YOU ARE HERE :
Warner Bros Enlists Fast-Growing Firm
Digital
Thursday 29th July
ONE year on from its launch out of the rubble of a collapsed North East giant, a fledgling video games developer has seen a 75% surge in business, landing deals with a string of global clients including Warner Bros.
Gateshead’s Atomhawk Design was launched by former staff at the now-axed Midway games studio on Tyneside last year and has since enjoyed exponential growth.
The company has expanded into an office four times bigger than its original premises and is planning on gradually growing its team up from seven to 12 as its workload in a number of global markets increases.
Since the turn of the year the firm has been working alongside entertainment behemoth Warner Bros on a new version of one of its major gaming IPs.
As work with other big brand names such as Ubisoft comes on board, Atomhawk expects its business to grow 75% in the next year, matching the expansion rate of its first year of trading.
Company founder Cumron Ashtiani, who recently met with representatives of SEGA and Disney at a major event in San Francisco, said: “The entertainment industry is dominated but only a handful of global corporations who are, at the top level, feeding the money into a lot of companies further down the food chain, essentially acting as the funding source for the entire industry.
“What I have found interesting is that even if you make contact and build relationships with one branch of these corporations then that doesn’t mean you have any contact with the same firm in other territories like Japan.
“This means that it is essential to meet all the different branches of these corporations all across the globe which is what I will be focusing on this year.”
Meanwhile, the company – that has just completed a project on Ninja Theory’s Enslaved game – has made two appointments to facilitate its growth.
Stephane Stamboulis has joined the firm as a senior concept artist, having previously worked as a comic book artist for 10 years. He’s best known for his work on the comics based on the “Silent Hill” series by Konami.
Also, former Midway Games employee Amy Hill joins as office manager and production associate.
Related News Articles
-
CCP Newcastle Open for Business
CCP, one of the world's leading independent game developers, today unveiled its fourth game development studio, CCP Newcastle. Located in Gateshead Quays, CCP Newcastle will focus on console game development, charting new paths for gameplay and business models that will breathe new life into connected consoles.
NEWS ARTICLE SEARCH
Investment Information
-
About North East England
-
Support for Investors
- Advice on availability & costs of premises
- Assistance with grant applications
- Identification of R&D in your sector
- Property Solutions
- Market Validation
-
Industry Support and Infrastructure
- Centres of Excellance & Clusters
- Universities
- Innovation Connectors
- R&D Facilities
-
Skills and Expertise
- Overview of Skills and Experience
- Innovation Highlights
- Introduction to Our Key Sectors
-
Financial Support
- Key Funding Channels
- Selective Finance for Investment
- Grants and Funding
-
Premises and Locations
- Property Solutions
- Strategic Development Sites
- Managed Workspaces
- Incubators
-
Transport Infrastructure
- By Air
- By Sea
- By Rail
- By Road
-
Doing Business in the UK
- Understanding Tax
- Visas and Immigration
How Can We Help?
This website is your guide to doing business in North East England and the range of inward investment support services from One North East.
Discover why North East England should be your UK platform for global growth with a free consultation from our inward investment team.
Nissan is building a £200 million European battery plant in Sunderland. The North East will have the UK’s first comprehensive infrastructure of electric vehicle... 
Advanced technologies in wind and solar power generation have been created. Biofuels and biomass are rapidly expanding, and innovations in fuel cells... 
Huge offshore wind farms planned for the North Sea have placed North East England in an ideal position to manufacture large numbers of turbines for these farms. 
Driving this sector are pharmaceuticals, world beating stem cells and genetic research, drug discovery and protein diagnostic techniques... 
The digital games industry, with Digital City as a focus, is a driving force in the creative field, while Sage has a commanding position in software development. 
The North East has major base chemicals & petrochemical complexes, alongside fine & speciality chemicals & pharmaceuticals. Biotechnology... 
Automotive manufacturing dominates this sector – Nissan in cars, and Komatsu and Caterpillar in heavy earth-moving vehicles. Defence, aerospace and marine... 
World leading subsea technologies have been developed to extract deeper oil and gas reserves, the North East has major pipeline terminals, processing... 
North East England is leading the way with a technology that allows electronic circuits to be made using specially developed semi-conductive materials. 
Exciting developments are taking place in printed electronics, with PETEC, the national centre for this future industry, located in the North East. Nanotechnology... 
Knowledge intensive business services in areas such as finance, legal services, human resources, management consultancy and marketing are expanding... 