LEAMINGTON Spa UK has a reputation for being a thriving hub for UK game developers.
The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment has described Leamington Spa as a “Mecca of video games production.” This description implies that Leamington Spa has played and still plays an integral role in the development of the UK gaming sector, where it is now serving as a model for regional investment.
How It All Started
Leamington Spa originated in the late 1980s when David and Richard Darling founded Codemasters, the first video game company in the area. The Darling brothers sold their interest in the business in 2007, and by February 2021, the company was sold to California-based Electronic Arts(EA) for a whopping £1.2 billion.
Thanks to its thriving nightlife, other game developers were drawn to the town, which is now home to a mixture of game companies and smaller start-ups. So in a matter of decades, Leamington Spa became a games development cluster with thousands of highly-skilled people working in some 34 studios across the town. That’s about 10% of the UK’s entire games development sector.
Some of the globally popular studios that you’d find at Leamington Spa include Playground Games, Ubisoft Leamington, and Sega’s Hardlight studio.
Some of the most recognized game titles developed there include “Call of Duty,” “Forza,” “Tom Clancy’s The Division,” ”SpongeBob SquarePants,” “F1,” and “Sonic the Hedgehog,” among others. Therefore whether you love playing traditional video games or casino games at best Uk casinos such as https://www.casinohawks.com/, there is a high chance you’ve played a game developed by the creatives at Leamington Spa.
Leamington Spa is also home to further education colleges like the Royal Leamington Spa College, which offers foundation and bachelor’s degrees in Games Art accredited by ScreenSkills Select. ScreenSkills Select is the highest institution in the film, television, visual effects, animation, and games industry.
Leamington Spa’s Influence on The UK Gaming Sector
The UK gaming industry offers billions of dollars to the UK economy, all thanks to its job creation and the revenue generated by all the players in the industry. Interestingly, the game industry around Leamington Spa’s are right in the middle of job creation and other opportunities.
The reason is that Leamington Spa is essentially a thriving ecosystem of game developers and associated companies in symbiotic relationships. There are at least 32 video game studios in the town. By the calibre of video companies resident in Silicon Spa and their globally successful video games, it is safe to say that all of the successes recorded in the UK gaming industry can be traced to the hub where these companies are situated. The town is also noted for having one of the largest concentrations of people working in the video game industry than anywhere else in the UK.
Then there are thousands of full-time jobs and millions of pounds in tax revenue generated from Leamington Spa alone. That amounts to Leamington Spa has one of the largest economic contributions to the UK outside of London. In addition, it is projected that hundreds of more jobs in game development will be created in the town in the coming years.
Leamington Spa remains one of the UK’s leading catalysts thanks to its investment, skills, opportunities, innovation, revenue, and support.
