Dundee’sYoYo Games in Sony partnership

A DUNDEE computer games technology provider has secured a major strategic partnership with Japanese entertainment giant Sony.

Senior management from City Quay based YoYo Games travelled to the prestigious Games Developers Conference in San Francisco, where the new tie-up was revealed.

GDC is the largest event on the global gaming industry’s calendar. It brought together more than 23,000 programmers, producers, games designers and industry buyers from around the world.

Chief executive officer Sandy Duncan said GDC was the perfect stage for YoYo’s new alliance with Sony.

The partnership will see YoYo’s GameMaker: Studio — a software package which allows designers to build games quickly and efficiently and port them for use on different platforms — support extended to Sony’s hand-held PlayStation Vita device, the popular PlayStation 3 console and the new generation PlayStation 4 machine.

The move means licensed developers will be able to publish games on PlayStation platforms free of charge for the first time — a boon for independent developers who may not previously have had access to such a major console.

Mr Duncan saidYoYo would continue to increase its staffing base over the coming year as the effect of the Sony partnership washed through the business.

The financial details of the new alliance have not been disclosed.

“This announcement is a major milestone in our strategy to make powerful, cross-platform game development more widely accessible,” Mr Duncan said.

“It’s particularly good news for the indie development community in that it will remove the complexity barrier that exists in delivering indie gaming experiences to PlayStation users.”

YoYo staff demonstrated some of the game making possibilities from the new tie-up to delegates attending the conference, and Mr Duncan said he was pleased with the overall reaction.

“We expect this to greatly broaden the audience for GameMaker: Studio,” said Mr Duncan.

“The initial response to our announcement here at the Game Developers Conference in SF has surpassed our expectations. We are thrilled.”

Sony said the new partnership would help deliver significant new gaming content to its flagship console.

“We are pleased to be working with YoYo Games to deliver GameMaker: Studio for our PlayStation platforms,” Teji Yukata, senior vice-president of Sony Computer Entertainment’s technology platform, said.

“PlayStation users will soon be allowed to enjoy a wide variety of creative games including unique indie game titles from GameMaker’s growing global community of developers, which includes some of the most acclaimed independent talent in the world.”

Left: YoYo Games head of development Mike Dailly, CEO Sandy Duncan and head of publishing and partnerships Stuart Poole with Shahid Ahmad from Sony. Right, a games fan with the PlaySation Vita. A tie-up between the Dundee computer games technology...

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