A new multi-million-pound Innovation for Games and Media Enterprise (InGAME) project will establish a dedicated research and development centre for the Dundee video games cluster with a view to driving product, service and experience innovation across the industry.
Led by the city’s Abertay University, in partnership with the University of Dundee and the University of St Andrews, the project, announced today (FRI), will offer a high level resource to local, Scottish and UK games companies, benefiting from significant funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s (AHRC) Creative Industries Clusters programme and the Scottish Funding Council.
Games industry partners include 4J Studios, All4Games, BBC, Beano Studios, Biome Collective, DeltaDNA, Microsoft, Outplay Entertainment and Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe, while business and cluster development will be supported by Creative Dundee, Creative Scotland, Elevator UK, Interface, Dundee City Council, Scottish Enterprise, TIGA, UK Games Fund and UK Interactive Entertainment and V&A Dundee.
InGAME will take a highly collaborative approach, with artists, designers and creative writers co-located with technologists and business specialists. SME games studios will have access to the partners’ expertise, engaging in creative experimentation, utilising new and emerging games technologies, exploring new audiences, and forming interdisciplinary working relationships.
With the ability to rapidly prototype and test ideas, InGAME will also develop experimental processes for the generation of original creative content, while promoting the diversification of new products and markets.
The project will involve academic researchers, students, industry experts and business leaders, and is expected to further energise the successful Dundee cluster, which is characterised by a high number of micro-SMEs creating content for mobile, tablet and PC gaming platforms, as well as larger SME’s with more established product portfolios.
InGAME is one of nine AHRC Creative Clusters announced across the UK today, with the University of Edinburgh’s data innovation partnership leading the only other Scotland-based project.
Professor Gregor White, Head of Abertay University’s School of Design and Informatics and architect of InGAME, 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.”
Gillian Easson, Director of Creative Dundee said: “The video games sector is an integral part of Dundee’s creative industries, and this partnership has the potential to open the door for innovative new ideas that will benefit our local cluster and others across the UK. Creative Dundee is very much looking forward to collaborating on InGAME as the city continues to go from strength to strength.”