Barclays and Ukie partner to showcase the best of the UK’s up and coming innovative indie games developers

• Barclays has partnered with Ukie to launch the second Ukie Games Demo Day, to find and support up and coming innovative indie games developers and to help the UK Games Industry grow and develop.
• The virtual event will see innovative indie games developers showcase their work in front of a panel of investors and industry experts
• Applications are now open for developers to take part and close on Sunday 20th February

Barclays has partnered with Ukie, the trade body for the UK’s games and interactive entertainment sector, to hold the second Ukie Games Demo Day, to find and support up and coming innovative indie games developers with an unsigned game and help support the UK Games Industry to grow and develop.

The Demo Day, which will be held in April, follows the success of the first Demo Day in September last year, and will see participants demonstrate their games virtually in front of a panel of experienced investors and industry experts, as well as an audience of wider industry players and potential backers, to help create connections for the up and coming developers that could lead to funding.

Applications are now open to developers who want to showcase their unsigned games. Eight finalists will be chosen to demonstrate on the day and will be selected based on a number of criteria, including how their game demonstrates innovation and originality.

Dan Bernardo, Co-founder and CEO of Playtra, who showcased their game ‘Grid Fight – Mask of the Goddess’ at the inaugural Ukie Games Demo Day, said: “As an indie studio, visibility is at the same time the most essential and hard to get resource we need in order to succeed in an overcrowded gaming market. Events like the Barclays/UKIE Games Demo Day placed our game right in front of the people we were trying to reach. I would recommend anyone with an awesome game to take part.”

Dr Jo Twist OBE, CEO of Ukie, said: “Last year’s Games Demo Day helped a range of growing games businesses showcase their concepts to leading industry experts. We’re looking forward to running the next version of the event and helping another group of ambitious independent developers get on the right track to building the next UK games industry success story.”

David Gowans, Head of Games and Esports at Barclays, said: “It can be difficult for independent developers to access the right experts and investors that can help unlock their growth. Our Games Demo Day is there to help plug that gap. After the success of last year’s event, which saw seven excellent developers demonstrate their games to an expert panel and a virtual audience of over 100, we knew we had to run another. We look forward to seeing more independent games developers at our event this year and supporting them, and in turn the UK Games Industry, to grow and thrive.”

For more information, or to apply to take part in the Ukie Games Demo Day, visit: games.barclays/demo-day

To find out how Barclays is supporting the games and Esports industries, visit: games.barclays

ENDS