Entries from March 2010 ↓

This post is a response to the discussion on Matt’s blog post about the Games Industry within Northern Ireland. In particular, I wanted to reply to this point by Liam of WeeManStudios:

“The lack of expert skills and full-time developers in NI is still a major barrier.”

Yesterday I attended the INGAGE event at Belfast Metropolitan College. It was great to see some of the work being done here in Northern Ireland and to see other people who are passionate about making video games. The Games Industry in Northern Ireland is very small but starting to grow.

There is no shortage of talent and full time developers in Northern Ireland! We have a strong developer base supported by two large Universities.

The problem as far as I can see is that InvestNI & local Universities have not supported the Games Industry, therefore there are no established games companies here. Even then, I don’t see the small local games companies encouraging students to specialise in the Games Industry.

I haven’t been to Uni in 4-5 years so things may be changing. The likes of WeeManStudios and DarkWater Studios should have an obligation to go to the IT Depts of Queens, Jordanstown or Coleraine and market themselves to students, or provide internships, summer placements, hold Q&A discussions, video game lectures. Hopefully they are doing this already. The cop out is to post jobs looking for experts with 5+ years experience in this Games engine, that 3D modeling package or Game Console experience because, mostly those skills do not exist here and therefore does not encourage local developers and students to go for unobtainable jobs.

Students go where there are jobs and in NI that is mostly to the large US companies that InvestNI have paid millions in funding and tax breaks to set up shop here.

NI needs a Video Game Strategy for the next 10 years and more initiatives to show students and old timers alike what can be achieved. The Tax breaks announced in the Budget now give us a more level playing field with the likes of Canada but we are already a long way behind other UK regions and we need to act fast.

Local companies are vital but we also need to get closer ties to the likes of Sony, Microsoft, EA and Nintendo. We need to market ourselves as a lower cost center of excellence, in the same way we have done for Financial and Insurance companies in the past. Companies need to realise that we need to be trained but are willing and capable. Most US companies are happy to do this so long as InvestNI pay in part for that training. Look at how quickly Citigroup grew in 2 years. Why can’t that be Sony or EA?

I am very envious of the Dare to Be Digital competition.  That is just the sort of thing I would have jumped at as an undergrad wanting to get into the Video Games Industry but not knowing how to. If I had that kind of encouragement, I am certain I would have had a very different career path.

I am sure all Manchester United fans are well aware of the efforts of the so called Red Knights and MUST in wanting to buy out the Glazers and take control of the club.

For those that don’t know, 30-40 mostly anonymous business men, bankers and hedge fund managers claim to be life long fans who are attempting to save the club from financial ruin under the current owners. They have teamed up with MUST, a group of disgruntled fans also interested in gaining ownership of the club.

Currently, all they are asking is for supporters to give their backing by signing up as MUST members. The target was to double the membership to 100,000 as a signal that they have the backing of the supporters and to continue with their plans. It has grown by almost 30,000 new members in the last 24 hours alone and will surely reach their target. Then what? Well the Knights will try to raise the rumoured £1.5 billion pounds needed to clear the huge club debt, buy out the Glazers and put the club on the road to decades of success. Easy! They also claim they will give the fans a seat at the boardroom table. Win/win for fans, right?

However, there is a problem. The Glazers don’t want to sell. It is either going to take a huge offer to make them change their minds or they are going to have to be forced out. It is going to take a lot more than waving a Green and Gold Scarf at them. There are already suggestions that the Knights will ask fans to boycott season tickets. No doubt that will also extend to official club merchandise and match day hospitality. They hope that the lose of revenue will cripple the Glazers business plan and force them to put the club on the market.

So all we have to do is virtually bankrupt the club we have supported our entire lives and place its future in a group of largely unknown people without any idea of their individual motives or how they are going to run the club when they seize control. Will they use debt to take over the club? Who will run the club? Will they each own a share in the club? Will they get dividend payments? How can we be sure the club will never again be taken over by greedy owners in search of a profit? Surely, they will all want their money back at some stage, what is their exit strategy? Who will represent the fans? How much of a say will the fans actually have?

Portsmouth and Leeds are perfect examples of clubs that have almost been destroyed by poor financial management. We have all seen what has happened recently at Liverpool with their 2 American owners virtually crippling the club at a business and footballing level through infighting and lack of funding. How will 40 presumably large egos manage?

I am sure all fans would agree that if the Knights want our backing, they should come out with a detailed statement of their intentions and promise to give 100% ownership of club back to the fans and run it in a similar fashion to Barcelona FC. Until they do, I for one will not be supporting them.