The BFI National Lottery Innovation Project has announced it will lend £510,000 to four cutting-edge projects in the UK gaming industry.
The investment aims to support free-to-play games companies in developing knowledge units revealed for their importance in the industry, as well as unused equipment, technology and methods to support underrepresented developers.
The four main tasks that will be supported are:
- The video game perception database (Into Video games CIC)
- UK Video Game Econometrics (UKIE and Distinguishable Wisdom in Research and Entertainment)
- Aurora Industry Construction Accelerator (Code Coven)
- Get Access to Marketplace: Self-Publishing Toolkit (Movie London)
Video Games Insights Database is a partnership between Into Video Games, Video Games Jobs Are Living and studio designers and researchers Birds Optical View. Its database aims to support free studios and developers by providing access to information on staffing team, talents, salary benchmarking and investment availability.
UK Video Video Games Econometrics from UKIE and OKRE will provide insight into the commercial, social and cultural value of the UK video games sector and draw together the knowledge “to articulate its value”.
Code Coven’s Aurora aims to build the skills and knowledge of underrepresented developers in business knowledge and funding. It will also support inaugural connections between developers, publishers and investors.
Get access to the Marketplace: Self-Publishing Toolkit is run by Games London as part of Movie London. The two-year project will involve a group of up to 12 free-to-play games companies receiving business development workshops, the insights of which will be compiled into a toolkit.
“We are delighted to support these four projects, which propose innovative approaches to a range of challenges facing the UK games industry,” said BFI director of research and commercial innovation, Rishi Coupland.
“Together, these projects promise to deliver greater creative and commercial success for the video game industry, through a focus on data, insights, market access and diversity.”
