YoYo raises its game with launch of Studio software

A SOFTWARE firm backed by former executives from Xbox and Last.fm is preparing to post its maiden profit after launching a tool that allows computer game makers to cut their development times by 80 per cent.

Dundee-based YoYo Games, which has grown its headcount from one to 20 staff in the past two years, expects to create further jobs following the launch of its design software GameMaker: Studio.

Some of those posts are likely to be at its research and development operations in Dundee, while others will be in its newly opened sales and marketing office at San Francisco, California.

Available as a tool for “bedroom coders” since 2007, the studio version of GameMaker is a beefed-up development product that automatically enables games to operate across different platforms, including Apple’s iPad and iPhone, Android smartphones, Facebook and Windows.

The program also works with the HTML5 language, set to be adopted in the forthcoming iPhone 5 and Windows 8 operating systems.

Sandy Duncan, chief executive and one of five principal investors in YoYo, said the new version of GameMaker had already drawn interest from big industry names during a four-month testing phase at the start of the year.

With the ability to cut development times by up to 80 per cent, management expects sales to surge.

“We would have made a profit last year, but I took the decision to expand on the margins as much as possible,” said Duncan, a former vice-president of Xbox Europe.

The firm’s website, which now has 500,000 registered users, went live early in 2007, with participants sharing their experiences and challenges in developing games.

YoYo’s founders then wanted to create a tool to make it easier for amateurs to develop games. However, they soon came across Mark Overmars, a professor of computing sciences at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, who had already created GameMaker.

YoYo bought the rights in late 2007 and Overmars joined the board, becoming another of the principal shareholders.

The other main investors are Michel Cassius, former European marketing director of Xbox; Spencer Hyman, ex- head of internet radio firm Last.fm; and James North-Hearn, chief executive of Foundation 9 Entertainment.

Looking ahead, Duncan said the financial year to 31 October would “definitely be a profitable one” for YoYo, though the amount will depend upon the uptake of Studio. Meanwhile, further development of the software is already in the pipeline.

“This is just the start,” he said. “We have got interim releases planned on a quarterly basis, and work on the next major version of Studio will begin this summer, so we will need to hire more people.”