A Big Ant's eye view

The Sunshine Coast is set to welcome a new colony of ants to the region … ants that are far from small. Melbourne-based gaming creators Big Ant Studios will locate their new games development studio at the University of the Sunshine Coast’s Innovation Centre, providing the region with a chance to play in the global $70 billion video games industry.

Moving into the new $3.6 million Business Accelerator, the studio will use their new base to attract talent and experience from the promising Queensland games industry. With an estimated worth of more than $55 million, Queensland’s 40 per cent stake in the games industry is now leading the rest of the country in terms of employment and income from games development.

 

Innovation Centre chief executive Colin Graham said Big Ant studios, one of Australia’s largest game developers, planned to start a 30-person development team based from the Centre’s Business Accelerator offices, with plans to expand to at least 84 people over the next four years.

“I think the deciding factor behind Big Ant Studios’ move into the Innovation Centre was the close proximity to Brisbane and the games development hub that is already based in areas like Fortitude Valley,” Colin said. On top of this factor, “the Innovation Centre offers competitive, state-of-the-art offices, with a great location close to the university and to the business and technology precinct to be developed across the road.”

Colin said the business and technology precinct will have a massive potential for Sippy Downs and Kawana over the next 10 years.

Following the rise of the games industry in the local region, the Innovation Centre will be working closely with the tourism industry and emerging sectors such as IT, environmental technology, creative industries and professional services.

  

Colin said having Big Ant choose the Innovation Centre Sunshine Coast was a great demonstration of recognising what the Centre had to offer prospective tenants in the Business Accelerator or the Business Incubator.

“Not only can companies access students from the university, they can locate themselves at what is becoming the IT, green technology, creative and knowledge-based hub of the Sunshine Coast.”

The studio’s popular games such as Spyro, Hell Boy and the NRL and AFL franchises for the Nintendo Wii, Sony Playstation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360 game consoles, would all be developed on the Sunshine Coast and available for release later in the year.

Big Ant Studios was founded in 2001 by Ross Symons, a software development pioneer with a professional history that stretches back to the 1970s when he first authored a number of internationally published books on the topic of programming and games.

Taking time out from a job that most people could only dream of, Ross took the time to share with Business Matters, the reasons behind his move to the Sunshine Coast.

  

The games industry is huge. How much bigger do you expect it to grow?

The industry has had year on year, double and triple digit growth for all of the time that I have been involved. In spite of the tough economic conditions that we have faced over the past year, the games industry grew 43 per cent and grossed more than DVD movies for the first time. This coming year also looks like a record breaker. I cannot foresee this growth declining any time soon and would not put a ceiling on it.

Just how big is Big Ant Studios position in the games industry?

Big Ant Studios are nearly as big as they come. We are currently Australia’s second largest independent developer of video games and are rapidly expanding. I would like to see us with a staff of 200 by June, 2011.

When were you first introduced to video games?

I first played video games such as Pong in the late 1970s, down at the local pub and I was hooked. Soon afterward, I wanted to create my own games and luckily enough for me, back then all you needed was a little computer and a lot of time. My first break into the industry however, was when I authored some books on programming games that were published in England and Europe.

What has been the biggest influence on your career?

The biggest influence on my career was the time I spent away from the games industry. I went out to get a real job and found that I just could not wait to get back to games. I have a real love and passion for the art of games. I love waking up and going to work every day, and I still cannot believe I get paid to do this.

What are the biggest challenges you see for the industry?

The biggest challenges the games industry face are the big budgets and long timelines required to produce games for the current generation of console platforms. The team sizes have more than doubled in the past four years but the price of the end product has not shifted dramatically.

What were the factors behind the decision to build a second base on the Sunshine Coast?

As the game industry has matured, so have our employees. They are getting older, getting married and have become more family oriented. It was paramount in our minds that the second Big Ant Studios office be located in a very family friendly setting, with great schools, affordable residential property, good natural amenities such as beaches and the like, with access to technical infrastructure. The Sunshine Coast, and in particular the Innovation Centre at University of the Sunshine Coast, was the perfect location and it ticked all the boxes we were looking for.

As the move is great news for employment in the region, what kind of talent will you be looking for in recruiting new employees?

The first wave of employees we are looking for are those with programming or 3D art/animation skills. I should say that we at Big Ant Studios pride ourselves on hiring on a ‘gut feel’, believing that if you have an attitude and aptitude, then we can teach you anything. Anyone applying should bear this in mind … we really want passionate people!

What opportunities do you see Big Ant’s move bringing local businesses?

I feel that Big Ant Studios will require a vast array of services from local business, as will its employees. Staff accommodation; equipment purchases, which we intend to make entirely locally; the supply of daily lunches for all our employees (we provide this free as part of employment); and the provision of technical support services that will be required to run the organisation and so on. I should add that we would be happy to hear from any local business that think they have the services we might need.

If games take up your business life, what do you to achieve a work/lifestyle balance?

Games do take up my business life but also a lot of my personal life, too. Like a lot of developers, the first thing I want to do when I get some ‘me’ time is play games. When you add to the mix that I have four children whom, not surprisingly, love playing games, I am never far from a controller. The line between my business life and personal life are so often very blurred that I have implemented strict rules about how much time I spend near a computer or the internet so that technology does not rule my life. I am looking to spending a lot of time exploring the Sunshine Coast with my children.

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