Racing and dinosaur games lift minnows
BRITAIN’s booming video game industry received a double boost yesterday as two AIM-listed companies announced major partnerships.
Cambridge-based Frontier Developments revealed it had struck a deal to make a game based on the Jurassic Park films, with London’s Gfinity also announcing it was set to launch a virtual motor racing championship with Formula 1.
It sent shares in both companies soaring – with the two deals underlining Britain’s leading position in the rapidly growing global video games industry.
Frontier boss David Braben said the internet had given British firms much greater reach around the world. He said: ‘The industry is growing massively at the moment and as the world becomes more online we have the opportunities to compete in places we just could not get to before.
‘In the past we had to work with bigger publishers but we can now make our own deals and on bigger margins than before.’ Under the deal agreed with Hollywood studio Universal Pictures, Frontier Developments will produce strategy game Jurassic World Evolution. It will let players create their own virtual theme park populated by dinosaurs and will launch at the same time as Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom hits cinemas next summer.
The announcement sent shares in the company soaring by 15.5pc, or 113p, to record highs of 844p.
Meanwhile, shares in esports broadcaster Gfinity rose 7.1pc, or 1.5p, to 22.5p, after it confirmed a tie-up with the producers of Formula 1.
In a coup for the AIM tiddler, which was founded in 2012, it will launch a virtual championship played on the official Formula 1 video game next month. Gfinity will broadcast the competition from its London arena, where players will compete in a series of races that will mirror the real-life Formula 1 series. The best 40 gamers will take part in a live semifinal event in October, with the final 20 taking part in a race broadcast from Abu Dhabi in November.
Bosses said it was an example of the type of partnership they wanted to set up with a string of sporting organisations around the world.
Gfinity has been broadcasting its own live Elite Series, featuring Counter Strike, Street Fighter and Rocket League, from its arena in Fulham since July and they has been popular with younger audiences.
Chief executive Neville Upton said: ‘Formula 1 entering esports is a powerful endorsement to how vital it is for cutting edge organisations to consider esports in their digital offering to reach the elusive and lucrative millennial fanbase.’
Sean Bratches, Formula 1’s managing director of commercial operations, added: ‘This launch presents an amazing opportunity for our business.’
Esports is a growing global phenomenon, with members of gaming teams given generous salaries, accommodation in luxurious homes, personal nutritionists and the opportunity to win multi-million pound prizes.
Gfinity’s current series allows amateur players to start off competing at home, with the most successful ‘drafted’ in by professional teams to play in its top leagues.