Delegates from Lyon and Bordeaux in France, Turin in Italy, Fundão in Portugal and Brno in the Czech Republic joined academics from Abertay University and developers from the Dundee games cluster at the event designed to explore best practice, share business approaches and showcase talent and success. 

Across a series of sessions held in Abertay’s Faculty of Design, Informatics and Business and the games industry’s Vision Building, the group focused on work linked to the €3.8 million GAME-ER project, which seeks to identify the secret ingredients for economic success for video games clusters based outside of capital cities.  

An evening networking reception for the event was sponsored by Hyper Luminal Games, Ninja Kiwi and Henderson Loggie.

Local developers including Biome Collective, BitLoom Games and LowTek showcased their work alongside the event’s sponsors and a series of talks explained the commercial, cultural and artistic contribution gaming has made locally, nationally and internationally.

Dr Lynn Love, a member of the Abertay academic team leading GAME-ER, said the work to better understand what each city’s cluster has in common will lead to a toolkit for supporting industry growth.

Dr Love added: “Collaborating with and learning from other nations is important for the future success of the games industry and we have already made significant progress in building our shared understanding of the challenges, opportunities and working methods which surround each of the cities involved in the project.

“Having Dundee industry partners including Ninja Kiwi, Hyper Luminal Games and Henderson Loggie involved in this event and networking opportunity has been a really positive step and it’s helpful for our colleagues from overseas to understand the various academic, business and technological synergies which have been the backbone of the city’s success in games over many years.” 

Sean Tracey, chair of Hyper Luminal Games, said: “As a studio we are delighted to support this exciting initiative to bring the games academic community across Europe together in Dundee.

“Stuart Martin, chief executive, and Rob Madden, creative director, are co-founders of Hyper Luminal Games and are both former Abertay University graduates.

“What a fantastic endorsement of the impact higher learning in the games and technology sector can make, as their Dundee studio, with 85 amazingly talented colleagues, celebrates its 10th anniversary, working with clients around the world.” 

Danny Parker, executive vice-president at Ninja Kiwi Europe, said: “Having been part of the Dundee gaming cluster for all of my professional career, I know we are really lucky we are to have such a diverse range of talented developers, educators, and other supporting organisations in such a small area.

“Events like this are great for sharing useful insights from our own experiences and it’s good to hear how we might learn from other clusters across the world.” 

Grant Snedden of Henderson Loggie said: “We are delighted to be involved in the GAME-ER project as we believe that successful gaming clusters can learn a lot from each other as well as spreading knowledge and awareness of the common issues encountered in the industry.

“Henderson Loggie has a long history of advising video game studios in Dundee and beyond and we appreciate the size and importance of a constantly evolving sector within the wider economy.”

Brian McNicoll, head of entrepreneurship at the University of Dundee and CEO of 532 Design, said: “Having being part of multi-institutional research projects, I understand the value of bringing together diverse cultural, academic, and business perspectives to share best practices and foster learning.

“Dundee, as a globally renowned hub for game design, offers a prime opportunity this evening to celebrate its rich heritage, contemporary achievements, and future ambitions.

“In such a fast-moving industry, the key to our sector’s growth lies in supporting new ideas and studios – equipping them not only with creativity and technological expertise but also with the business acumen they need. The insights from the GAME:ER project will be instrumental in shaping the future support ecosystem in the region.” 

Abertay University is lead scientific partner on GAME-ER and receives funding through the UK Government Guarantee Fund, working with several European partners, including Charles University, Inova+, the University of Turin, and the Czech and Croatian game developer associations, among others.  

As part of the project, the success of Dundee’s gaming cluster, from its origins to the current day, will be assessed, including analysis of how the city has grown to have one of the highest concentrations of games developers per head of population anywhere in the world.