, you wouldn’t feel like there craft was at Supergiant, you eventually howeverget we’re the fireally rst and good foremost stuff after a the fourth or much to fight for. Everything that we’ve done, thegame mooddesign lead fifth time team. you I got askinto it. game development settings, taking Quill from one area to the next and toletting make exciting,“Iengaging, don’t thinkworlds anyoneand in our you studio don’thas ever made a you rest and take in this environment… It’s all supposed start with appearance game likewhen this, so those I think areit’s your important goals. that you trust the to exaggerate and accentuate that mood that you’reThis probably process. comesYou as some trust playtesting surprise though and you make sure that you feeling. It all ties back into how you are connecting I’dwith say this attitude allow yourself stems from some a time sense and of freedom confidence to try something Quill and her world.” that we can find anda then suitable keeplook going. andTry attractive something artistic new and branch out, perspective forbut just also about use anything your experience our game fromdesigners games that you’ve SAME QUESTION EIGHT WAYS wanted to create. made before and you’ll be fine. As long as you’re having Collaboration was key during the development of Moss This, isn’t to fun saytoo! thatWe weenjoyed didn’t give playing theMoss look of throughout the the entire not just within the team itself, but with the help ofgame external any thought process up front and I or think thatthat wereally don’thelps.” lobby playtesters. People were often brought in to feedback internally on for specific artistic choices. That happens a lot too, but as far as initial concepts are concerned – I generally consider art ideas disposable until the gameplay and narrative harden up enough to serve as a solid foundation.

Jen Zee, Supergiant Games

WHAT INFLUENCES (WITHIN OR BEYOND GAMES) DID YOU DRAW FROM? A throughline of the influences that I love to draw from

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are that they’re often traditional or rooted in classical art. On our previous game, Pyre, I’d gotten really into some pen and ink artists. The inky influence I’d wanted to incorporate into Pyre was resurrected in Hades.

When thinking of dark, fantastical ink work it’s hard not to invoke the incredible Mike Mignola. We also found influence in Fred Taylor, a mid 19th century poster artist.

Making assets in pen and ink goes much faster than painterly work and I knew we were going to make the biggest game Supergiant had ever produced – meaning more assets! – so it all worked out quite nicely that this art style I was personally curious about aligned with our experiential and technical goals on the game. Of course, we frequently referenced the work of the Ancient Greeks themselves!

TELL US HOW THE ART WAS CREATED AND

BY WHOM? Beyond myself (characters, environments, concept) we have Josh Barnett (FX art, UI design and animations), Joanne Tran (environments), Paige Carter (3D Models), Thinh Ngo (animator) and Camilo Vanegas (animator/

modeler). We also worked with contract artists to pick up some of the remaining work like icons and trophies.

CAN YOU PUT ANY NUMBERS ON THE SCALE OF THE PROJECT? Sure! 59 portraits, 68 models, 194 boon icons,1,400 environment textures, 32,494 FX animation frames and 942,489 character and enemy animation frames were shipped!

WHAT TOOLS/TECHNIQUES WERE USED TO CREATE THE GAME’S LOOK? We relied completely on Photoshop to create 2D assets. The 3D work was modeled and animated with Maya, and post-processed through AfterFX. Some additional tools we used were Zbrush, Substance Painter and Marvelous Designer. Fun note – our animator, Thinh used mocap as a basis for a large chunk of animation in the game!

At the inception of the project, we’d thought the art style would be painterly. We ended up pivoting to pen and ink when the narrative and tone changed drastically during preproduction.

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The Art of...

The Art of...

The Art of...

Left: Fred Taylor’s work captures the gothic tone while adding an extra blocking of color/dimension that doesn’t exist in Mignola’s work.

Above: We often referenced the work of the Ancient Greeks! How could we not?

Above: An early attempt to visualize the color script of the game in order to catch any oddities or weakness in the full game experience. There are some biome ideas we didn’t end up pursuing.

Right: We referenced Mike Mignola’s work for the gothic tone, clarity and rhythm of composition and economy of brush stroke/detail.

Above: The final concept that would serve as the springboard for the Elyisum tileset creation.

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The Art of...

The Art of...

The Art of...

Right: A very early version of Tartarus that was darker and more muted than what we shipped.

Above: This was the first attempt at a sketch of Zagreus, our new protagonist following a narrative pivot during preproduction. It immediately felt ‘right’ - the final design doesn’t stray too far from this idea.

Left: After the character design gained some momentum, a tone piece to capture the character and hint at the setting. We hadn’t switched yet to a pen and ink art style.

Right: The piece that gave me confidence that a switch to pen and ink could work!

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When We Made...

Townscaper

actually look at you. And even with that little bit of work, with the help of the animation and really smart designers and engineers, with everybody working Townscaper is not Butbeginning it together, you couldatellgame. from the very that looks like ashegame, it’s on Steam, and was a character that people would really gravitate toward.” copies to date, with it’s sold 380,000 Quill really becomes a fully out character with other platforms now set tofleshed come. the help of the game’s strong world-building. As an Seth Barton talks to Oskar Stålberg interloper in Quill’s world, the player experiences it not about his town-building hit through her eyes, but as an observer watching as she lives her life in her familiar setting. It’s a strangely intimate feeling, and one which gives way to joint apprehension as both the player and Quill enter new, unfamiliar areas.

“When you go through Mousetown and you see Quill runplay through and you see she has a hometown, with there Townscaper, my that daughter plays with theTownscaper, feeling of her and leaving it, ofit that town maybe beingmy in when launches on Switch danger, youtomore a bond,” Alderson says. “If dad isgives going love of playing with Townscaper too. that leftisout, youawouldn’t feel like there was But part thatwas ‘with’ doing lot of heavy lifting here, much to fight for. isn’t Everything thatyou we’ve the mood as Townscaper a game play,done, it’s instead a settings, takingyou Quill from one area to the next and letting ‘something’ play with. youThe restconcept and takeisinsimple. this environment… all supposed Place pieces It’s of buildings onto to exaggerate and accentuate that mood that you’re a calm ocean backdrop to create little island towns.

Build Below: With a little feeling.

It allbuild ties them back into how youthem are connecting with them big, tall, or build diddy and build practice there’s a lot you can do with the Quill her Pick world.” themand small. colours, make little parks, and marvel apparently simple toolset at how effortless and tranquil both the process and the

I

SAME QUESTION EIGHT WAYS results are. It’s Collaboration was key during the development of Moss, really rather not just within the team itself, but with the special help of indeed. external playtesters. People were often brought in to And feedback its success on has been really rather special too, so much so that we think we’ll be seeing a lot more ‘somethings’ like Townscaper in the future.

the game and asked questions about their experience – even if most of these questions were actually very similar.

“External playtests were mostly about ‘Okay, how do people feel when they play? Do they like it or not like it?’,” Alderson explains. “At the end of playtest we would ask the same question eight different ways. The question is really ‘What didn’t you like?’, but we would ask it differently: ‘What pulled you out of the experience? What took you out of the headset? If there’s one thing you could change what would it be? If you had two weeks to finish the game, what would be the thing that you’d fix?’

“Those help bring a playtester into their comfort zone, because no one wants to play something that people put a lot of care and love into and then turn around and say ‘This is what I didn’t like you about it’. SoTownscaper it takes a little while Unlike the little towns make, hasn’t to get the playtester comfortable, and we foundInstead, that just popped out of nowhere perfectly-formed. finding different ways toOskar ask the same question means looking back at creator Stålberg’s previous work, you can eventually get the goodhis stuff after the fourthup or you see a clear linereally through projects leading fifth time you ask it. to this point.

“I don’t think anyone in our studio has ever made a game like this, so I think it’s important that you trust the BACKGROUND Stålberg process. tells You us trust that playtesting Townscaper and is you “the make latest sure instalment that you inallow an ongoing yourself some exploration time and of tile-based freedom toprocedural try something generation.” and then keep Before going. this Tryproject, something he experimented new and branch with out, the butmethod also useacross your experience a numberfrom of personal games that projects you’ve as well made asbefore a big indie and you’ll title: Bad be fine.

North As –long which as you’re he created havingas afun part too! of We studio enjoyed Plausible playing Concept.

Moss throughout “I tend to the oscillate entire between process and making I think climates that really andhelps.” small architectural dioramas,” he explains.

But earlier than that, Stålberg was obviously keen on architecture in miniature form.

“I like those kinds of tiny worlds. When I still worked at Ubisoft I saw a photo a colleague had taken of a halfrotten tree stump. And I thought, that would be fun with some houses on.”

Stålberg drew them on using a tablet and an app, which kickstarted a whole series of such images.

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Left: We’d love to move to a Townscaper town and while away a summer meandering its little cobbled streets

Below: Stålberg’s Brick Block is the clear forerunner to Townscaper

He worked on these while on long train rides across Sweden to see relatives. “When I went out in nature, I would take nice little pictures and have a collection. And when I would go on a train, I would scroll through the pictures and choose one to draw on.”

The next stepping-stone was browserbased creative tool Brick Block. It’s an obvious precursor to Townscaper, letting anyone create charming little brick buildings in their browser.

“I knew that Brick Block had been very popular, I don’t have numbers on it, as it’s free and I don’t have any proper tracking. But whenever I would encounter people in the games industry, a lot of people had played with it. So I knew that people liked those kinds of things.”

So the plan then was for Stålberg to make a “more ambitious, bigger, one of those things.”

Still, he goes on to admit that: “I didn’t know if it was going to make much money. But I knew that I should learn a bunch of technical things, I had a couple of algorithms, and I wanted to try out some new technical approaches.”

COMING OUT OF THE NORTH Previous project Bad North was just wrapping up at the time. And while the projects are very different, in fact you could say one was a reaction to the other, there are also some shared concepts, such as procedural tilebased generation.

“I started making these very colourful architectural environments that are quite similar to Townscaper. And I was at a point in my career where I figured: ‘OK, this seems like a cool little thing. And maybe I can turn it into a game. So I’ll quit my day job and go indie’.

“I tried to turn those architectural environments into a game, but I didn’t manage to turn them into something that was much fun. Or at least not that was both fun and simple to make.” We suggest maybe some kind of simple SimCity type title would be the obvious choice.

“I wanted to make a game that I could finish in a year. So that wasn’t really an option,” he replies. “And I also noticed this aesthetic thing, where if your game’s environments are very colourful and detailed, then it’s very hard to put a game on top of it, because then the relevant gameplay elements need to be even more colourful still,” he points out astutely.

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Above: Stålberg’s artwork shows a long held interest in architecture in miniature

“Without the constraint of putting a game on top of it… I can focus entirely on the beautiful environments, and as they don’t need to leave any visual space for anything else. They can be the focus, which was really fun.”

By comparison, Bad North’s environments were purposefully drained of colour, in order to make its battling armies stand out as clearly as possible. “Let’s just make the environment very grey… just think of the environment as a canvas on top of which the game can take place,” Stålberg recalls thinking.

“Bad North made a bunch of money, so I wasn’t in any hurry to make new money. And I was also going to have a kid. So I figured, OK, my next project is going to be a small solo project, so that I don’t have any dependencies, basically, so that I’m very flexible when the kid comes.” And so the idea of something that didn’t have all the layers a game requires was a perfect fit.

THE WEIRD GRID Townscaper is often lauded for its immediacy, its apparent simplicity. “It’s one of those things where people who don’t know anything about creating video games are like: ‘Oh, this is super simple.’ Because the interaction is super simple. And it seems so obvious: you click and then it appears.”

Of course, that which appears effortless and simple on the surface is often nothing of the sort underneath.

And Townscaper’s core technology comes from years of experimentation.

“There are basically a bunch of procedural algorithms that I’ve been thinking a lot about. And Townscaper is like the latest version of that. It’s tile-based procedural generation at its core.”

Even if you click in exactly the same way then, the resulting town will not be exactly the same?

“It will always be slightly different, which I like very much, but one of the key ideas that made me excited is the grid. It’s weird and irregular in a lot of ways. But it’s made out of quads. Which means that when I build content for it, I create square tiles and then I build square puzzle pieces, which then I can skew slightly to fit.

“That was really important because one of the really nice things about tile based processes is that you create these little puzzle pieces, and they’re all standardised, so you can fit them together with each other.

“But of course, the boring thing is that it tends to get too repetitive. So the bigger shapes you get from the

organic nature of the grid breaks up the repetition of the tiling.”

It’s this randomly-shaped grid then that gives Townscaper its naturalistic feel. Although there’s a lot more to fitting all those pieces together than that.

PROCEDURAL GENERATION As with Bad North, the (not so) secret sauce behind Townscaper’s worlds is what’s known as the wavefunction collapse algorithm. Though Stålberg notes that the implementation in Townscaper is quite different from the one in Bad North.

“The algorithm solves an interesting problem that I had been thinking about a lot when I came across it. I give it a bunch of puzzle pieces and then it figures out how to create a coherent environment without any gaps with those pieces, provided that it’s actually possible to do that out of those.”

It’s long been used to create random worlds, based on rules gleaned from an pre-existing example for instance.

Effectively the algorithm starts with all possible states and then fills them out one at a time based upon the rules dictated to it.

“Once you get the algorithm, it’s not complicated at all,” says Stålberg. And if you want to know more read https://tinyurl.com/waveformcollapse.

“In Brick Block, all the rooftops, had to look the same, because they all needed to fit together with each other because I didn’t have a good way of making sure that everything fits. But in Townscaper, the rooftops can look quite different. I have a couple of types and I could have many more types. There are two different sizes of smooth sloping roofs. And then I have the terraced roofs. And then I have some other minor things, like if you just build a single tower, there’s a slightly pointier roof with like a spiral on top.”

And the algorithm allows the game to match pieces in other pleasing ways too. “There are a bunch more complex configurations where if you build in a certain way you’ll get these staircases, and if you build in another way you’ll get these gardens [and even garden paths]. I needed the wavefunction collapse algorithm to do that.

“And that also gives me some sort of higher order patterns that I didn’t have on Brick Block that also makes it slightly less repetitive when you build larger things.”

MASONRY PAINT The shift from bricks to plastered coloured buildings is a huge step forward from Brick Block. Stålberg is blasé about the colour palette in the game. “It’s a rainbow palette plus two extra greys and white basically.” But agrees that

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having colours is key to allow users to express themselves.

And it was no simple task to add them.

“The colours were a technical challenge. Because with tile based things, there’s a permutation explosion that happens. The more things it has to support, the more puzzle pieces you need to build to satisfy every possible case the user can build.

“Any puzzle piece can be created in any of the colours, that’s fairly straightforward, the additional permutations arrive when two different colours meet, as opposed to the same colour continuing.

“So I have these special puzzle pieces where if you have a border between two different colours, there’s a kind of gap between them to mark the border… when two different colours meet, the mesh needs to comment on that.”

For instance, two red blocks together has to look like a single house, but a red and a blue block together have a dividing feature, so they look like individual houses.

“One of my core aesthetic ideas is that interesting things happen where different things meet. For example, if you have a wall in a game, and you have a repeating brick texture, that’s not very interesting.

Where you want to put the details is where the wall meets the floor. That’s a very classical thing in aesthetics and architecture.

MONT ST STÅLBERG With smart technology married to a simple interface, it’s understandable how Townscaper has charmed so many.

“It’s very much exceeded my expectations,” admits Stålberg. “It has done very, very well. I think it’s sold 380,000 copies now. I thought maybe it was gonna sell like 4,000 or something.”

From a year’s work by one developer that’s quite a return. So is Stålberg done with creating traditional games with goals and difficulty?

“I might want to make another game because there are some concepts I want to explore,” he replies. “When you make this kind of creative tool, there are some constraints. There’s a big difference between making procedural generation that the user can interact with, like in Townscaper, and procedural generation that they can’t interact with. And there are a lot of things I want to explore that you can only do in non-interactive.”

But Townscaper isn’t finished yet. “I’m working on porting right now, I’ve teamed up with Raw Fury, who I’ve worked with on Bad North. So we’re gonna be porting it to Switch and mobile. And there’s probably some more as well.” Stålberg’s picture postcard towns are set to reach a lot more people then, and we’re very intrigued to see what the console market makes of this very special ‘something.’

Below: Townscaper’s irregular grid gives every creation an organic and random basis

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The Final Boss Every month an industry leader wraps up MCV/DEVELOP with their unique insight

Bulkhead looks to have found its space in the market with competitive FPS titles, was that always the plan?

Ha, what’s a plan? We had some cobbled together strategies in the early days like “Let’s use UE4, everyone else’s games look like the same drab Unity games.” But really we just made Battalion 1944 because well... we wanted to? We were bored of modern day FPS games and it just turned out that we struck a chord with shooter fans. We’re still learning how to execute our idea and our dream, we haven’t quite nailed that down yet...

That’s where all this planning comes in now ;) One thing I will say is, we specifically targeted The Turing Test at Square Enix when we were looking for a publisher, because we knew we aspired to make FPS games and Square Enix didn’t have any FPS games or studios…

Bulkhead has grown considerably over its seven years, is it set to grow more in the immediate future?

Yes, we’ve got a lot going on behind the scenes. We’re at 100 people now and we need a lot more.

You’ve built a great fanbase with Battalion 1944, has that changed how you’ve approached developing PROMOD? I think we’re good at wearing our heart on our sleeves. For a professional video game studio, we’re pretty up front about how we feel about things... and to some extent, we don’t really fucking care if people don’t like that about us… But something clearly needed to change with Battalion.

We (the devs) were exposed on a very personal level to players. Yes, we chose to do that but I’ll be honest, it took a huge toll on us mentally.

So we’re trying again, this time with thicker skin. We do love engaging with the fanbase, but… I can remember waking up in the morning at 6am and checking the Battalion reddit to see the feedback and replying… That wasn’t healthy. We won’t be doing that this time.

What are the biggest challenges today in the games industry?

Getting consumers to understand the value of your work. The last 10 years has been a race to the bottom, now we’re building back up again. With work from home post COVID; I think we face a very real threat of creating a gig economy if we aren’t careful.

Nobody wins there, short term the employees might but long term they’ll devalue themselves [versus] countries with either less strict labour laws and cheaper devs. I’m not saying I don’t like working from home personally…

But check out virtually any manufacturing industry since the 60s... games will be prototyped, managed, and published in California then developed in the East.

Joe Brammer Studio Head and CEO, Bulkhead Interactive

“With work from home post COVID; I think we face a very real threat of creating a gig economy if we aren’t careful.”

Is the games industry headed in the right direction?

There are a lot of similarities between what’s happening in games right now and the music industry. If I say it’s not the right direction, I just sound out of touch. I don’t like that big platforms are moving towards paying revenue based on activations and time played... That’s just forcing us to make scummy shitty mechanics that I personally am not a big fan of. That said, I think things like Game Pass are amazing value for the consumers. But I personally don’t want video games to go down the route of the app store... where the most secure route to success is a $20m Super Bowl ad.

But you’re asking the wrong person – I like making old school shooters with a fun group of devs :) You used to play American Football, are you still a keen fan? And does it have parallels to the type of games you make?

I like playing sports, I’ve never been a huge fan of watching any sport really. Do I think it has strong parallels? No more than chess, I guess if I had to make a sporting comparison I’d choose basketball, specifically the NBA. Those players capture the attitude, skill, showmanship, hubris, and underdog hero stories that competitive shooters like PROMOD are all about.

We want you to feel like you’re in a fragmovie when you’re playing. The same way a kid playing on a court wants to feel like he’s in the NBA.

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