The UK’s video games industry continues to play a hugely significant role in the country’s economy. Gaming is worth more than the UK film industry, contributing £6 billion to the economy and supporting 76,000 jobs and regularly punches above its weight on the global stage.
We spoke to Ron Ashtiani, Director at Last Arrow and based on Fletcher Road in Gateshead to find out more about the future of gaming and North East England’s role.
Tell us a bit about Last Arrow and how it came to be.
Last Arrow was a real meeting of minds and industry friends. Many of us worked at Midway Games in the 2000’s and when it closed in 2009, I went off to found Atomhawk and the rest of the team joined CCP Games, we then worked together again at Sumo when they acquired both Atomhawk and CCP Newcastle in 2017. Last year two of my former colleagues approached me about going independent, focusing on creating original IP and bringing back the classic gaming feel.
This was exactly up my street and a bit of a holy grail in the gaming world – having come from being part of global teams making some of the world’s most recognisable titles, to now being able to take full creative control of our own original ideas.
The folks at Pneuma Games Group, based down the road in Middlesbrough, were interested in backing this new venture and so Last Arrow was born. We started out at the end of last year with seven of us and we’ve already boosted our headcount to 10! It’s been a whirlwind six months and it’s only the beginning.
Why Gateshead?
Setting up our studio in Gateshead was a no-brainer. We have really good relationships in the town, with support networks, the Council and industry groups that want to see each other succeed.
Gateshead saw the opportunity to tap into this sector back in 2008/2009 building incubator space, offering flexibility and industry-leading assets such as PROTO that you couldn’t really find in many other places at the time. For a smaller company like us, it’s been the ideal location.
Those outside of the industry may not realise but there’s an established and diverse cluster here where everyone’s doing something a little bit different which makes it an inspiring place to work.
Having experienced the growth of the industry across the North East from the 2000s to now, what are some of the challenges you have seen?
Funding continues to be a massive factor which was exacerbated during Covid. The demand for games from consumers grew exponentially and then fell immediately after the bubble burst. A lot of time now is spent reassuring investors on the value of the industry. It continues to outperform pre-Covid levels with the value of today’s output being greater than what was seen in 2019.
Positively, Government announced a £30 million UK Games Fund in April to support video games studios with the development of the next big hitters. There is recognition that we have a major role to play in the national growth of the creative industry and so it’s an exciting time to be at the start of our journey here at Last Arrow.
Outside of gaming, AI has been a dominant trend affecting almost all sectors in some capacity. In what ways has it effected change for you?
Games are about as tough as it gets in terms of software development, so in our industry it is still hugely important for us to have talented people continue to hold the pen. That is how we can continue to drive our creativity and innovation.
That is not to say that AI isn’t playing a role, it is making us about 10-20% more efficient as an organisation but it isn’t a catch-all. We’re still looking to universities like Newcastle and Northumbria for high-quality software engineers and computer graphics/art grads.
With all of this in mind, what do you see the future of the industry looking like?
I think we’re going to see more shorter, high-quality games coming through. They’re cheaper and quicker to make which is a key consideration we must make as consumer trends continue to shift quickly.
Throughout the Covid lockdown online games like Fortnight and Call of Duty allowed players to connect more closely with their friends when they couldn’t do so physically. Today we’re seeing single-player narrative and story-based games growing in popularity again.
Although making games today is a lot more complex than say 20 years ago, we can’t take too long to make one game because you don’t want to be caught out with rapid changes in the market. Typically, we’re back to making games in 18-24 months.
This is something that I’m really excited about. Last Arrow’s philosophy is around creating immersive journeys for players, games that capture the essence of classic gaming and put the player at the heart of the experience. That’s where the market is heading at the moment and so we’re here to make our mark.
The UK games industry is the largest in Europe.
The North East of England, plays a key role in the success of the national industry, with more than 30 games companies based in Newcastle and Gateshead alone, from large multinationals like Ubisoft through to independent studios such as Coatsink. Work coming out of the region can be seen in the likes of Halo, NBA 2K and Mortal Kombat.
Interested in what Gateshead can offer your gaming studio? Contact our team today invest@experiencenee.co.uk
