Leamington’s Blitz Games shuts down

Blitz Games, a major video games maker based in Leamington, has been forced to shut down due to funding problems with the loss of over 100 jobs.

After 23 years of creating popular games with tie-ins such a Shrek, Spongebob, Bratz and Mickey Mouse, the company has closed.

Blitz was established in 1990 by twins Philip and Andrew Oliver. The pair had previously worked with games publisher Codemasters before launching into their own business.

The firm employed 175 staff, 50 of who will be kept on to work for a new company being set up by Senior Blitz management to complete unfinished and financially self-sustaining projects.

However, many of those who had lost their jobs were able to find employment elsewhere as many rival companies in the area have been quick to advertise their available vacancies. Southam-based Codemasters, Leamington’s Playground Games, Full-Fat games in Warwick and Rebellion in Oxford have all been in contact with Blitz.

“The run of problems we’ve had to face over the last year is unlike any we’ve seen before,” Philip Oliver told the Leamington Observer.

He identified “frustrations with clients, the global economic crisis, and more than our fair share of simple bad luck” as key triggers of Blitz shutting down.

Indeed the closure in 2011 of US-based published THQ, considered a major client of the company, hit Blitz especially hard.

Moreover, the disruption brought in by the mobile games market, in which titles were a lot cheaper or even free, had a damaging impact on the firm’s income.

Blitz’s fall has been described as disastrous by leading figures in the games industry. Tiga, the trade association for video game makers, told the BBC that the loss of Blitz is a “bitter blow”.

Richard Wilson, the group’s chairman added: “Philip and Andrew Oliver…have made an enormous contribution to the UK video games industry, having been involved in the sector since its beginnings in the 1980s.”

Mr Oliver demonstrated his regret at having to dismiss so many talented people go.

He told the Leamington Observer: “they, like us, are passionate about games, and we call on the rest of the industry to capture their passion and continue the careers of some of the most talented young creatives in the country.”

Despite the closure of Blitz, Mr Oliver said that he still felt sure that the UK games industry can adapt and survive.

“There’s a huge number of success stories in the UK,” he told the BBC, “it’s not all doom and gloom.”