TIGA’s Start-up, Scale-up and Grow Conference, taking place on Thursday April 3rd 2025, aims to help more developers to overcome the obstacles to launching, expanding and growing a studio.  The Conference includes expert advice on how to: raise investment and claim the Video Games Expenditure Credit; recruit and retain a highly skilled team; lessons in leadership and management; advantages of outsourcing and coproduction; and best practice in marketing and the opportunities of AI. 

Attendees will meet industry professionals, have opportunities for networking and receive a free electronic copy of TIGA’s new Start-up, Scale-up and Grow Guide.

The UK is a great place to start-up a studio, but growing is difficult, especially for independent studios. 53 per cent of all studios founded between 2008 and 2018 did not survive to 2023. Many studios stay small. 78 per cent of all UK games studios employ four or fewer people.

TIGA’s Start-up, Scale-up and Grow Conference is focused on enabling more studios to survive, thrive and succeed.

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Benefits of attending:

  • 25+ speakers across investment, leadership, video games expenditure credit, recruitment and retention, outsourcing and co-production, discoverability and marketing, opportunities with AI.
  • 100+ attendees – ranging from developers, founders and C-level.
  • Networking opportunities throughout the day.

Confirmed speakers:

Chris Kingsley CBE

CTO, Rebellion

Chris Kingsley CBE, alongside his brother, Jason, has created the UK’s leading independent video games development business: Rebellion. They have grown Rebellion into an extensive group of media and entertainment operations covering books, comics, TV, film and board games.
Since founding Rebellion in 1992, Chris and Jason have produced more than 100 games, over 20 of which have been worldwide number one hits. Rebellion’s critically acclaimed games include: Aliens Vs Predator; The Simpsons Game; Star Wars Battlefront; Zombie Army; and Battlezone. The studio’s flagship Sniper Elite games series has sold more than 40 million units sold worldwide.

Rebellion directly employs 600 people and engages another 500 contractors. The company contributes to regional economic growth with studios based in Oxford, Warwick, Liverpool and Wakefield. Rebellion is also the largest independent games developer in the UK. Chris and Jason have also expanded Rebellion into comics, books, film and television and tabletop gaming:

Comics: Rebellion has the rights to comic classics including 2000 AD (featuring Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog, Slaine and Rogue Trooper); Charley’s War; Billy Bunter; Sexton Blake; Misty; Tammy; Battle; The Spider; and Roy of the Rovers.

Books: Chris and Jason have published several hundred science fiction and fantasy books via Abaddon Books and Solaris Books.

Film and Television: In 2018 Rebellion opened its state-of-the-art Rebellion Film and TV studios in Didcot, releasing the first Rebellion-produced feature film, Schools Out Forever, in 2021. Jason also presents and produces the Modern History TV channel on YouTube.

Tabletop Gaming: Rebellion publishes board games and miniature figures.

Gemma Brown

COO, Dovetail Games

Gemma Brown is the Chief Operating Officer at Dovetail Games, a leading UK-based games studio, and a passionate advocate for inclusive leadership and workplace culture. With over 17 years of experience in talent lifecycle management, general management, publishing, licensing marketing, and retail, Gemma has played a pivotal role in scaling teams, driving organisational growth, and fostering innovative work environments.

As Co-Director and Ambassador Director at Women in Games, Gemma is dedicated to driving meaningful change across the industry, championing culture and belonging, and inspiring the next generation of talent. With a deep understanding of business strategy, leadership development, operational efficiency, publishing, and commercial growth, she brings a wealth of insight into building resilient, people-first organisations that can scale successfully while maintaining a strong company culture.

Joanna Haslam

Design Director, Snap Finger Click

Jo is the Design Director at Snap Finger Click, a BAFTA Breakthrough winner, member of the Games Awards Future Class, and has been in the games industry for 17 years. She started out working on the BAFTA award-winning Buzz! franchise and has since worked on several console and mobile titles including Furby! BOOM, Family Feud, and UNO. Jo has a passion for social gaming and strives to bring something unique to every game she works on. She also volunteers as Operations Lead at Limit Break Mentorship for underrepresented game developers.

Astrid Refstrup

Developer Relations and Business Development, Wings

Astrid supports their portfolio studios and looks for new games by female and gender minority leads. Part-time law student. She was previously the CEO and Founder of Triple Topping Games, Advisor to Kowloon Nights, and served on the board of Global Game Jam. Astrid is working dedicated to a more transparent and inclusive games industry.

WINGS invests in indie games by teams in which women and marginalized gender developers hold key positions. The success of diverse teams will lead to more unique ideas coming to life, new voices being heard, and new games that cater to a wider variety of players.

Chris McCourt

Investment Director, Mercia Ventures

Chris joined Mercia in January 2023 after a 20 year career in M&A advisory, working with SME business owners. Chris advised business owners looking to grow either through raising finance or acquiring other businesses, by helping the owners sell their business when the time was right, and working with management teams looking to buy the business they worked in. At Mercia, Chris invests in technology led business across the North of England with a focus on TMT and ecommerce. Chris led Mercia’s investment into Radical Forge in October 2024.
Chris worked for PwC in Newcastle and London, was the Chief Operating Officer at the North East England Chamber of Commerce before spending 8 years as a Corporate Finance Partner at two regional accountancy practices.

Felix Wong

Partner, Lvl Up Partners

Felix is a legal and business adviser who has extensive experience of advising fast growing studios with everything from business set up, fundraising, publishing contracts, IP protection, license collaborations, scaling-up and exit. He held lead/senior legal positions at Mediatonic (Fall Guys developer), Miniclip (mobile games publisher), Outright Games (family console games publisher) and Epic Games. Felix is part of Lvl Up Partners - a team of advisers who leverage their deep in-house experience to advise founders on a broad spectrum of business, legal, tech and strategic finance matters.

Nathalia Garcia

Fractional CMO

Nathalia is a marketing consultant and advisor in the videogames industry, with a 17 year career background across creative agencies, publishers and studios. Beginning at McCann Erickson before jumping to software publishing and marketing at PlayStation, her next move was to Square Enix mobile and then most recently leading Team17's marketing department as part of the senior leadership team. She now consults for studios and publishers on go to market strategies, harnessing the right publishing deal as well as advising on branding and positioning projects.

Salman Shurie

Founder and Game Designer, Gesinimo Games

https://gesinimo.co.uk/

Luke Thomas

Managing Director at Plus Accounting

Plus Accounting offers specialist accounting and tax expertise to the Video Games Industry, with a particular focus on Video Games Tax Relief (VGTR) and Video Games Expenditure Credit (VGEC) claims. Over the years, Luke has built an impressive portfolio of more than 200 video games companies.

We are proud members of TIGA and last year, we were honoured to be finalists for ‘Best Tax and Accountancy Supplier’ at the TIGA Games Industry Awards. We also received a nomination for ‘Best Business Support Service’ at the 2024 Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards.

Julia Kenny

Head of Console Partnerships, Headup

Laurence Keir-Thomas

Director and Solicitor, Fragomen LLP

Laurence is a Director and Solicitor in Fragomen LLP’s Sheffield Office, where he manages a team of lawyers and immigration professionals. He has over 14 years’ experience in UK immigration law and works with major corporate clients, providing strategic immigration and compliance support to manage their UK immigration programmes. He has extensive experience across a range of sectors with a particular focus on video games, technology, and engineering. He provides strategic advice on sponsor licence obligations, Day 1 compliance concerns, company restructuring, and mergers and acquisitions to ensure his clients continue to meet their reporting and record keeping responsibilities and avoid the risk of illegal working.

Professor Christopher Headleand

Head of Department - Sugi (Digital, Tech, Innovation and Business)

Professor Chris Headleand is a distinguished academic with over two decades of experience in teaching and learning. He currently serves as the Head of the Games Institute at the University of Staffordshire. In recognition of his contributions to education, he was awarded the prestigious National Teaching Fellowship in 2021.

Professor Headleand's research interests encompass Virtual Reality, Serious Games, Artificial Intelegence and Student Engagement. He has a background in design and education, holding a BSc in Design Education, an MSc in Computer Systems, and a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from Bangor University. His doctoral research focused on behaviour simulation in video games.

Beyond academia, Professor Headleand has entrepreneurial experience, having founded two companies: a design and software startup and a VR video games studio. He has collaborated with various international organizations, including the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
Throughout his career, Professor Headleand has been a proponent of pragmatic and ethical digital innovation. His work in games-based education and simulation is recognized both nationally and internationally.

More speakers to be announced at a later date.

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The Passage 

TIGA’s partner for the conference is The Passage. The Passage has been the caretaker of the homeless community in London for the past 40 years. The Passage’s aim is to provide the support to help people transform their lives through outreach services, three residential projects, befriending programmes and the UK’s largest Resource Centre. The Passage’s services offer practical support with employment, welfare rights, immigration, and accommodation, as well as tailored advice for mental health or addiction issues and victims of modern slavery. The Passage believe that homelessness is everyone’s responsibility and by working together we can be part of the solution.  

For further details please visit www.passage.org.uk or contact media@passage.org.uk

Agenda

  • Registration at 10am – Refreshments and networking
  • Opening remarks at 10.30am
  • Keynotes and panels 10.30 – 4.30
  • Networking reception 4.30 – 6.30

Finding the venue

5th Floor, St Vincent’s Centre, Carlisle Place, London, SW1P 1NL

Carlisle Place is a turning off Victoria Street. If you are walking from London Victoria Station, take the (right) turning immediately after Pret. Keep an eye out for the large red brick building.

Please enter via the St Vincent’s Centre entrance, by pressing the buzzer and letting our receptionist know that you are visiting Cathedral View.

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