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.”
