Why was the early 90's so successful for UK game production?

[Ice Rich]

Was thinking recently what a brilliant era the early 90s were for UK gaming (Edios, Rockstar, Revolution to name a few). I know most have since been merged into mega corporations overseas but there was a time where we were a leading force from relatively small teamed beginnings. Any idea on why we got it so right ? Presumably the tech was available for developing (and made) outside the UK and so not just an access thing.

 

[Rroff]

One of the factors will be the accessibility of stuff like the BBC and Acorn series of computers.

I know there was 1-2 very brilliant people at places like Cambridge University who had an influence on some of the game developers of that era - for example https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Bell_(programmer) who rarely gets talked about but actually was both directly and indirectly involved in the development of a lot of talent of that era.

 

[NinjaCool]

Well UK companies did create some awesome games in the early 90ties that helped fuel my Amiga 500 gaming sessions
Who can forget Lemmings by DMA Design, Cannon Fodder/Sensible Soccer (Sensible Software), Alien Breed/Superfrog (Team17), Chaos Engine/Speedball (Bitmap Brothers), Syndicate/Theme Park (Bullfrog) or the Lotus series by Magnetic Fields

 

[Ice Rich]

One of the factors will be the accessibility of stuff like the BBC and Acorn series of computers.

I know there was 1-2 very brilliant people at places like Cambridge University who had an influence on some of the game developers of that era - for example https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Bell_(programmer) who rarely gets talked about but actually was both directly and indirectly involved in the development of a lot of talent of that era.

I think you're right, I remember in my primary school late 80's there was a push for a BBC computer per classroom. Also thinking back, they seemed to be used more wisely then (perhaps because we were always supervised by a teacher), I definitely remember having to mentally focus to use them rather then a few years later at secondary school where we had computer rooms and it was just a free for all with everyone just playing mindless flash games
I didn't know the history of Elite , that was an interesting read - thanks.

Well UK companies did create some awesome games in the early 90ties that helped fuel my Amiga 500 gaming sessions
Who can forget Lemmings by DMA Design, Cannon Fodder/Sensible Soccer (Sensible Software), Alien Breed/Superfrog (Team17), Chaos Engine/Speedball (Bitmap Brothers), Syndicate/Theme Park (Bullfrog) or the Lotus series by Magnetic Fields

They really did I think it was a brilliant defining era and I loved all of those.

 

[cheesyboy]

The popularity of home micros here, rather than the consoles of the US meant every gamer had a game dev machine at their fingertips. And you could make commercial quality games from your bedroom and even get published, at least in the 8-bit era.

Those guys then powered the 90s scene.

 

[Grim5]

Well UK companies did create some awesome games in the early 90ties that helped fuel my Amiga 500 gaming sessions
Who can forget Lemmings by DMA Design, Cannon Fodder/Sensible Soccer (Sensible Software), Alien Breed/Superfrog (Team17), Chaos Engine/Speedball (Bitmap Brothers), Syndicate/Theme Park (Bullfrog) or the Lotus series by Magnetic Fields

Tomb Raider very famous UK game maybe you heard of it

 

[NinjaCool]

Not in the early 90ties but I did play Tomb Raider in 1996 when it came out since I got my first PC that same year
Wipeout 2097 is another popular game by Psygnosis (UK) from 1996 that I enjoyed playing.

 

[LewisRaz]

Transport tycoon and rollercoaster tycoon... Chris Sawyer absolute genius of a man

 

[Ice Rich]

Agree, big fan of the tycoon games and I spent so many hours on them.
Just been reading up on Chris Sawyer too and his creations really were a passion of love, he still spends most of his free time visiting theme parks and riding coasters

 

[phatboy]

21st century entertainment were down the road from me in Newbury, Didcot in their glory days of knocking out Pinball Dreams and Fantasies.

 

[a1ex2001]

Great ideas people in an era where you didn’t need mega bucks to build a great game just a handful of nerds plenty of coffee and a PC. The UK has always been great at creativity and not so great at investing in that creativity and that doesn’t just apply to game development.

 

[Bubo]

Publishers back then I think we less risk averse and let developers innovate and run free. This was before it became clear how much money could be made as it went from that to a risk averse culture, just develop what is guaranteed to make money.

 

[a1ex2001]

Publishers back then I think we less risk averse and let developers innovate and run free. This was before it became clear how much money could be made as it went from that to a risk averse culture, just develop what is guaranteed to make money.

Development costs were much lower by comparison as well modern games are incredibly complex by comparison to the 90’s classics they take longer to develop and need bigger teams. Much easier to take a punt on two teenagers working out of their bedroom as you stand to loose peanuts!

 

[chrismscotland]

I think a lot led on from the massive success of particularly the ZX Spectrum in the UK in the 80's with many of the UK firms and developers that went on to be so big in the 90's having started there including Rare.

Its a shame while the global gaming industry seems to be taking a beating the last year or so there seems to have been an even worse impact on the UK industry since its heyday with soo many UK studio's that have dissapeared; mainly swallowed up by larger global devs or Sony.

 

[mid_gen]

The UK still is very successful when it comes to game development. Rockstar, Codemasters, Creative Assembly, Rebellion, Sumo, Ubisoft, Playground, Rocksteady, Rare, Frontier, Cig, plus loads of smaller studios, work for hire etc.

Going through a rough patch at the mo, compounded by Brexit, but still very active, and churning out very popular games.

 

[BowdonUK]

I think the biggest factor of games in the 90s (and 80s) that kids in their bedrooms could easily create games and share/sell them with their friends.

The Public Domain scene isn't mentioned much these days. But they were free games, demos or utilities. The aim back then was for personal recognition.

There was a sense that the games makers and the game players didn't live metaphorically that far apart. So it felt we were all on the same team.

 

[LizardKing]

Access to affordable machines like the Spectrum and BBC (and the push to make the BBC available to schools, ol Maggie did get some things right...), with magazines publishing code sheets made it very accessible to bedroom coders. Notable mention to the Amstrad as well.
The same mindset behind the Raspberry pi
By the time of the arrivals of such machines like the C64, Amiga, Atari ST. the UK had already got a foot well and truly in the door.

 

[smsmasters]

The early 90s were a cracking time for UK video games, thanks to affordable home computers, a strong focus on computer skills, and a bunch of brilliant developers with the backing of enthusiastic gaming mags. This mix led to a wave of innovative games that hit it big both at home and abroad.

 

[Roughneck]

Championship manager

 

[PC777]

By the early 90's, many UK gamers and developers were some of the most knowledgeable in the World in terms of having access to multiple platforms. In 1990 a UK gamer likely had significant experience with home gaming computers, with a growing amount of console knowledge too, as I and many others did. Add a thriving import market and many UK gamers were able to play a wider variety of games on all kinds of successful home computers than Japan or the USA, who were both primarily console gaming markets at the time. Even some USA computers such as Commodore 64 did better in the4 UK and Europe at the time.

They also benefitted massively from having genuine British home computers such as Spectrum and Amstrad through much of the 80s. A huge point of pride for the UK that most of the 90's devs started out on, including all the biggest UK franchises.

Many companies benefitted from a population that had historically had a high amount of ingenuity in terms of being inventive and technologically advanced with many of the World's top universities. UK was already a extremely inventive country with an extremely good education system.

Also back in the 80s not many other countries had wide access to computers to learn on, the UK, Western Europe, North America and Japan all had earlier access to home computers on a mass scale, leading to more programmers and digital artists being available. No doubt many places would have thrived with access to the same level as the UK, especially Eastern Europe and Russia as per Alexey Pajitnov having to create Tetris using brackets because he didn't have access to a computer with non text graphic abilities.

So a number of factors, UK developers generally being very smart, plus having access to the all the tools a little earlier than many other places.