TIGA welcomes GameSparks as its latest member

By October 22, 2013 Press Releases

TIGA, the trade association representing the UK video game industry, has welcomed the new cloud based service for games developers, GameSparks, as its latest member.


 GameSparks helps developers run their games in the cloud, as well as integrating free to play (F2P) business models as simply as possible via a single SDK, which combines multiple optional features, allowing for infinitely scalable deployment and support.

 The company was founded in early 2013 by John Griffin, Griffin Parry and Gabriel Page. Following the launch of the platform at Gamescom in Germany, the team has had amazing feedback from the development community and those developers currently using and testing the platform. The complexities of implementing the F2P model and cloud gaming are clearly a pain-point worth addressing.

 GameSparks believes all games will one day run in the Cloud, just as nearly all mobile games will embrace freemium and be delivered as a service, creating the need to continually evolve. This evolution places new challenges on games developers and GameSparks’ sole purpose is to help address this and make it easier for developers to be successful.

 The business takes the view that the continuing growth of the video game ecosystem means all developers now need to consider scalable server-side infrastructure, player relationship management & monetisation – disciplines still relatively new to the sector. GameSparks solves these problems by providing a single platform on which to build games, which integrates other 3rd party solutions into back-end functions so developers can focus on the game itself. 

 GameSparks’ platform offers dynamic cloud-based server capacity, network and storage, as well as core server-side functionality such as notifications, cloud code and cloud data management. This is in addition to games specific services such as player management, social game mechanics and monetisation mechanics.

 The first game to launch on the platform was Beat Breakers, from Irish developer Time Machine Games with producer, Lee Cullen, commenting: “GameSparks made all of the social, multiplayer and F2P functionality easy.” October will also see the launch of I Hate Golf on the platform, an engaging combination of Angry Birds and Tiger Woods developed by Lemon Moose Games in Newcastle.

 The GameSparks team is focused on ensuring their existing developer customers get the very best out of the platform and taking on new developers in the medium to long term. GameSparks also has a hugely valuable partnership with Microsoft, which will see the platform supporting the high profile launch of Xbox One.

 John Griffin, CMO of GameSparks, said:

“The games industry is now one of the fastest growing worldwide, particularly mobile games with Europe boasting half of the world’s Top 10 companies in mobile games. The UK, with its deep gaming roots, has established itself as a world leader and has hundreds of games studios – both independent and publisher owned.

The industry is also going through rapid change and many games developers would benefit from support to help them keep up.  GameSparks, with the backing of TIGA, is looking to expand our network and provide this support by bringing enterprise server-side system capabilities to everyone who wants it, levelling the playing field between everyone from start-up indies to the industry’s global players.”

Dr Richard Wilson, CEO of TIGA, added:  “With the continuing growth and evolution of the video game ecosystem, support services are becoming more and more important. They are especially important given the rise of the independent developer and the capability to access a global digital marketplace from the day you start a business.

We warmly welcome GameSparks as new members of TIGA and look forward to seeing them connect with and support the rest of our network of developer and digital publishers. Innovative companies like GameSparks are essential for the UK video game industry to fulfil its enormous potential on the global stage.”

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About TIGA

TIGA is the trade association representing the video games industry. The majority of our members are either independent games developers or in-house publisher owned developers. We also have games publishers, outsourcing companies, technology businesses and universities amongst our membership. Since 2010, TIGA has won 16 business awards.

TIGA focuses on three sets of activities: political representation, profile raising and developing services that enhance the competitiveness of our members. This means that TIGA members are effectively represented in the corridors of power, their voice is heard in the media and they receive benefits that make a material difference to their businesses, including a reduction in costs and improved commercial opportunities.

 For further information, please contact:

 Dr Richard Wilson, TIGA CEO on: 07875 939 643, or email: richard.wilson@tiga.org

Drew Field, TIGA Communications Director on: 07720 643 344, or email: drew.field@tiga.org

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