Sponsored by
Mark Butler: Goodbye to the geeks as video boom stays ahead of the game
LAST October, a highly-anticipated project starring Hollywood heavyweights Liam Neeson, Ron Perlman and Malcolm McDowell was released to widespread commercial success and critical acclaim.
Set in a hazardous, post-apocalyptic world, it generated more than 200m within its first week and was ultimately nominated in five categories at the 2009 BAFTA awards.
But this hugely successful blockbuster was not a film – it was a video game by the name of Fallout 3.
They used to be seen as the preserve of spotty, teenage boys, but video games have recently overtaken DVD and music sales to become the world's most popular form of home entertainment. What's more, they are enjoyed by an increasingly wide demographic.
In the UK, about 38 per cent of the population are now active gamers. Of these, about a quarter are women, and recent surveys suggest that more and more people over the age of 50 are also getting involved in the pastime.
This broadening of appeal has resulted in a jaw-dropping industry boom. In the UK alone, game and console sales generated 4bn in 2008 – up
26 per cent on the previous year – and worldwide the gaming industry is now estimated to be worth more than 23bn.
Martyn Brown, the studio director of Ossett-based developer Team 17, believes there have been a number of key factors behind the phenomenal surge in popularity.
"The first generation to play video games have now had their own children, which has produced family units that have grown up playing video games," he explains. "It's now an accepted form of entertainment.
"In the mid-1990s, the arrival of the Sony Playstation brought the mass-market mentality to gaming. Promotion and marketing rocketed, and advances in technology made games more sophisticated – appealing to a wider audience.
"Now the Nintendo Wii has catapulted things even further. Its games have brought a much wider range of people into gaming because it's a fun 'pick up and play' console. Today you get gamers from age three right up to age 90 – which you didn't get before."
Famed for creating the classic Worms series of games, Team 17 is just one of a large number of influential developers based in Yorkshire. Rockstar Leeds – which produces the popular, headline-grabbing Grand
Theft Auto series – also has its home here and perhaps surprisingly many believe the recession has actually benefited the industry.
While a new release of one of the most popular games will cost 50, with upwards of 30 hours of gaming, in terms of cost per hour it is seen by many as good value and with many companies having successfully exploited previously untapped markets there is more money to be made than ever before.
All told, the games industry in Yorkshire is said to be worth 10m, it employs more than 500 people, and it seems only fitting that one of this year's most high-profile events should be held in the region.
Eurogamer Expo – one of the biggest video game conventions in Europe – is at the Royal Armouries in Leeds for two days on October 27 and 28, showcasing some of the world's most exciting new titles. Many of these will be playable for the first time anywhere in the world.
The 4,000 enthusiasts expected to attend will have the chance to sample numerous cutting-edge games, including the latest entries in the
very popular Halo and Tekken series.
Team 17 are showcasing their own new project, Alien Breed Evolution, at the event. Available in three installments as a direct download for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 consoles, it was developed at a cost of about 2m, with a team of between 30 and 35 staff working on it for more than 18 months.
"Budgets have rocketed over the years, and in some cases games cost as much as Hollywood films to make,"
says Martyn. "In the early 1990s. we'd have developed a game for about 20,000 to 30,000, with two guys working on it for nine months. But in the great scheme of things, I think our budget for this game is actually pretty compact.
"The big thing about Alien Breed Evolution is that you can download it straight to your console. Digital distribution is a big development and all the major platforms offer this now.
"Digital distribution allows us to make direct contact with the consumer, and the iPhone is an exciting new mass-market format that's extremely accessible. We produced a version of Worms for the iPhone that people can download direct from the apps store – and it's gone number one in 11 countries.
"In the early '90s, we had 20-25 staff and now we've about 80. That could potentially increase further if the digital market keeps growing."
For all the success stories, their industry will always have its detractors. Last year, neuroscientist Susan Greenfield claimed constant exposure to new technology was not only behind a general decline in communication skills and the rise in increased anti-social behaviour, but was also turning out generation after generation of youngsters unable to deal with the real world.
The professor of pharmacology at Oxford University and director of the Royal Institution in London said children who seek refuge in a virtual world, where extreme actions and violence have no real consequences risk stunting their mental development.
These kind of arguments are unlikely to ever go away, but ahead of the convention those responsible for the present boom prefer to concentrate on the success stories, of which there are undoubtedly many.
The games industry is a growing employer in the UK, and held alongside the Eurogamer event will be the GamesIndustry.biz 2009
Careers Fair, which, at a time of growing unemployment, will give students, graduates and job seekers the chance to meet some of the industry's leading developers, publishers and universities. There will
also be BAFTA sessions on everything from writing to art
to design.
"Yorkshire companies are expanding and there are now better links between the universities and the companies here," says Jamie Sefton of
Game Republic, which promotes and supports the games industry in Yorkshire and the Humber.
"This careers fair is a great way for people to find out how to get into the industry, and to talk to the people who will be employing them.
"When I started in the industry gaming was still viewed as boys playing in their bedrooms with the curtains drawn. That's completely changed now. Nintendo consumers are now a 50-50 split between male and female, and we've all seen reports of elderly people playing the Wii in their homes.
"You can play games on the household PC and on your mobile phone. Games are everywhere now and everybody plays games.The stereotype of geeky boys seems archaic. Gaming has gone well and truly mainstream."
Eurogamer Expo is at the Royal Armouries in Leeds on Tuesday October 27 and Wednesday October 28. Tickets are 6 from expo.eurogamer.net. Entrance to the careers fair is included with a Eurogamer ticket.
Email to a friend
Print this page- Three-inch blanket of snow heading our way today
- Alan Shearer in list of favourites for Leeds and England jobs: Latest odds
- Barnsley’s Keith Hill invokes Fawlty Towers over link with Leeds job
- McCormack feels United search can be narrowed down
- Redfearn throws down gauntlet as queue builds at Elland Road
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -2 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North west
