Games industry veteran, Mike Hayes, shares his thoughts on the hot topic of “Game Enablers”…
Everyone is aware of how successful the games industry has become globally, at a market size of $140bn it is the largest global entertainment sector. Most of us tend to think of this market as software and hardware but within it there is an emerging sector that experts have decided to call “Game Enablers”. This is a very broad but definable group of clever companies and individuals that create solutions and build technology that allows games to get better. This can include middleware; in-game purchase solutions; improved sound systems; AI; SFX and so on. All of these are vital to the development and marketing of successful games.
Within this definition are a group of successful facilitators or platforms. Mercia Asset Management plc have identified this growing sector and have several investments in game enabling companies. One such is Playerlands, an innovative platform that allows games to sell their own user generated content on the open market. Another is the imaginatively titled Gorilla in the Room which provides AR and VR solutions for the market research industry. And of course, there is GENBA™, an API driven digital logistics platform that connects games publishers and etailers around the globe. The platform has grown successfully over the past few years, and it’s “enabling” capabilities will reach new heights with the launch of GENBA™ 3.0 later this year.
There are many businesses like this that remain the unsung heroes of the gaming world. While software gets all the glamour and the praises like the beautiful swans they are, consider that there are some very hard-working feet propelling these wonders along.
