Meet the games industry's best places to work at GDC
2021 award winners are looking for new hires at this year's major dev conference
GDC has returned in physical form at last, and how we have missed it.
The San Francisco developer conference is the chance for the world's game developers to come together to learn, share, do business and make new connections.
And it's also a chance for those seeking new opportunities to find them.
Every year at GDC, leading games recruiters are on the hunt for the people who can complete their teams and turn their promising projects into the next hit game.
This year is no exception, and that includes some of the winners of the 2021 GamesIndustry.biz Best Places To Work Awards. For those on the look out for a new job, here are the games companies to check out at the show this week.
Behaviour Interactive
Winner: Canada Best Places To Work Awards
Location: Contact Maxime Jerome
The Dead by Daylight developer has also worked on some massive games as a support studio, including Rainbow Six, Halo, Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty and Tony Hawks. You don't get much bigger than those.
D3T
Winner: UK Best Places To Work Awards
Location: Keywords booth S649
D3T may not be a household name, but the UK co-development studio has won the best places to work awards four times, and has partners that include 2K, CD Projekt, Playground Games, Sony, Remedy, Eidos Montreal and the BBC. One of the industy's best-kept secrets.
FortySeven Communications
Winner: US Best Places To Work Awards
Location: GDC Press Room, South Upper Lobby (street level), Rm 101-103
The PR agency was one of our big mid-size company winners at last year's US Awards, and works with games companies of all sizes. Most recently it's handled the huge Elden Ring campaign with Bandai Namco.
Hutch
Winner: UK Best Places To Work Awards
Location: To meet studio CEO Shaun Rutland, email biz@hutch.io
The mobile specialist is another regular Best Places winner. It's famed for its hit smartphone racing games, including Rebel Racing, Top Drives and F1 Clash. The London-based studio is currently trialling a four-day working week.
Iron Galaxy Studio
Winner: US Best Places To Work Awards
Location: https://www.thevault555.com/. Available between 5pm and 6pm on Tuesday, March 22.
Iron Galaxy has supported some huge games, including Overwatch, Diablo, Spyro, Fallout, Skyrim and many more. It was also lead developer on Extinction and is currently working on a 40-player 'brawler royale' called Rumbleverse.
Lab42
Winner: UK Best Places To Work Awards
Location: To meet Lab42, email gdc22@lab42games.co.uk
Part of the Sumo family of studios, Lab42 has worked on all sorts of unique projects big and small, including Human Fall Flat, Don't Starve, Sonic Mania and Fishing Sim World.
Phoenix Labs
Winner: Canada and US Best Places To Work Awards
Location: Reach out to Sokesei Chhim
Winner of both the US and Canada awards, Phoenix Labs is best known for the game Dauntless. Its parent company is also famous for the hit battle royale game: Free Fire, and the game's head of marketing will be at GDC, alongside numerous members of the team.
Pragma Platform
Winner: US Best Places To Work Awards
Location: Booth S467
The games industry technical provider is at GDC in a big way, with a booth and talks throughout the show. Pragma's platform is used by developers to manage cross platform accounts, game loop, matchmaking, player data, metrics, and much more.
Red Kite Games
Winner: UK Best Places To Work Awards
Location: Hotel Zelos: 12th & 4th Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
Another of the Sumo studios, this one works on some massive AAA projects, from Mafia III and Control to Hogwarts Legacy and Crackdown 3.
Snowed In Studios
Winner: Canada Best Places To Work Awards
Location: Email: shane.barnfield@snowedin.ca
Part of the Keywords family of studios, along with D3T, Snowed In is a Canada-based team that has worked on major game projects with the likes of Bethesda, Hangar 13, EA, Warner Bros, Eidos Montreal and Ubisoft.
Virtuos
Winner: US Best Places To Work Awards
Location: Booth P1615
Virtuos has offices around the world and it has worked on the likes of Marvel's Avengers, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Horizon Zero Dawn, Demon's Souls and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. It's currently seeking staff of all levels to work across animation, engineering, design, illustration, IT, business development, HR and many more.
What about the 2022 winners?
The 2022 Best Places To Work Awards begin this May. US companies are being urged to sign-up and complete their entry before Friday, April 15th. The event is scheduled to take place on Thursday, May 12th.
The UK Awards project kicks off next month, and will take place on Tuesday, July 12th.
And finally the Canada Awards are also scheduled to return later in the year.
For more information on the awards, check out bestplaces.gamesindustry.biz.