Gallery: Inside the world’s most famous studios

The game industry is full of vibrant creatives with a passion for innovation. But how do developers keep their creative juices flowing in a fun working environment to inspire them to create the next gaming classic?

Below we take a look of studios around the world big and small to discover just what these bastions of secrecy look like on the inside.

From giant slides to climbing walls and woodland-themed interiors, here is a glimpse at the weird and wonderful world of game development.

Epic Games

Cary, North Carolina, USA
epicgames.com

Despite being famed as a developer of rather serious games, including the Gears of War and Infinity Blade series, Epic’s North Carolina HQ features its own slide and climbing wall.

Zynga

San Francisco, USA,
www.zynga.com

Zynga’s ginormous San Francisco office houses thousands of developers and parts of it appear to have more in common with a shopping complex than a typical development studio.

Mind Candy

London, UK
www.mindcandy.com

Mismatched wallpaper in one corner, antique furniture in another and fake folage creeping along pipes overhead. Mind Candy’s interior decor echoes the influence of Take Hart, Dazed & Confused and the styling of 80s gaffes.

Bigpoint

Hamburg, Germany
Bigpoint.net

Bigpoint’s vast Hamburg studio is as bright and vibrant as any of Silicon Valley’s famously swish studios – as Develop can attest to after a recent visit.

Mojang

Stockholm, Sweden

The Minecraft developer recently moved in to a swanky new studio in Sweden, complete with an old-fashioned posh decor, and a pool table, of course.

[Mojang studio images credit: BSK Arkitekter, Per Kristiansen]

Ubisoft Toronto

Toronto, Canada

Now with 2,000 square feet of performance space to play with, just what is Ubisoft planning on motion capturing? Chariot pursuits? Mass scenes of panic? Whatever it is, it’s good news for actors and stuntmen.

Crytek UK

Nottingham, UK
www.crytek.com

Brushed steel, ornamental arragements of hanging lamps and futuristic-looking meeting room decor make Crytek’s UK office a cross between a supervillain’s lair and a design laboratory.

Mediatonic

London, UK
www.mediatonic.co.uk

Soft toys populate the office. The walls and kitchen cabinets are covered in colourful hand drawn art. And cartoon portraits of its staff adorn the corridors of Mediatonic’s London crib.

Ustwo

London, UK
www.ustwo.co.uk

Spearheaded by its infamously eccentric lead ‘Mills’, Ustwo’s interior is as colourful as the team that makes games like Whale Trail. Like neighbours Mind Candy, it occupies the Tea Building in hip East London.

Q-Games

Kyoto, Japan
www.q-games.com

Co-founder Dylan Cuthbert rehearses with his studio band. Elsewhere, team members let off steam by getting in some gaming time of their own at the PixelJunk-maker’s crib.

Preloaded

London, UK
preloaded.com

Located beside East London’s technology cluster, Preloaded’s office comes with all the trappings that an agile indie start-up needs: designer furniture, table football and a rag-tag crew to populate it.

Level-5

Santa Monica, California, USA
Level5ia.com

Spacious, open-plan rooms, desk equipment with chrome finish and a thing for timber minimise, Level-5’s Santa Monica studio breathes retro chic. Layton will be jealous.

Imagination Studios

Uppsala, Sweden
www.imaginationstudios.com

Motion capture outfit Imagination Studios is uniquely placed inside a refitted old church, unrecognisable from the inside which houses a more traditional animation set-up.