As the Tranzfuser team gears up for their busiest summer yet – with this year’s Enterprise Pathway teams waiting in the wings and the Employment Pathway teams already hard at work – there is pause for reflection on how the competition has matured over the now six years it has been running.
Tranzfuser is the UK’s only national video games talent competition for the most exciting graduate stars in the game development industry.
With a direct link to the UK Games Fund – where selected teams can access grant funding of up to £25,000 in total, as well as join the ranks of the esteemed UK Games Fund portfolio of funded companies – graduate teams that enrol in the competition can, and do, go on to achieve marked success in the indie sector.
Since the competition launched in 2016, over 100 teams and more than 450 individual developers have passed through our doors. Some have gone on to secure lucrative jobs in industry, with many now being established and well-respected specialists in their fields.
Many teams are still working as indie studios, with several also having made the jump to join the UK Games Fund portfolio. Others have taken their experiences of being involved in the competition and continued with their passion of building a sustainable studio.
Tranzfuser Alumni: Where are they now?
BetaJester (2016)
Having been a team since 2015, the Tranzfuser 2016 entrants secured funding from the UK Games Fund in 2018 and have now been a sustainable studio for several years. The company is well-known for being experts in helping “clients around the world solve their problems and make engaging digital experiences.”
Blueprint Media (2016)
The team behind the hugely popular Billie Bust Up! game worked on an entirely different genre in their Tranzfuser year. Although they didn’t win the competition, Managing Director Katie Nelson has described their experiences of taking part in Tranzfuser in nothing but a positive light. The team recently smashed their KickStarter target, hitting over £145k towards their development.
This Dead Winter (2017)
Epic MegaGrant winners behind the hotly anticipated This Dead Winter game, the Manchester-based team were part of a hugely successful year in Tranzfuser history. With over 1,000 backers on their successful KickStarter campaign, fans can expect updates on the game’s progress very soon.
Chimera Tales (2020)
Winners of the year that no one will forget, the team behind the boundary-pushing Hotel Arcanum have shown tenacity and passion throughout their time both on Tranzfuser and since the competition wrapped up. The team are this year being supportive of the oncoming talented teams, and have a great many things ahead in the near future.
Read more about our past Tranzfuser teams over on the Tranzfuser Alumni page.
With so many talented developers having been part of the competition so far, and with the evolution of our offering in 2021, the past and future alike are bright for the talented young developers in the UK – a vital factor in the success and growth of the British games development sector on the global stage.
An announcement about the Tranzfuser Enterprise Pathway 2021 teams will be made next week.
