Indie games studios to attend prestigious conference

Indie games developers based at Teesside University’s enterprise hub are to be given the opportunity to network with some of the industry’s biggest names when they attend a prestigious conference this month.

The six new games studios, who are part of the University’s PowerUp indie games’ accelerator, will all be attending the Develop conference in Brighton, the UK’s biggest conference and expo for games developers.

At the conference they will get the opportunity to meet with games publishers and promote their studios to some of the industry’s biggest players, as well as network and form relationships which could open doors to further success.

Participation in the conference is one of a series many interventions offered to participants on its Power UP programme.

Based in Teesside Launchpad, the University’s on-campus business accelerator, the six studios also benefit from mentoring from industry leaders, access to resources and workshops and subsidised studio space, hardware and software.

The programme aims to help the companies follow in the footsteps of illustrious Launchpad alumni such as Coatsink Studios who were recently acquired by Thunderful Group in a £65m deal; SockMonkey Studios who have recently been acquired by Canadian company Behaviour Interactive, and Radical Forge who now employ more than 80 staff.

Head of Enterprise at Teesside University, Steve Dougan, said: “Teesside University places enterprise at the heart of everything we do and we want to give our graduates everything they need to realise their ambitions and fulfil their potential.

“The games industry is worth billions of pounds to the UK economy and Teesside University graduates occupy some of the leading roles in the sector.

“Giving the six studios on the PowerUp accelerator the opportunity to meet and network with counterparts in the industry and learn about new developments and opportunities will be incredibly useful; helping them to forge new contacts and gain new knowledge and insights which will be invaluable as they grow their businesses.”

The six studios taking part in the PowerUp programme are:

• Dink
• Omniplay Games
• Northrak
• Dog Box Studios
• Shadow Panda
• Desk Burger

Luke Mills, Creative Director at Dink, said: "Dink will be heading down to develop this year and we are looking forward to expanding our network and excited to tell everyone what we're all about.

“The PowerUp programme is supporting our studio by providing a safe place to experiment and grow alongside other fantastic studios.

“The programme is helping us accelerate our growth and enables us to join an ever growing cluster of game developers in the North East."

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