Article - Saving British Comp Games
Gunny Bunny
Britain's leading game developer has called on the UK Government to help
struggling games firms.
When I first started in the games industry decades ago, it was all geeks
and nerds, who had long hair, ate pizza and drank Coke
Read more about Peter Molyneux's career
Peter Molyneux, Managing Director of Lionhead Studios, said making a
successful video game was become too expensive for the smaller, independent
developers.
"It is well known that Britain leads the world in development terms," he
told BBC News Online. "There's no other place on Earth that has the
concentration of development talent."
He said it was essential that the government stepped in with financial aid
to help save the country's gaming talent, similar to the way it funds
British film-makers.
Expensive business
Mr Molyneux bleak assessment is at odds with the apparent healthy state of
the industry.
Last year was a boom year, with combined sales of games titles and consoles
of more than £2bn.
But over the same period, several small British game studios such as Red
Lemon, Crawfish and Runecraft went bust or into receivership.
The problem for the smaller businesses is the escalating cost of creating a
good game. Ten years ago, the average game cost £200,000, whereas now the
average budget is £1m.
"Making a computer game now is incredibly expensive," said Mr Molyneux.
"You're talking about millions and millions of pounds to make a triple-A,
globally successful game."
"A few developers are really, really struggling."
Independents suffering
To weather the storm, the games industry has followed in the footsteps of
Hollywood.
Read more about Peter Molyneux's latest project, The Movies
The industry is going through a wave of consolidation, with developers
banding together to achieve a critical mass to survive.
It also means that instead of just working on one title and hoping for the
best, they can run several projects in parallel, relying on the hits to pay
for the flops.
Mr Molyneux fears that the commercial pressure could harm Britain's
reputation as a leading developer of games.
"The small independents are the creators of all the new, fresh and different
ideas and that is definitely going to suffer," he said.
"You are going to see less of the creative, out-there ideas which turn into
the compulsive properties later on."
"With a little bit of help from government, you could see those developers
growing and becoming a significant revenue source."
Wait and see
This would be similar to the way British films are supported by the Film
Council.
It was established by the government in 2000 and has a total annual budget
of £20m.
But Mr Molyneux is realistic about the chances of any kind of financial
assistance for the games industry.
Asked whether he believes this will be forthcoming, he hesitated before
answering.
"Let's put it this way, I'm not holding my breath."
His solution has been to create a network of games development companies.
These benefit from Lionhead's resources and technology, as well as from his
reputation as a games guru.
Despite the difficulties, Mr Molyneux believes the industry can weather the
current troubles.
"We have been in this position before. In the mid-90s we had this
consolidation phase where there were fewer independent developers.
"We're seeing that phase over again. As we go forward there will be fewer
and fewer studios but there'll be smaller studios springing up again, maybe
doing something different."
You can hear more from Peter Molyneux on the BBC World Service programme Go
Digital.