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The co-owner of 4J Studios has joined Team17 as a non-executive chairman. Chris van der Kuyl joins the firm following LDC’s 16.5m investment in the Worms creator. 4J Studios is best known for making the console versions of Minecraft. I’ve known Chris for a few decades and this is the …
Read More »What LDC’s £16.5m investment means for Worms maker Team17
Worms creators Team17 has secured 16.5m in funding from private equity firm LDC and has acquired The Escapists franchise. We speak with CEO Debbie Bestwick to find out what this means for one of the UK’s longest running games studios. What makes this deal work for Team17? We have a …
Read More »Team17 scores £16.5m investment deal
Private equity firm Lloyds Development Capital has invested 16.5m in Team17. The UK label has already spent some of the finance by acquiring The Escapists franchise and its developer Mouldy Toof Studios. The Escapists (and a Walking Dead-based spin-off) was released last year with the help of Team17, shifting 1.8m …
Read More »Team17 on becoming more than just ‘that Worms studio’
For decades, the name ‘Team17” would inevitably conjure up memories of exploding sheep, that infectious theme song and a series of squeaky voiced invertebrates screaming ‘incoming’. Worms defined the UK studio for two decades, a period in which over 20 Worms titles were released. Today, Team17 is becoming better known …
Read More »Jo Twist made OBE and Debbie Bestwick awarded MBE in Queen’s Birthday Honours
Games industry leaders Dr Jo Twist and Debbie Bestwick have been named in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. Dr Jo Twist is the head of games industry trade body UKIE and receives her OBE for services to the creative industries. Twist is a former journalist and held various roles at …
Read More »"Diversity is a practice, not just a word"
Animosity towards Beamdog for including a transgender character in Baldur’s Gate. Hate campaign against former Nintendo employee Alison Rapp. Overwatch’s Tracer butt pose. Valve being sued over alleged transgender discrimination. Tensions over gay and black characters at defunct Lionhead. Paradox having to take down a mod that removed Stellaris’ racial …
Read More »History Lesson: The story of Worms
In the early 1990s, certain specialist games magazines liked to encourage its readers to try their hands at making games. Amiga Format in particular contained programming information and ran game development contests for its readers (which at it peaks totalled over 170,000 a month). Andy Davidson, an A-level student in …
Read More »Lionhead, Evolution and FreeStyle were ‘casualties of triple-A’
Team17 MD Debbie Bestwick says recent closures and redundancies do not indicate problems with British development
Read More »‘UK games development is as strong as ever, despite closures’
The UK games development sector is stronger than ever, despite the collapse of three major studios, say leading experts. Over the past month, Xbox has announced it will close Fable makers Lionhead (pictured), Sony will shut DriveClub creators Evolution, while Activision has announced redundancies at Guitar Hero developers FreeStyleGames. I …
Read More »Learn how to pitch your game from Team17’s Debbie Bestwick at Interface
Indie publisher MD will advise devs on how to improve their chances of winning that publishing deal on May 5th
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