Monumental nabs nearly £300,000 from Technology Strategy Board

MMO and middleware developer Monumental has been awarded almost £300,000 from the Technology Strategy Board, in the first year that the Board has accepted funding applications from the creative industries.

The money will be used as part of a project that aims to ‘revolutionise’ its Monumental Technology Suite engine, focusing on providing a route to develop browser-based MMOs as well as making the Suite ‘accessible to all’. The firm has said that it hopes to make the project’s advances commercial within the next two years.

Monumental itself is lead participant in the project, and is joined by academic and research partner Staffordshire University, which will soon open the UK’s first dedicated MMO course in collaboration with Monumental. Other partners include billing-system provider Media and Game Technologies , and PlayGen and Digital Native Academy, both of whom will act as consultants.

“It is encouraging to see recognition for the contribution made by such industries to the UK economy," said Monumental CTO and project lead Rocco Loscalzo. "This award for Collaborative Research and Development has enabled us to kick-start a commercially viable but inherently high-risk project, and we can’t wait to get going with our partners.”

Project manager Ewan Lamont added: “With these partners we have the ideal breadth of experience and cover all aspects of the route to market. Working together I am convinced we will see fantastic results.”