Like most English towns, Guildford, in Surrey, is a quiet and peaceful place. It has a long history, beautiful scenery and a pleasant climate. But if you turn your attention to the gaming field, this seemingly inconspicuous town also has a less "low-key" side.
As Bullfrog Productions ("God is also crazy" series), Lionhead Studios ("Fables of Gods and Ghosts") and Hello Games ("No Man's Sky"), Media Molecule ("Little Big Planet"), Criterion Games ("Crazy" series and "Need for Speed 22") Supermassive Home to many well-known game studios such as Games (Until Dawn), Guildford can be regarded as an important hub in the UK and even the world games industry.
In addition to these large game developers, in Guildford, the endless stream of individual developers and small and medium-sized development teams has also made this place more noisy to some extent. According to some data, by 2022, this town with a population of 140,000 has more than 3,000 high-level programmers and hosts more than 60 independent game studios.
It is worth mentioning that despite Guildford's self-evident importance in the industry, it is not the whole microcosm of the UK's progress in the world game industry. And it is not difficult to find that the kind of play presented by Guildford cannot be separated from the positive impact of London, less than fifty kilometers away.
In fact, as the capital of the UK, the world's fifth-largest video game market, London is also the world's leading video game market and game industry hub, in addition to being the fashion capital of the world, an international financial center, and a global life sciences innovation center. In London, the gaming industry is entering a shining chapter that attracts more and more people in the game industry with passion and dreams to stop, develop, and move to the next stage of the process.
At present, London has attracted 713 game developers and publishers, accounting for nearly 30% of the total number of businesses in the country.
Among them, from a specific point of view, London is not only the birthplace of "Football Manager", "Monument Valley", "Candy Crush Saga", "Batman: Arkham" series (Batman Arkham) and many other well-known games, in the field of esports, the world's top esports club Fnatic (FNC) also chose London as its headquarters city. And just recently, the 2023 League of Legends Mid-Season Championship (MSI) also kicked off at the Copper Box Arena in London. Over the course of nearly 20 days, London will welcome thirteen top teams from around the world to compete.
In addition, at the capital level, the data shows that between 2017 and 2021, the London video game and esports industry reached more than £999 million in venture capital deals, and is also home to venture capital institutions such as Hiro Capital or London Venture Partners that focus on investing in the gaming sector.
It can be seen that whether it is the current e-sports business in full swing or the video game research and development that requires deep accumulation, in the field of games, London can also show its irreplaceable side. However, it is not difficult to find that London's achievements are naturally inseparable from its unique ecological environment and unremitting efforts to achieve it.
Thanks to the advantages of strong educational resources, in terms of talent reserve, London is one of the few institutions of higher learning in the world that can offer a large number of game courses, with nearly 100 game degree courses related to it. From a more specific point of view, the more than 300,000 developers with VR/AR development experience have also brought more vitality to the development of the game industry in the region.
On the other hand, policy support is another source of motivation to drive London's gaming industry forward. Here, the Video Game Tax Relief (VGTR) allows studios to claim a 20% refund of qualifying spend on games developed entirely in the UK or EEA. And the UK Games Fund also provides prototype funding to young game companies.
Coupled with the diverse environment – London is home to over 300 languages, a global transport system, and convenient time zones, not only for local companies, but also for games and game-related businesses that want to expand globally.
Taking Agora, a world-renowned real-time audio and video cloud computing PaaS platform service provider, as an example, the company's service cases have profound application in game scenarios. At present, in the process of global expansion, London has become a major foothold for Agora. The relevant person in charge of Agora pointed out that at present, the London office is mainly responsible for building a business BU with the goal of covering the entire European market, including sales, business development, marketing, product, and service line teams, aiming to build a front-line team with business development as the core. "London is unique as a European business development leader, with strong local policy support for Internet companies and talent landing, which is the strategic deployment of Agora's development plan in Europe."
In addition to the above, London is also providing a fuller communication environment and stage for participants through various forms of activities. At the recently concluded London Games Festival, nearly 60,000 visitors and 800 exhibitors from more than 40 countries and regions participated in this grand 12-day offline gaming event. In addition, Games London, the organizer of the London Game Festival, further emphasized that from the perspective of employment, more than 3,500 people from game developers, publishers, investors and other stakeholders participated in this year's London Game Festival, and this number has doubled last year.
Of course, that's not all there is to London's gaming ecosystem. As London continues to explore and advance in the meta-universe and immersive technology, facing the future, under the continuous interweaving and improvement of its ecology, London still has enough confidence. As Justine Simons OBE, Deputy Mayor of London, said: "London is a major destination in the European games industry, and the London Game Festival showcases London's creativity and innovation to a wide international audience, while inspiring the next generation of developers... We are already looking forward to next year's event as we work hard to build a better, more prosperous London for all involved. ”