News has filtered through the ether that one of Scotland's leading game design companies Realtime Worlds has gone to the wall and called in the administrators. The business has been handed over to the frankly scary sounding 'Begbies Traynor Group', no doubt an amalgam of Irvine Welsh's favourite sociopath and a big mouthed football commentator. The sad news is that 170 staff in a lucrative, fresh faced, industry that brought a lot of kudos to Dundee, Abertay and Scotland have been given the usual ten minutes to clear their desk and get the chuff out of dodge, or rather Dundee.
The company recently launched APB, which was supposed to bring in exactly squiddly giddly gazillion dollars in revenue, after all some of the creatives behind Grand Theft Auto are behind this, Microsoft pumped it up as their must have game, it's had a global launch, massive investment and after some review issues and criticisms appears to have flopped.
My question is this, should the Scottish Government, mostly late middle aged men who couldn't tell Gay Tony and Mario the plumber apart, respond to the obvious pressure that will be put on them by the games industry and our national press to put Scottish taxpayers dosh into a games industry that glorifies violence, but hey has a potentially massive return?
Is the imperative to save Realworld as valid as say trying to bail out the Dunfremline Building Society?
Personally, I'm thinking that David Jones who was behind GTA, Lemmings and Crackdown has a track record of his companies going tits up, seems to be a genius on the creative side but could perhaps do with a steadier hand on the management. Regardless of that, this is simply a horrible blow to a lightweight, hugely popular industry that yet again saw Scotland punching above her weight.
So what about it Tartan Overlord, what do your policy wonks say, sink or swim?
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3 comments:
Rich pony-tailed geek bastards.
Of course they should save the games industry.
It's an intriguing one old chum, they had a private investment of some $30 million a mere four years ago and appear to have frittered it away on space hoppers, iphones and invisible take-a-ways from the plumed duck.
Someone will make a killing and the vast majority of the developers will get work in no time, however the chances are it won't be here...
Mark
as you point out, a "lighweight" industry punching in and for Scotland, well above our weight.
Having shambled around Abertay University on occassion in a professional capacity, and aware of the cluster of software/ computer design and art companies in that lovely city, I couldn't but be impressed with the initiaves, facilities and courses of the former and the very real economic potential of the latter.
Given the great Scottish Biotech boom hasn't yet happened, no small thanks to Scottish Enterprise's piss poor investments in that sphere and lack of any real governmental strategy for same and given this software cluster in Tayside has developed, there is surely a case for intervention.
Yours aye!
PS - loved the supermarket post. I only shop at Sinos or Waitrose for those very reasons. Especially loved your considered response to "allan" who is clearly a fat stalker.
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