The new UK Games Fund, launched last month by Minister of State for Culture and the Digital Economy Ed Vaizey, is now accepting applications.

The launch round is targeted at the “pent up demand” amongst established companies. It also requires nomination by two industry peers.

“We know from talking to the companies that we supported in the previous fund and from the enquiries we’ve received since our launch, that there’s a terrific need amongst early stage developers, who’ve been running for a couple of years and now have new IP they need to develop” explains Managing Director Paul Durrant.  “We’re reaching out to them first and accelerating the process by seeking recommendations to highlight strong projects from industry peers.”

“We’ve also seen a lot of interest from newcomers to the industry too so we’re designing a second round launching early next year that will cast a wider net” explains Paul.

“We’re incredibly excited about this first round, but it’s just a small first step amongst range of planned funding packages and talent support projects. We’re going to join things up so that there’s a significant overlap between supported companies, the wealth of UK games development talent and experienced mentors with all of those contributing to value growth in the UK games ecosystem” says Paul.

The project is being run by a new, not-for-profit Community Interest Company, UK Games Talent and Finance and the operational team is essentially the same as the one that ran the previous UK Prototype Fund. Paul has been joined on the board by seasoned investor Mark Hogarth as they look to create more co-investment opportunities for the sector.