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.

 

[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.

 

[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