THE GAMES industry around Leamington is set to create 500 new jobs.
Leamington has been nicknamed ‘Silicon Spa’ as a result of the many game development companies based in around the town.
And its worldwide reputation in the industry is set to grow over the next two years with the new additional jobs, opening up opportunities for young people and graduates in the Midlands and beyond.
The so-called Leamington hub, which generates more than £100million a year, is currently home to 34 different game development companies which employ just over 900 staff.
Leamington sits third in the newly published video games industry trade body Ukie’s Regional Impact Report, which look at where the UK games industry clusters are centred and highlights the growth of individual regions. Leamington sits behind London in top spot, with Slough and Heathrow in second.
The news come ahead of the second Interactive Futures conference & expo being held at Leamington’s Spa Centre on Friday and Saturday. The celebration of Leamington’s status on the national and international game development scene will feature locally-based studios SEGA HARDlight, NaturalMotion, Playground Games, Sumo Digital and Mediatonic among the exhibitors.
Of the new jobs set to be created in the Leamington hub, the top five roles being sought are artists, designers, producers, programmers and engineers
But the range of careers on offer extends beyond technical and creative disciplines and into worlds of marketing, HR, administration, community support and more.
And the Interactive Futures conference programme on careers within games will highlight the multitude of options available to the students, young people, children – and their parents – attending the event.
Sarah Windrum, chair of the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership digital creative business group, said: “Leamington Spa is representative of the ‘roots’ of the UK video games community, an industry that contributes around £2.8billion in GVA to the UK economy.
“The region boasts some of the ‘godfathers’ of the global games sector and it is testament to the talent and creativity of the area that we are continuing to attract businesses to the region –all keen to benefit from the buzz that Leamington Spa’s games circle has to offer.
“It’s rare to hear of such a flurry of new job opportunities in one place, so the news that here in Leamington Spa we’ll have up to 500 new vacancies is great for the region and the local community.”
Click here for full details of the Interactive Futures conference and expo.
