Game developers in the North West of Britain offered six months free facilities at The Landing, Manchester

The Landing, a digital enterprise hub based in MediaCityUK, Manchester, has announced the launch of a new pilot scheme aimed at supporting start up game developers for both mobile and computer markets. The sixth month project will offer qualifying businesses from across the North West access to shared workspace, connectivity and facilities at The Landing.

The Propeller Room initiative is a dedicated studio space designed specifically to meet the needs of the gaming and interactive sector and includes technical and BYOD infrastructure in addition to project management resources, break-out rooms and secure storage. 

The time-limited, no-fee Propeller Room package will also include membership to the Landing’s media lounge.

The Landing is committed to supporting digital start-ups and now has over 100 companies registered as tenants; its decision to offer studio space to game developers on a no- fee basis has been driven by the needs of many talented game developers to be able to access environments that will help accelerate their businesses.

The Propeller Room provides the platform for emerging companies to establish their product and business model and potentially ‘graduate’ to bigger and better things. This process is central to The Landing’s remit as a springboard for commercial and economic development within the digital sector in the North West.

Ann Darby, partnerships director at The Landing, said: “Having worked closely with the gaming community on a number of projects over the last two years, what has become increasingly clear is that we have a wealth of talent that struggles to find studio space which is both cost effective and appropriate to the games sector.

“As The Landing exists to stimulate growth within the region’s digital and creative sectors we have therefore looked at how we can help those start ups, which have great potential yet lack the financial resources to rent high quality, high tech premises,” continued Darby. “By bringing such companies into The Landing, and creating a space like The Propeller Room, it gives firms a fantastic platform from which to build upon and gives us a pipeline of the north west’s best gaming start-ups. This will pay dividends to us and the wider local economy in the future and is a genuine win-win.”    

Additionally, Ben Milnes, director of industry network of gaming developers, GameDevUK, said: “We welcome any initiative that seeks to support the games industry in the North West and The Landing’s decision to offer free workspace to developers is fantastic news. The only possible downside is that because there are so many freelancers and small teams who could benefit from this initiative, demand for space at The Propeller Room may well outstrip supply.”

Since announcing the pilot scheme via partners and industry networks last week, The Landing has already had substantial interest from a number of start ups wishing to relocate to The Propeller Room, and anticipates the first wave of tenants will begin using the facility over the next few weeks.