Payload Studios is an award-winning, independent games developer based in Farringdon, London. The studio was founded in 2013 by games industry veterans Russell Clarke and Vincent Scheurer, with a focus on community-centric creative sandbox games. The studio’s award-winning debut title, TerraTech, an open-world sandbox builder game, was self-funded, self-published and embodies the studio’s community-centric approach.
The studio now boasts a team of 30+ passionate developers with a mix of new graduates and industry veterans, with a strong track record in PC, console and mobile.
In 2014, Payload Studios founded the Tentacle Zone, a collective for independent game developers. The Tentacle Zone now includes over eight games businesses, who collaborate to share knowledge and resources, host industry talks and networking events, as well as sharing offices in London’s Farringdon.
Earlier this year, Payload Studios launched the first ‘Tentacle Zone Incubator’, a four month virtual incubator programme for twelve early stage founders from underrepresented groups at zero cost to the participants. The programme was supported by industry partners such as Tonic Games Group, Green Man Gaming, University of Greenwich, Creative England and Ukie. The Incubator provided training and mentorship across five tracks including: business and finance; team building; design, development and production; marketing and PR; and pitching and public speaking.
In February 2021, Payload Studios announced that Tencent, a leading internet and technology company, had invested a minority stake in the studio. The investment will provide the studio with capital to grow, while preserving its autonomy. Payload Studios is now recruiting to bring even more world class talent to its team.
Dr Richard Wilson OBE, TIGA CEO, said: “TIGA would like to say thank you to Payload Studios for supporting the TIGA UK Games Industry Awards 2021. Having the support of this expanding independent developer is fantastic for the Awards and for TIGA.”
About TIGA:
TIGA is the trade association for the UK video games industry. Our vision is to make the UK the best place in the world to develop video games. Our core purpose is to strengthen the games development and digital publishing sector. To this end, we focus on four strategic objectives:
- influencing Government policy via effective political representation;
- raising the profile of our industry to influence public policy;
- enhancing education and skills through our accreditation programme (https://tiga.org/education/tiga-university-accreditation) and the TIGA Games Education Awards (https://tiga.org/education-awards); and
- promoting best practice through our membership services, including the TIGA STAR Employer Award (https://tiga.org/star) and the TIGA Games Industry Awards (https://tiga.org/awards).