Peter Molyneux has a dev blog and I picked up that picture from it:
This is a map of Guildford, UK. Those three names are game studios that Peter founded, across four decades (you can read the history of those studios, starting with Bullfrog Software via filfre.net). He also was born and raised in that city.
What’s so remarkable to me is that game development is the poster child of globalization. Every single game developer I know has worked in different cities, countries, different continents even. Ubisoft has spread out across the entire world since the late 90s and all publishers have studios everywhere on earth. For tax incentives, talent and taking advantage of around the clock work.
Peter stayed in his hometown his whole life, creating three different studios focused on rather experimental games. That’s fascinating!
- Do all people in Guildford know Peter? What’s the word about his reputation?
- How many local people did he hire?
- How did he manage to get financing being away from big hubs like Montreal or the US West coast? (Microsoft and Electronic Arts funded some of his stuff)
- How do you find so much inspiration living where you always have lived, in a grey town in the UK?
Good luck on your next game, Peter.