Recruiter Profile
A convention-defying developer approaching its 25th anniversary
Rebellion, the convention-defying developer approaching its 25th anniversary
Rebellion is one of the most enduring success stories of the UK game industry, celebrating its 25th anniversary in December. With a hand in comic-book publishing since its acquisition of 2000 AD at the turn of the millennium, it has a strong portfolio and remains firmly independent, with a 200-strong workforce across studios in Oxford and Runcorn.
Are you hoping to fill specific roles currently?
Yes, we’re expanding our in-house engine code, animation and web teams particularly but we occasionally hire people just because they are excellent, regardless of our immediate needs, so it’s always worth getting in contact.
What’s the studio working culture like?
Relaxed and social, with open-plan studios encouraging actually walking around and talking to each other. Chris and Jason Kingsley, the studio founders, are still involved in the day-to-day process of making games and anyone can talk to them. We’re not a massive faceless corporation and have evolved over the years thanks to the people who work here. Most importantly, managing our own projects means we aren’t affected by severe crunch. Having a good life/work balance is important to us, with flexible hours and generous holiday allowance.
To what do you attribute your 25 years of success? Being an independent company, privately owned by people who are passionate about games, having diverse income streams and our own game engine. Plus we’ve been
working for years now entirely on our own IP, from developing beloved triple-A titles like Sniper Elite and Battlezone, to book publishing, 2000 AD, and the exciting upcoming Judge Dredd: Mega-City One TV show. Our passion for original ideas shows through in finished projects, for example
Zombie Army Trilogy’s success, after initially being just for fun and something different to do. And now Strange Brigade… the variety here is fun and great for job security. Also key to our longevity is Chris and Jason being interested hands-on directors who make responsible business decisions.
What advantages does using your own bespoke engine, Asura, give you?
We love being at the leading edge of game technology, being able to adapt immediately to new tech like VR and offered early access to top secret new hardware! Battlezone was one of the very first games showcased for PlayStation VR, and Asura’s multithreading capabilities meant AMD recently chose
Sniper Elite 4 to demonstrate their new Ryzen and Threadripper CPUs. We can implement ideas and fix bugs quickly ourselves, without waiting on external companies, and add to Asura with every game we make. It’s a proven, industrialgrade game engine, tailored exactly for our needs. We’re expanding our engine team to keep this up – for leading technology, we need leading coders.
What are you looking for in potential Rebellion employees?
Show personal interest in Rebellion – apply directly, telling us what you think of our games and why. Show your passion for game development, it’s really important to us that the UK game industry continues to thrive. Be confident about what you can bring to Rebellion, we want people who are buzzing about potential projects. For programmers we also need excellent C++ and the ability to work with large existing codebases, to keep us at the cutting edge of technology. If people want to work on leading tech, on some of the UK’s best-loved games IPs, then Rebellion is a great place to work.
"WE LOVE BEING AT THE LEADING EDGE OF GAME TECHNOLOGY, BEING ABLE TO ADAPT IMMEDIATELY TO NEW TECH"