When Darren Cuthbert and I started SockMonkey Studios ten years ago, we didn’t have a business plan – we were just games developers who wanted to make great games.
As two Teesside University graduates we knew about DigitalCity, and as we had a bit of experience in the industry and a will to do something, we were accepted onto DigitalCity Fellowship scheme
That scheme gave us support and mentorship, but it also provided us with a grant to cover our food, our rent and our living costs for the six months while the scheme ran and we started the business.
We honestly thought SockMonkey would last those six months and that would be it, but here we are ten years later.
When the Fellowship ended after six months, DigitalCity could have just shut the door on us, but they didn’t. That continues to this day – I'm really good friends with DigitalCity team, I know I can call on them with anything.
I don’t think there are many other clusters with support programmes like DigitalCity; programmes that have been going as long and had such an impact, especially in the gaming industry. There are some really big studios that have been involved with DigitalCity.
The games industry in Teesside must be close to a thousand plus people now, and when we go around the world, they know Teesside. They know the companies.
It all starts with groups like DigitalCity, giving creative people a chance and building the right ecosystem here.
There’s Teesside University with its talented graduates, DigitalCity funding and teaching the business skills, and Teesside LaunchPad enabling people to start while keeping the cost down.
There’s a fantastic community that has spawned from DigitalCity too, a group of people who’ve been through their business journeys, have got he battle scars and can share experiences and help each other.
If we’d started this business without DigitalCity we never would have made it this far – the Fellowships got us going, and the SCALE programme changed our mindset so we weren’t happy with ten people; we wanted fifty people, a hundred people.
SockMoney Studios started with DigitalCity supporting two lads, and we've just sold to Behaviour Interactive, a 1,200 person multi-national. It’s been a wild journey!
DigitalCity’s Fellowship is the best thing I’ve ever done. It’s changed my life.
Website: bhvr.com
