The new owner of a computer game that destroyed Dundee company Realtime Worlds, with the loss of 250 jobs, has been given a £125,000 grant to create jobs in Edinburgh.
US-based Reloaded Productions bought the rights to online multi-player game All Points Bulletin last year after the collapse of Realtime.
Once a leading light in Dundee’s computer games industry, Realtime Worlds had spent millions on APB only to find it attracting far fewer players than it hoped. The failure of the game blew a huge hole in the company’s finances and it went into administration.
Reloaded intends to relaunch the game and has announced it is creating at least 22 jobs in a game development team based in Edinburgh. The company is receiving support from Scottish Development International and has won £125,000 Regional Selective Assistance grant from Scottish Enterprise.
Culture minister Fiona Hyslop welcomed the jobs announcement, saying, “It is testament to the talent, infrastructure and cutting-edge skills Scotland has to offer in this fast-growing and competitive market and our continued promotion of this key sector internationally.”
Reloaded’s chief executive Bjorn Book-Larsson said he hoped to add to the size of the team as it developed more online games.
There was some good news for Dundee, however, with the government committing £85,700 to Abertay University’s Dare To Be Digital computer games competition, which this year will include teams from Finland and Iceland.
Teams of student programmers and artists compete in an intensive development period over the summer, building fully-functioning prototypes for assessment by industry judges and a public vote. The three winning teams then become sole nominees for a BAFTA award.
Monday also saw the Scottish Government launch its creative industries strategy, which sets out how it will support a sector that employs 60,000 people. The programme includes improving skills, increasing investment and making it easier to access finance and international markets.
Ms Hyslop said, “This strategy is a crucial part of our work to establish an economic environment that is attractive to growth companies.”
Creative Scotland chief executive Andrew Dixon said the sector had seen the value of its exports rise by 36% between 2002 and 2007 to more than £3 billion.
“Creative Scotland’s investment in the cultural economy aims to build on this momentum. We will work with the enterprise agencies and local authorities to ensure the best possible advice to creative businesses through the Business Gateway and the Cultural Enterprise Office,” he said.