Playing the Game

March 3rd 2010 - Cohort Studios’ CEO, Lol Scragg, has contributed to Playing the Game, a report on a mentoring scheme run by The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) for independent video game development studios. Having worked closely with mentor Tim Gatland on refining business practices while maintaining a keen creative edge, Scragg’s contribution to the report outlines key learnings and benefits Cohort Studios gained from participating in the scheme.

Playing the Game is the culmination of NESTA’s year long mentoring programme where leading video games developers worked closely with small and independent studios to provide advice on developing their business. It contains insights by the mentors – some of the most influential industry leaders – on the factors that lead to a successful mentor relationship. These include a practical guide to developing a business and also deal with many of the common developer issues such as how to work with publishers, how to raise finance and manage budgets and how to access markets. The book also reflects on the future of the industry.

Lol Scragg comments “Tim Gatland’s input on behalf of NESTA was invaluable and thanks to this initiative, we’ve gained considerable knowledge across a wide range of disciplines from business development to disaster planning to prospecting for new clientele and investment. Participating in this scheme is something I’d recommend to any independent studio and as a selected mentee, I’m proud to have contributed to the report.”

For more information, please contact:

Graeme Downie at NESTA – graeme.downie@nesta.org.uk or 07595 710 856

Tony Coles, Peppermint P for Cohort Studios

Tony.coles@peppermintp.com

+44 (0)207 240 2645

Notes to Editors:

“Playing the Game” can be read at http://www.nesta.org.uk/publications/assets/features/playing_the_game_insider_views_on_video_game_development

About NESTA

NESTA is the largest independent endowment in the UK. Its mission is to support innovation to drive economic recovery and solve some of the UK's major social challenges. NESTA is a world leader in its field and promotes innovation through a blend of practical programmes, policy and research and investment in early-stage companies. www.nesta.org.uk

About Cohort Studios

Cohort Studios was born in 2006 and is now entering its fifth year of business. As one of the leading game development studios in the UK, Cohort is registered as an official developer across all current home console formats. Comprising a team of over 50 people, and based in the vibrant Scottish city of Dundee, Cohort Studios is wholly owned by its three founding directors; Lol Scragg (CEO), Bruce McNeish (CTO) and Darran Thomas (CCO), who between them have over 43 years of experience in game development, having worked on projects for companies as diverse as Psygnosis, Bullfrog, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Electronic Arts (EA) and Visual Science. Cohort is responsible for bringing the hugely successful Buzz!™ Junior franchise to the PlayStation 3 platform, and is currently working on an exciting project for a major publisher. Cohort Studios is also proud to be the first Scottish game developer to be a recognised Investor in People, a UK government-backed business improvement framework that has a special focus on employee relations. For more information, please visit www.cohortstudios.com.