Aldershot games firm’s award win is a real steal

AN Aldershot company that tests computer games has been awarded with an accolade its staff hope will put it on the map.

Testology won the award for best QA (quality assurance) and localisation firm in the video games industry at the Develop Awards ceremony in Brighton’s Hilton Metropole last Tuesday.

A slight dampener was put on the awards evening when managing director Andy Robson’s car was stolen from the car park outside the venue. However, Mr Read said the loss of the car, which police have told them may have now been located near Birmingham, minus its wheels, did not spoil the experience thanks to a generous supply of champagne.

The firm, based in Interpower House, in Windsor Way, employs dozens of testers to ensure games and mobile apps work correctly and are free of glitches before they are released onto the market.

Testology has been involved in testing wellknown games such as DJ Hero 1 and 2, The Room, Subway Surfers and Fable.

Its employees also test online gambling games and determine which mobile phone operating systems can support certain apps and games.

It was founded eight years ago by former Bullfrog and Minehead employee Mr Robson, and head of business development Sam Read, who joined as a 16-year-old straight from school. He said he hoped the award would help get the word out about Testology.

“It’s a real validation of all the hard work we’ve been putting in,” said Mr Read.

“Compared to our competition we’re a relatively small company so it’s a nice underdog story that we took the award.

“We didn’t expect to win it even though we know we do a good job. We rely on word of mouth so a lot of people don’t know we exist yet. Hopefully this will help promote what we do.”