University invests £150,000 in British studios; New funding round opens
The University of Abertay has announced it will offer grants to six UK independent studios, as part of a wider initiative to help the UK industry.
The university is paying out £150,000, giving £25,000 to each selected UK studio.
According to culture minister Ed Vaizey, the university had been given £2 million “to support games IP run by Abertay University, and open to applications from any eligible company located in the UK.”
Where the rest of the money is going is unknown, though Abertay said it has already begun a process where it will allocate more funds to new applicants. Submissions for new studios closes April 29.
The university had 57 applications ask for this initial round of funding, before selecting six winning studios: Bookmarked Games, Dry Ice Studios, FluffyLogic, Setgo, 14 Principles and Triple B Games.
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Independent research and strategy group Games Investor Consulting had helped vet the applications.
“All investment decisions require a serious level of expert scrutiny to fully assess the chances of business success,” said Games Investor Consulting founder Nick Gibson.
Paul Durrant, Director of Business Development at Abertay University, said: “There has been a very high level of interest in the Prototype Fund and the project has already been cited as an excellent example of targeted support in the recent Scottish Affairs Committee report on the games industry.
“As well as allowing young companies the opportunity to develop a working prototype to secure further investment, the fund will also provide a fantastic opportunity for students and graduates to develop their skills by working on the successful projects.”
He added: “However, we still recognise there are many challenges facing games development start-ups, particularly with self-funded operations which may not have sufficient working capital to apply in the first place.
“We are continuing to work on a follow-on investment fund and are making good progress with that, as well as looking at ways to provide support to graduate start-up businesses pre-application."
Really pleased to be a part of this, massive thanks to Abertay for their support. We're going to run a competition to choose the name of our game we're developing with this funding. Head over to our facebook page where full details will be posted this afternoon!
It is nice to see the uk industry getting some funding. However, I would like to see more start-up companies given a chance. Alot of studios have died around the country and without support in these hard times I can't see the void getting filled. There was £2M handed to the university, let's loosen the belt and give the new blood legs.
We too are extremely pleased to be a part of this and to have been chosen as part of the original line-up of companies.
As a start-up, this support has been crucial for us and enables us to deliver a top notch experience for the 2 Graduates that are with us now.
www.setgogames.com
