Happy Birthday To Us

Happy birthday SGN!

It was 16 years ago this week that the first ever iteration of the Scottish Games Network appeared.

It was created at the point where the industry started growing rapidly and for the first time, not not everyone knew/had worked with each other.

Originally a Yahoo Group (remember those?), the group shared news and updates about the industry as it existed back then, with a whopping 77 members! (which to be fair was probably around 50% of the workforce…)

In the 90s, there were only six studios in the country (DMA Design, Vis, Visual Sciences, Red Lemon, Inner Workings & Creative Edge) and more or less everyone knew everyone else.

Thanks to the world’s first Computer Games Degree being created at the University of Abertay, and several smaller studios being set up by people leaving the ‘big six’, the industry grew fairly quickly.

At this point games were so far outside the mainstream that there was very little interest from the wider software or tech sectors, while the ‘creative industries’ hadn’t yet been defined. This left the games industry to fend for itself.

As it turned out, the Yahoo group wasn’t the perfect platform for such a group, requiring as it does participation from members. So the group quickly evolved into a Typepad blog, then a Ning ring (if you don’t remember any of these ancient services, don’t worry, you’re not alone…)

Since then we’ve been proud WordPress users and extended the reach of the network onto all of the popular social channels, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.

(These will shortly be joined by Discord, Twitch, YouTube and others…)

We’re also awaiting approval to announce some really exciting news, which should ensure the SGN do even more to help the industry here in Scotland to grow, evolve and thrive. So please do watch this space.

In the meantime, Happy Birthday SGN. Here’s to the next 16 years.