Baverstock, Ian (Kuju Entertainment)

Thema: "Game Development Diversity: The UK's varied games development businesses"

Ian studied Aeronautical Engineering at Bristol University and was awarded his honours degree in 1985.

He co-founded entertainment and simulation developer Simis in 1989 and then established SMI Ltd, a medical imaging subsidiary of Simis, in 1991. Ian was part of the team that sold Simis to Eidos in 1995. He also supervised the growth and subsequent trade sale of SMI to one of its major customers in 1996. From 1996 to 1998 Ian was responsible for game production at Simis.

In 1998 Ian co-led a management buy out of the studio to form Kuju Entertainment. Since then, Ian has taken responsibility for business development at Kuju and, since 2006, has been the CEO. This 10 year period of growth has seen the creation of 5 new game development studios in the UK, one in San Francisco and the acquisition of one in Manila. The in-house development teams have grown to over 350 engineering and creative staff and Kuju is now wholly owned by German media services group Catalis.

Ian is a Chartered Engineer and also Chairman of TIGA, the UK trade body for game development businesses.

Presentation summary
Ian will be discussing the evolution of the games development industry in the UK and more generally over the last few years. Particularly looking at how the UK industry has managed to create an environment in which large studios and high profile start ups have both been successful. Ian will also be outlining some of the challenges facing the games development industry generally as the current console cycle matures and the internet’s evolution continues to present new threats and opportunities to game creators.

Ian Baverstock
www.kuju.com