BETA | LONDON FOCUS
Triple-A in London There’s little doubt that small studios in the games industry’s new frontiers are making a name for London as a development hub, but that’s not to say that the traditional triple-A space in the city is down and out. In fact, quite the opposite is true; a fact Robin Deitch, managing director at Slide London, knows more than anybody. Based in East London Slide was established in 2007, and is one of the UK’s leading digital character creation studios. The team at Slide have been commissioned by numerous developers and publishers, building up an impressive portfolio of work with company’s based within London and far further afield. “In the early 2000s London was stuffed with ambitious and expanding games devs; a few years later the majority of these had evaporated,” explains Deitch. “To a great degree though, these things are cyclical: right now the city boasts a selection of fantastic larger studios and an indie scene in rude health; both set against the backdrop of large media companies like Channel 4 buying into games in a big way, and the ever-impending collision between the digital agencies and traditional games studios.” “While it’s easy to get the impression that London is now all about social, casual and indie, between RockStar, Rocksteady, SCE, Splash Damage and Headstrong – to name but a few – there are some serious triple-A titles in production.”
Hide&Seek development director Margaret Robertson
Robin Deitch, Slide London managing director
creative powerhouse of Europe for the foreseeable future.” REGION FREE But some say it would be rather unwise to overemphasise London’s position as a potential champion of the UK’s game development sector. Ideaworks Hendry highlights: “Historically there has always been a very strong studio presence and capability across the UK, particularly in the North West, Midlands and North East, and that should certainly continue. “No doubt some studios are having a hard time but that’s as true in London as elsewhere. Putting London up as a beacon is not the right approach,” he adds. “It’s better to focus on a UK-wide approach and look to a London based Government to provide appropriate incentives and initiatives to allow our industry to compete and express its talents on a global stage.” Hendry’s isn’t alone in his perspective either. “I don’t think England has a bastion of the games industry unlike, perhaps, Canada 34 | DECEMBER 2010/JANUARY 2011
for example, whose bastion would be in Montréal,” proposes Escape Studio’s Fenton. “The big issues are less about regionalism and more about the relationship with industry and education, outsourcing and the lack of junior opportunities.
The issues are less about regionalism and more about the relationship with industry and education, outsourcing and the lack of junior opportunities. Rob Hendry, Ideaworks “This, coupled with the constant cycle of layoffs, is a problem the industry needs to tackle together collectively. Outsourcing and not investing in training is leaving us with a
skills and vacancy shortage which could be detrimental to the industry.” Yet despite the fact that opinions on London’s role as the pinnacle in the UK games industry are still somewhat divided, the general consensus is that the city’s development sector is indeed thriving during one of the industry’s toughest ongoing periods of transformation. London’s overheads are high, its competition is extremely fierce and the city is as packed with challenges as it is with residents, but studios with both triple-A and independent output are making a success for themselves, weathering the wider storm in the UK’s rainy capital. A base in London primes any studio with immeasurably vast opportunities for collaboration, and puts it in the heartland of most of the contemporary creative sectors. Clouds may drape themselves across the city on a few too many days for most visitors’ tastes, but the outlook is bright for those developers ready to take a realistic view of today’s changing industry.