Abertay University offers game dev resources thanks to £9m funding

Dundee aims to become an accelerator for upcoming game development talent in Scotland and the rest of the UK, with the city’s Abertay University setting up the Innovation for Games and Media Enterprise (InGAME) project, worth £9 million.

InGAME is supported by ‘significant’ funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Creative Industries Clusters programme, as well as the Scottish Funding Council. The project aims to take a collaborative approach with artists, designers and creative writers, with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) benefitting from partners on the project’s expertise.

Said industry partners are 4J Studios, All4Games, BBC, Beano Studios, Biome Collective, DeltaDNA, Microsoft, Outplay Entertainment, and Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe. Business development partners, meanwhile, come in the shape of Creative Dundee, Creative Scotland, Elevator UK, Interface, Dundee City Council, Scottish Enterprise, TIGA, UK Games Fund and UK Interactive Entertainment, and V&A Dundee.

As well as encouraging creative experimentation in gaming projects, InGAME will factor in more business-focused aspects from the get go, meaning business modelling, user analytics, and service design will be on the menu for all those involved.

Additionally students from Abertay University – as well as from partner institutes the University of Dundee and the University of St Andrews – will be able to benefit from the project, with industry experience on offer.

‘Architect’ of the project, Professor Gregor White, who is also head of Abertay University’s School of Design and Informatics, said: “This is a really significant investment for the Dundee games industry which will have benefits for studios across the UK. As well as pushing forward new technological innovations, we will be seeking to find innovative solutions to some of the challenges faced by games companies, including the management of financial and sustainability risks associated with developing original material.”

Dr Siobhán Jordan, director of Interface, said: “We look forward to partnering with the interdisciplinary and cross-university teams in response to, and in collaboration with, the evolving and developing needs of the industry partners. The team at Interface can draw on our long-established track record of brokering industry-led collaborations with SMEs across all sectors and supporting with access to potential funding."