Game Republic Reception and Dinner Celebrates Yorkshire Games Festival

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Game company members at MyLahore Restaurant in BradfordMyLahore restaurant in Bradford was the perfect vibrant setting for the annual Game Republic Speakers Dinner that has become a staple of the Yorkshire Games Festival. Games companies joined speakers and organisers of the festival beforehand for a reception at the National Science and Media Museum where Jamie Sefton thanked the Museum for hosting the festival that puts the spotlight on Yorkshire, the North and the wider UK games industry.

Addressing the crowd at the Museum, MD of Game Republic, Jamie Sefton, thanked the many supporters for helping Game Republic reach its 20th Anniversary: “I’d personally like to thank all our members for their incredible support through 20 years of the network – especially in 2011 when we lost public funding but were backed privately and so enthusiastically by the games companies, and in 2020-2021 during those difficult pandemic years.”

Game company members at the reception at the National Science and Media Museum

The Yorkshire Games Festival began eight years ago and has grown in popularity with an extensive programme of talks and activities for all ages. On 9th February 2023, the festival will celebrate the heritage of Yorkshire’s games industry in a BAFTA panel featuring Game Republic members Andrew Crawshaw (Thunkd) and Abbie Willett (Sumo).

Game Republic was instrumental in the establishing of the Yorkshire Games Festival and this year it has formed part of the 20th Anniversary celebrations of the network. At the reception, Jamie thanked the Official Partners supporting Game Republic in this important milestone year.

“Having Red Kite Games, Escape Technology and Barclays as Official Partners in 2023 means such a lot,” said Sefton. “Each one of our Official Partners are making a massive impact on the games industry in the region and far beyond. Thanks to Red Kite Games for employing graduates and creating and supporting incredible games development, Barclays for providing support, finance and insights to our industry and Escape Technology who provide invaluable help to our companies to source the technology they need to bring incredible games for us all to play.”

Jamie Sefton with Neil Parmar and John Stopforth from Escape Technology

Jamie Sefton with Neil Parmar and John Stopforth from Escape Technology

To find more information about the programme of events for the Yorkshire Games Festival visit the website. To join the Game Republic network click here.

Featured Banner Image Jo Quinton-Tulloch, Director of National Science and Media Museum, Kathryn Penny, Leeds Trinity College and Conor Clarke, Boneloaf

The event also raised funds for SpecialEffect as part of the continued fundraising campaign for Game Republic’s 20th Anniversary. To donate to this fantastic cause that gives more people, especially children, access to videogames, please visit our Game Republic fundraising page.

Game Republic 20 Years – Banner with Red Kite Games, Barclays and Escape Technology

 

Red Kite Games, Barclays and Escape Technology sign up as Official Partners to support 20th Anniversary Year celebration of Game Republic

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Game Republic, the largest network of the games industry in Yorkshire and the North, will be celebrating 20 years supporting games development in the region with a year of events bringing the region’s industry, new developers, suppliers, Universities and colleges together.

The year-long celebration is being supported by three Official Partners Red Kite Games, Barclays and Escape Technology. Jamie Sefton, Managing Director of the network hopes the anniversary events will support and draw attention to the region’s games industry, as the latest figures have UK’s games output valued at over £7.16bn (data: Ukie, 2022).

Jamie Sefton comments, “In twenty years, we have supported incredible growth and success in our games industry for Yorkshire and The North. There is so much talent and innovation happening with games produced in the region being exported around the globe. I am delighted that we have been able to support companies based in the region to make connections with suppliers, platform holders, publishers and investors, and with the incredible pipeline of talent through our excellent Universities and college educational partners. Yorkshire and the North is producing world-leading games and technology and we will be celebrating that throughout the year.”

Company members have expressed their appreciation of the network over the years. Simon Iwaniszak, Studio Director of Red Kite Games believes the milestone is significant for games companies across the region and was quick to sign up as an Official Partner for the year. He explains “Red Kite has been partnered with Game Republic for over 11 years. In the early days, when we were just getting started, Game Republic helped us in more ways than I can remember. Since then, Red Kite has grown into one of Yorkshire’s biggest and most successful games studios, but the support of Game Republic is still as valuable as ever. Jamie works tirelessly to support the Yorkshire games industry and is a true champion having helped it become the powerhouse that it is today.”

Barclays has been supporting Game Republic over the last four years and has chosen to be an Official Partner for the year – Elaine Dowman, Head of Games and Creative for Barclays, explains “As a member of Game Republic for the last four years and working with them, we have seen the great support they give games developers in Yorkshire and the North. We are delighted to be part of their 20th anniversary of supporting success in the games industry. We are looking forward to a fantastic year of events to celebrate, and help further propel growth in the sector.”

Neil Parmar, Account Director at Escape Technology, has been a long term member of the network “20 years ago it all started out as a gathering, here we are today, an organisation worth every penny. I’m proud to be supporting Game Republic, it’s more than just another networking event but more so a network of family members from this amazing gaming industry here in the UK”

The 20th Anniversary Game Republic events programme kicked off in Sheffield on Thursday 26th January, where the events for the Anniversary year were announced including new Game Republic Awards and a Summer Arcade Birthday Party. It was also announced that all events in this milestone year will raise funds for the charity SpecialEffect which supports physically disabled people to participate in videogames.

Commenting about Game Republic’s fundraising efforts, Nick Streeter, fundraiser for the SpecialEffect charity said “Game Republic have been fantastic friends and supporters of SpecialEffect over our 15 years and we are so grateful as they celebrate their 20th anniversary that they have chosen to support SpecialEffect as their charity partner. We look forward to working with the Game Republic community this year to make a difference to the lives of more and more gamers with disabilities who need our help.”

Game Republic Reception & Dinner at the Yorkshire Games Festival 2023

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Our next event is a special Game Republic Member-Exclusive Dinner event in partnership with the National Science & Media Museum and the Yorkshire Games Festival on Wednesday 8th February 2023 – supported by our partners Red Kite Games, Barclays and Escape Technology!

Tickets include a special drinks reception (alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks) at the National Media Museum from 6.00pm, followed by a two-course dinner at MyLahore restaurant from 7.20pm (non-alcoholic drinks). The reception and dinner will be attended by Game Republic members, National Science & Media Museum guests – including BAFTA representatives – and Yorkshire Games Festival speakers.

We’ll be collecting for SpecialEffect at this and every event in 2023 as part of our 20th birthday celebrations to raise money all year for this amazing charity. If you can, please donate.

The Yorkshire Games Festival is from 4 – 10 February at the National Science and Media Museum, and includes a free Family Weekend (4-5 Feb), Schools events, a BAFTA panel celebrating the Yorkshire games industry, and two days of industry Game Talks – you can have a 10% discount on these by using the code YGFGR10 on the YGF website.

Game Republic PR Special – Thursday 26th January, Sheffield

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In the first event of 2023 – Game Republic’s 20th birthday year – our first event is on Thursday 26th January at the Showroom in Sheffield.

The event will feature talks and interviews to help game developers promote their game successfully, with a Q&A with Andy Kelly, PR person at publisher Devolver Digital, plus a presentation from games PR company Renaissance on top tips for getting your game noticed.

We’ll also have a presentation from training provider Mastered and drinks and networking afterwards. We’ll be collecting for Special Effect at this and every event in 2023 as part of our birthday celebrations to raise money all year for this amazing charity.

If you are interested in joining Game Republic to access our events, get in touch.

 

Next Level Free Mid-Level Games Industry Training for West Yorkshire Game Developers

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Attention games professionals in West Yorkshire in mid-level roles! Thanks to the Leeds City Region LEP/ Creative Catalyst we have funding for free 6-month part-time training/mentoring to prepare you for a lead role in the games industry.

We’re particularly looking for mid-level Technical Artists and Technical Animators with 2-5 years experience either freelance or in a games company in West Yorkshire – but it can be other roles.


The mentoring is outside work hours (apart from 2 days), is from January – May, and includes advanced Unreal Engine training (includes Niagara VFX, Blueprints, Virtual Production and more), as well as legal, HR, finance, budgeting, scheduling and sustainability. Games companies – do think about suitable candidates in your staff, as they would be very welcome to apply.

Applications are open now with a deadline of 4th January – hit the link for more info. We are also looking for PAID games industry mentors too – if you’re interested, get in touch.