Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
It’s game on as Hyper Luminal doubles staff during industry boom
AS the gaming industry has boomed across Scotland, one Dundee firm has more than doubled its staff in the past year.
Games developer Hyper Luminal Games has gone from fewer than 20 staff to more than 50 in the last year.
The firm has also grown its revenue from less than £1 million to more than £3m this year.
Employment in the Scottish video games development industry grew 26% between April 2020 and December 2021, according to a new report by The Independent Game Developers’ Association (TIGA).
Dundee firms such as Hyper Luminal, 4J, Puny Astronaut and Stormcloud have all noticed the industry is booming.
Chief executive and co-founder of Hyper Luminal Stuart Martin says the pandemic has fuelled the growth.
“Our funding bodies have typically performed well over the pandemic as people have been staying at home and playing lots of games,” he said.
“We’ve been able to grow revenue, grow headcount and bring in new talent.”
The firm now has a 30-40% female workforce, estimates Stuart, whereas the first four years of the firm was all male.
Even with the enormous growth Hyper Luminal has experienced, the firm is still looking to recruit more staff.
“If you look around the careers’ pages of all of the local games companies, they’re all hiring at the moment,” said Stuart.
“There’s obviously only so much talent in Dundee itself, so a lot of this talent is being brought in from other hubs in England.”
Chris van der Kuyl, co-founder of 4J Studios, said everyone he knows in the industry is growing their businesses. He added: “The four companies we’re directly involved with – 4J, Puny Astronaut, Stormcloud and Ant Workshop in Edinburgh – have been recruiting as heavily as they can.
The video games entrepreneur has previously predicted digital jobs will become the dominant force in Dundee.
He is calling for continued support to keep encouraging careers in the industry.