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The South African video games market has a long history of work-for-hire companies supporting a few of the greatest designers worldwide, with numerous studios specialising effectively in porting and co-development. 6 Peaks Games is among them and, while technically a newbie, it has years of experience under its belt.
It was established in 2022 by Jason Ried– a video games market veteran who began in video games in 2003 and invested the very first 8 years of his profession in QA and production functions throughout Eidos and Disney Interactive Studios, in the UK where he lived for 10 years. In 2011, he established Fuzzy Logic, a mobile video games studio that ultimately ended up being specialised in AR and VR throughout different sectors.
Still handling director at Fuzzy Logic, Ried is now likewise CEO of Six Peaks Games, and was eager to remain in South Africa for his next experience after kicking back in the nation a couple of years back.
[Fuzzy Logic] ended up being extremely uninteresting; I suggest that in a good method,” he smiles. “It succeeded, however we were doing training for mining business and vehicle. That business, paradoxically, had actually relocated to the UK. We’ve still got it, and I’m a director in it, however it’s not something I was rather delighted working in every day.
“And so over a year back, a few of the core group left, and we began Six Peaks to return into video games. We’re doing co-development, porting, QA, and we’re really dealing with associates that I utilized to deal with at Disney.”
He points out market veteran Jason Avent (previous Boss Alien creator) and his brand-new studio, Hardball Games, which introduced in 2015 in Brighton, UK.
“We’re their co-dev partner, and the entire concept is we’re simply incorporated with them,” Ried continues. “We’re dealing with [OutRage] long-lasting, we’re doing advancement out in South Africa along with them. We’re doing some art, and we’re constructing a huge QA studio for them, and for other devs that we’re dealing with.”
6 Peaks is embedded in Hardball’s group and, on the other hand for the Brighton studio, they “get excellent skill who speak English and remain in a practical time zone, however at a somewhat lower rate,” Ried states.
“There are many South Africans that wish to deal with huge budget plan video games … When I remained in the UK, there were many, however they do not get the chance. Therefore they wish to get back for household factors, and this is a method we see of providing that direct exposure to AA and AAA without needing to live there.”
6 Peaks CEO Jason Ried
6 Peaks is likewise intending to deal with extra customers as the business grows. It presently uses 12 individuals, with Ried estimating that 7 or 8 individuals might be employed throughout the approaching months,