Company Profile - Big Potato

Big Potato at 10 - bringing back the fun

As Big Potato Games celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, Marianna Casal spoke to the team to find out how the company is building a legacy in its own unique way.

Big Potato Games started out when Dean Tempest, Tris Williams and Ben Drummond, who met in the advertising industry, decided to try to sell a game called Linkee. Their initial goal was to finance 1,000 games, which the team managed to get listed in John Lewis. When showcasing the game at a Christmas trade fair, it was spotted by Dragons Den scouts and the trio was invited to take the game onto the show in 2013. Despite turning down the Dragons’ offer, Linkee saw a surge in demand following the show. After being previously rejected by most of the big games companies, the team was delighted to team up with John Adams to license the game for distribution.

The following year, Dean, Tris and Ben decided to take the plunge and start their own games company, and Big Potato Games was born. Back in 2014, there was a gap in the market for fast-to-learn and fast-to-play party games. Ben explains: “The whole industry back then was very different. There was a lot of seriousness and a lack of fun, and we wanted to cut through that and make easy, quick and fun games. There were either serious game players who were into Dungeons & Dragons or those who liked lighter games… like Monopoly.”

Thanks to their advertising backgrounds, Dean, Tris and Ben were able to use their expertise and experience to build the Big Potato brand while designing fun-looking games. Tris comments: “Back then, it didn’t really seem like other brands were putting much effort into making the games look exciting, and that was where we could really stand out. What we didn’t know about was being games creators. We had to learn a lot and wear many hats.”

One of the company’s first milestones was breaking into the US market in 2016 with a three-year exclusive deal with Target. It was a pivotal moment for Big Potato, as only a few British games brands had made it into the US at that time, but the popularity of indie title Cards Against Humanity created an opportunity for more indie brands to enter this market. Today, the US has become Big Potato’s biggest market.

Five years ago, the company decided to make a switch to a four-day working week. Dean considers this another benchmark year, as this has become a big part of the team’s culture. Ben adds: “The four-day week made such a difference to everyone’s lives and happiness. We’re busy on our working days, but still go home on time and have a much better work-life balance.”

Starting its Amazon and eCommerce offering was the next huge investment for Big Potato. There was no eCommerce expertise within the company at that stage, which meant that a lot of time and effort had to be put into preparations for launch. However, these efforts paid off as it meant that Big Potato could show proof of a game’s popularity to retailers, rather than asking them to take a leap of faith.

At the start of 2024, Big Potato Games became B Corp certified, reinforcing its ongoing commitment to operating in a socially and environmentally responsible manner. “Achieving B Corp certification was a big challenge,” remarks Dean. “But we were already doing lots of environmentally and socially conscious things as a business. As leaders, we take what we do seriously - both for our team and for our effect on the world. Getting B Corp was tough as we had to be a lot more organised – but it made us much more purposeful and deliberate. It was obvious that the environmental impact of a brand was becoming more and more important for retailers and consumers, as well as for companies, so becoming B Corp means we can tick that box.” This was achieved through a whole host of company initiatives such as launching ocean waste playing cards in 2022.

Despite celebrating its 10th anniversary, the leadership team at Big Potato feels like the company’s successes have only just begun. “Even though we’ve been going 10 years, I feel like we haven’t totally hit our stride yet. Each year, we find new opportunities – there’s always more,” comments Ben.

Dean adds: “We still look at ourselves as small and scrappy, but we’ve been here 10 years and we’re the sixth largest games company in the UK. Whenever you mention our games, people tend to know about them. Usually with games companies, it is the games themselves which are recognised but through our constant investment into our brand, the Big Potato name itself is recognisable, which has only really happened over the last two years. It doesn’t feel real to reach 10 years, but we’re able to grow because we never get complacent - and we continue to look for the next thing to take the business even further.”

Since 2020 the company has gone from strength to strength. With everyone stuck at home during Covid lockdowns, the demand for games grew significantly. In 2020 alone, revenue grew by 60%, which was partly down to the Covid restrictions but also due to growth in the UK and internationally. The team says there has never been a plateau for Big Potato in its 10 years of business. In the seven years since Justin Elvey was brought in as finance director to the end of 2023, turnover is seven times what it was. And although Covid is over, numbers are still on the up thanks to new hit games: Big Potato currently has two games in Circana’s UK Top 10 while IP such as The Chameleon, Herd Mentality, Chicken vs Hotdog, Sounds Fishy and P for Pizza continue to grow year after year.

A big highlight for Justin, although challenging to put in place, was shifting Big Potato to an employee majority owned company. Employees own almost 60% of the company, meaning that if Big Potato is one day sold, they will benefit. Another achievement for him, which he describes as unexpected yet special, was having his own game idea, What Came First, published, reflecting Big Potato’s open-door policy in welcoming any member of staff’s ideas.

Big Potato distributes to 40 countries and has so far registered offices in the US (in 2019) and then in Germany (in 2021). Adam Wright joined Big Potato three years ago as its managing director, to help plan for the company’s next growth period. He says: “It’s a brilliant brand with amazing products. In the games market, we have to genuinely be challenging and bring something new that people haven’t seen before. Now we have a wealth of experts in different specialisms such as eCommerce, commercial, operations and so on. In the last three years, we’ve doubled in size as a result of our focus and the having the right people in place. People are taking us more seriously now and it’s nice to be spoken about in the same breath as bigger competitors.”

“We want it to be good fun and rewarding to work here,” he adds. “We’re bothered about all our Tatos and want to ensure people feel empowered to do the best work of their careers here. We’re only just getting going – we’re ready for the next phase.”

The 45-strong team has also outgrown its office and is looking to move to a larger premises, which will be the company’s third office expansion, having first moved in 2017.

Ben also explains how the company is paying stronger attention to its markets and target audiences: “A game which works here may not work at all in the US and vice versa. We want to make games that work everywhere, and we want to grow internationally.”

Tris adds: “We’re getting much better at product testing and carrying out more in-depth market research before launching new games; things like focus groups and making sure the name is solid. We’ve realised that one negative word in a name can make all the difference to consumers’ first impressions. We now spend between 10 months to a year developing a game before we launch it.”

Beks Barnett joined the company in 2017 and is now the graphic designer for games. Also recognising the importance of first impressions, they look to provide bright, eye-catching and tactile packaging, such as using a velvety feel on Herd Mentality’s cow patches or a metallic finish for Sounds Fishy. “The message has to be put across quickly through the packaging,” they explained. “We love using colour while providing a snapshot of what the game is about. We want the box to look as fun as the game inside.”

Since 2017, Big Potato has put more emphasis on social media, bringing in its first Social Media manager, Nat Aves. Since then, this team has grown, with Nat becoming head of Social and Content, and Lily Coleman taking over as Social Media manager. Since launching a TikTok account in 2019, the brand has reached 100m views in 2023 and has amassed 418k followers. Last year, Big Potato opened its first TikTok shop for Big Potato’s games in the UK, which has been a useful indicator of which types of content and which games are leading the most people to shop.

Head of Global Marketing, Becky McKinlay, who joined the company as an intern in 2016, tells us the goals in the Marketing department include finding the right balance between brand marketing and performance marketing, particularly as marketing becomes more and more digital. “We have to keep in mind how we can make ourselves stand out while also making sure the Big Potato brand maintains its personality,” she explains.

Big Potato will be celebrating its 10-year milestone during the company’s annual summer party – an event highly spoken of by all employees, both new and long-term, which this year will be even bigger. Maybe glamping, a secret activity, and definitely karaoke.

Tris speaks for all three founders when he says: “I’d like to thank everyone who’s helped us get here of which are so many, but a special mention goes to Gavin Waxkirsh, who was the very first person to take us under his wing and told us Linkee was a good game.”