But it isn't the end of the world, Britain still has what it takes to thrive in other areas
There’s a bunch of people who I am sure this month’s issue of Develop will rankle. Good.
For all the championing everyone in the UK games development sector has done – even Develop through our increasingly popular Industry Excellence Awards, which services all of Europe – it’s clear that Great Britain ain’t so great on the global stage we once dominated.
It’s not just a ‘the writing’s on the wall’ scenario. The facts bear this out. Tiga’s recent census of the UK sector shows that half of the jobs lost in the UK went overseas, three-quarters of them to Canada.
Some more anecdotal context: our ‘Six Reasons Why Canada Thrives As UK Shrinks’ mini-feature wasn’t a stretch to put together, it tripped off the tongue given the many positive things Canadian patriots (many of them UK ex-pats) relayed to us.
So yes, a long list of games that includes Assassin’s Creed, Splinter Cell and Mass Effect proves a new fact of life; the UK just can’t cut it in the big boy league of traditional games.
APB killed RTW. Enslaved was effectively a flop. Even this month’s diamond releases that show the strength of UK development are the new Bond games by Bizarre and Eurocom – games ultimately based on a sure-thing licence and bankrolled by the richest publisher in the world. Yes, there’s Fable, Batman or GTA – but they are exceptions to rule.
Advertisement
But you know what? Let’s leave the triple-A games to Canada. It’s territory lost that we just can’t win back.
Despite this, the dynamism that defined the UK industry’s strengths on fixed platforms in the ‘80s, ‘90s and ‘00s – Spectrum, SNES or PS2 – hasn’t disappeared. But it has moved on.
The exciting UK companies aren’t the 100-man studios pumping out 360 games, it’s nimbler non-traditional outfits. Moshi, Hello Games, Wonderland, Six to Start… Just ask EA: it’s the one that spent $500m in 12 months to buy iPhone and Facebook stars from London and Macclesfield.
UK developers, those that want to stay in the game in the UK, need to start preparing themselves for these arenas – if they aren’t already – and fast.
Why are GTA, Batman & Fable the exceptions to the rule whilst APB & Enslaved prove it? I also don't see how Enslaved's commercial success diminishes the developer's achievement or proves that they can't make a successful title. Evidently, Capcom don't either.
Don't think you've proven your point there.
I'll also add that (& this is a broad statement) the studios best placed to make AAA titles are those that are relatively new (Ninja Theory & Splash Damage) or those that have gone through a massive crisis & have effectively been remodelled anew (Rockstar North/DMA, Rocksteady/Argonaut). This is as they can adopt best practice & new technology without internal resistance. Studio politics are the bane of Britain's longest standing companies.
Young studios, like Ubisoft's or THQ's new Canadian bases, would be the type that would be created here, if we had tax breaks to rival Canada's.
