Member Article

Developing North East design talent: Gareth Edmondson of Reflections, a Ubisoft Studio speaks to bdaily

“Working in the gaming industry is a huge learning curve – every few years theres a major change; Playstation2, Playstation3 and now online gaming – so its always an interesting challenge to work in this industry,” says Gareth Edmondson, studio managing director of Reflections, a Ubisoft studio.

Neither Reflections nor Ubisoft may not be a household name, but when I mention to my male colleagues that they designed the “Driver”, series, they all get very excited. I later discover that the game has sold over 15 million units worldwide.

Reflections has been around since 1984, and was founded by Gareth’s brother Martin who began developing gaming software from his bedroom.

Despite having an interest in computers, Gareth decided on a different route and trained as an engineer. He eventually joined Reflections 13 years later as a business manager for the studio. Using skills learnt in his previous career, he helped grow the company from 20 people up to its current team of nearly 200.

‘“I’ve always been interested in computer games, and making things – not just physical objects, but digital ones too.

“Managing people and technology require parallel skills, so my experiences in engineering were still very useful.”

Several years ago the studio was purchased by French published Ubisoft, which allowed them to rapidly scale up their production. While their ownership has protected Reflections from the brunt of the recession, Gareth does not allow this safety net to make him complacent.

“Not all games have been profitable, and like all businesses we have experienced some downturn.

“However, this has just made us smarter about developing games. The competition is fierce, so we need to stay ahead of the game by maintaining our design and technological edge.”

The company invests heavily in training and modernising techniques, and when recruiting new members of the Reflections Ubisoft team, Gareth never has to look too far.

“There is some real talent in the North East. There is a history of video game development here, and some high profile developers have come from the region,” he explains.

“We do recruit nationally and internationally too, but the biggest proportion of our staff do come from the North East.”

“Our strength is our people – they’re the ones who have the talent, drive and creativity to make a successful product.”

This month the studio released its latest offering, Driver: San Francisco, and Gareth’s overwhelming feeling is one of relief.

“It’s taken 3 to 4 years to make, so now there a great feeling of anticipation in the studio around how the product will be received.

“It’s the biggest game we’ve ever done, with the most significant budget – so we’re now really hoping to break the mould.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .