Recently NaturalMotion General Manager James Nicholls participated in the Interactive Futures Conference, an annual event focussed on the West Midlands gaming hub, celebrating the huge development presence in the region and introducing people who are interested in entering the games industry to potential roles in the local area.

Moderated by writer and broadcaster Jordan Erica Webber, Nicholls was joined on stage for the panel  “How Leamington Spa became one of the UK’s biggest games hubs – and what the future holds,” with David Darling (Kwalee), Andrew Oliver (Game Dragons), Phil Bale (Ubisoft), , Alex Darby (darbotron), Phil Warner (Mediatonic) and Chris Southall (Sumo).

With three of the panelists (Nicholls, Southall and Warner) representing newly-established studios in the Leamington Spa area, the panel was focused on the future of the emerging gaming hub and the opportunities and challenges it presents including local university access, critical mass of developers in the region and office space restrictions. In light of the presence of so many top studios within such close proximity, Nicholls commented that the strong business competition would be good for those in the industry.

NaturalMotion’s studio is producing games like CSR2 Racing, Dawn of Titans and future Star Wars property projects.