UK industry layoffs bittersweet for Ruffian

Dundee-based development outfit Ruffian has benefited from closures at a number of UK studios – such as Midway Newcastle – as the studio’s producer James Cope described the bittersweet ebb and flow of the UK industry.

Speaking at Dundee’s NEoN event on Saturday, Cope gave his perspective on what has been a tumultuous number of months for the UK games industry.

"It’s a little bit sad to say, but we’ve been fortunate from timings of closing of other studios,” he said, as quoted in a GamesIndustry.biz report.

“There’s an ebb and flow to the games industry and studios are born and die. And we became a little bit lucky when a couple of key studios went under, like Midway. That helped us a lot."

Start-up studio Ruffian was brought to light at the end of 2008. The firm was founded by a trio of industry veterans – including Gareth Noyce, former Xen CEO Gary Liddon, as well as Crackdown lead designer (and Develop columnist) Billy Thomson.

The moment Ruffian announced its existence the team was quickly beset by rumours that it was working on the sequel to Crackdown – a rumour that was confirmed at E3 in June.