Blitz Academy

7 April 2009. With record numbers of student applicants and the highest feedback ratings so far, Blitz Games Studios scored a home run with its recent programme of student and lecturer Open Days.

The annual Open Days are part of Blitz Games Studio’s commitment to improving the knowledge base of the future of the industry’s game developers. This year was the first year Blitz Games Studios hosted an Open Day just for programmers, as well as its traditional broader student days and a day dedicated to lecturers.

“Once again it was a pleasure to host so many enthusiastic students and lecturers,” says Kim Blake, Education Liaison Manager at Blitz Games Studios. “We really feel that a greater number of students are becoming much more aware of the realities of the games industry and realising that they need to be highly skilled and very well-motivated to succeed in a very competitive market.

“We’re aware that other game developers are also opening their doors to students and we’re really pleased that more would-be developers are getting the chance to see the industry at first hand and gain a deeper understanding of the skills they need. Nonetheless, we like to think we’re not resting on our laurels but trying out new approaches every year to try and make our Open Days as productive as possible.

For example, this year we devoted an entire day to programmers, to encourage the numbers of students taking Computer Science and Games Programming degrees. We will be discussing what we’ve learned and how we would like to go forward at this year’s GamesEdu conference.”

This year also saw applications for places increase by almost 30% on last year.

Selected attendee quotes:

“It was a very useful and inspiring day.”

“Great people, environment and attitude.”

“The event left me feeling very happy and inspired. I now have a much clearer idea of how to take the next step in my career.”

For more information on Blitz Academy, Blitz Open Days or Blitz Games Studios, please contact Debbie Henderson, Assistant PR Manager, Blitz Games Studios at dhenderson@BlitzGamesStudios.com or + 44 (0) 1926 880000.

About Blitz Academy:

Originally the brand name for Blitz’s unique, innovative and award-winning internal training programme, the key aims of the Academy are to share knowledge, develop employees as trainers and encourage all staff to participate in structured training programmes designed to improve skills (creative, technical and interpersonal), morale and productivity. Blitz Academy now also incorporates the company’s education outreach initiatives, including a detailed careers advice website intended to assist educators as well as those seeking a career in games.

About Blitz Games Studios:

Blitz Games Studios is based in Leamington Spa and was founded in 1990 by industry veterans Andrew and Philip Oliver and now has more than 200 staff. Its six divisions encompass mature titles (Volatile Games), Serious Games (TruSim), family titles (Blitz Games), in-house technology (BlitzTech), downloadable games (Blitz Arcade) and its education division (Blitz Academy).