London special effects giant moves into games

Everyone is talking about the migration to low-end mobile and social games – but there’s still growth in the triple-A business. Just ask The Mill.

The highly-regarded special effects company, which is currently best known for its work on TV shows like Doctor Who and Primeval, has opened a new division to make high-end games content.

The Mill has been working with games developers for just over a year – having worked on trailers for Bodycount, by Codemasters, Killzone 3 by Guerilla/SCEE and FIFA 10 ad for Electronic Arts.

But only now has it formally established a dedicated gaming division.

It hired former SCEE video boss Arran Green (pictured) to head up the new team, which create games trailers, in-game content, cinematics and TV spots for games developers, publishers and marketing teams.

The aim is to draw on The Mill’s extensive experiences across a diverse array of projects that also include TV show Merlin, the movies Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Black Hawk Down, and 28 Weeks Later.

Green told Develop: “I’ve been a long term fan of The Mill during my years at Sony, collaborating on some fantastic projects. So I was incredibly excited when I joined them to help with the launch and expansion of their new Gaming Division.

“On a personal level, it’s tremendously exciting to be surrounded by such a talented group of people. The Mill is a true tour de force in the world of VFX and I can’t wait to bring that skill and creativity to the greater games industry.

“So far we have a great team in place and have been lucky to work on some amazing projects for the likes of Codemasters, EA and Sony.”