Documentary Telling Story of the Video Games Industry in the UK To Be Known as Bedrooms to Billions
The documentary, telling the story of how the United Kingdom video games industry went from such a small scale to the billion dollar entity that it is today, will be supported by Ukie.
The games and interactive entertainment trade body, Ukie was pleased to announce on the 6th August that it would be donating money in order to help with the production of ‘From Bedrooms to Billions’. As an Indiegogo crowdfunded film project, the documentary will tell the story of how the UK video games industry went from being a small cottage industry to the billion dollar industry that we can see today. Viewing the industry in the years from 1979-1996, it will feature interviews with most of the key players across UK game design, development, journalism and publishing throughout that period. It is also set to encourage kids to choose the video games industry as a viable career path by showing how significant a part it plays in the present day.
The goal is for it to be made available for free to all secondary schools in the UK. In doing so they hope to promote video games as a career to children. The good news is that Ukie has played a lead role in getting computer science onto the school curriculum. It has also promoted the video games industry to young people through its cross industry Next Gen Skills campaign. This is a big step forward for the video games industry in the UK, with much of the lower education systems offering no insight into a career in video games.
Andy Payne, the Ukie Chairman stated
“When Anthony and Nicola Caulfield approached me to help find some of the originals from the 80’s, it was the easiest decision of my professional life. Hooking them up with the likes of David Braben, Charles Cecil, Ian Livingstone, Gary Bracey, Nick Alexander, Rod Cousens, Andrew and Philip Oliver, Miles Jacobson, Fergus McGovern, Geoff Brown, Ste and John Pickford and many more was a real pleasure. It is great that Ukie have put their hand in their pocket to help fund the film and tell this story which will inspire the next generation of UK base game makers.”
The CEO of Ukie, Dr Jo Twist said
“We’re really happy to support this exciting film and even happier that it is crowdfunded project. The UK has shaped the modern games industry from the very beginning and has been responsible for some of the best games ever made. In industry started with kids in their bedrooms tinkering with BBC Micros and Spectrums, coding their own fun and we’re now the fastest growing creative industry.”
The film ‘From Bedrooms To Billions’ will be released next year in order to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the launch of the game Pong, the game that was the benchmark for the beginning of the modern video games industry.
