Creative England launches £300,000 fund to help Yorkshire games development

Creative industries body Creative England has launched a new £300,000 fund for its Gameslab initiative targeted at developers based in the city of Leeds. The fund is being dubbed Gameslab Leeds, and it’ll be looking to offer amounts between £5,000 and £30,000 to help smaller companies working on prototypes with development.

Creative England aren’t just offering cash. It’ll also be providing non-financial support like group masterclasses, advice on development planning, marketing and even gaining access to extra funds and finance.

Leeds in this case, doesn’t just mean Leeds either. If you’re in Barnsley, Bradford, Calderdale, Craven, Harrogate, Kirklees, Selby, Wakefield or York, you also live in Leeds for the purpose of applying for funding.

"We know the gaming and digital industry in Leeds has some incredible talents," said Rob Crossley, Head of Games at Creative England. "We want to find, support and develop the most exciting, innovative and disruptive people and companies to drive the sector even further forward, putting Leeds’ gaming sector on a national and international platform."

Applications for the program are open now and will remain so until 2019. Those eligible can find out more about the project on the Creative England website.