Rocket Flair Studios wins multi-million pound contract with a leading worldwide games developer

Belfast based games development firm Rocket Flair Studios has won a multi-million pound contract with a leading worldwide games developer.

To support the new contract and enable it to secure further business, the studio is investing over £700,000 and creating 14 specialised positions in areas including full stack and front end developers and QA, lighting and animation engineers.

James Bradley, director of Rocket Flair Studios, said: “Since establishing in 2017, we have used the latest immersive technology like augmented reality and virtual reality to create specialist city builder games for PC gamers, such as our mythical ancient Egypt city-builder, Dynasty of the Sands.

“We are delighted that our innovative products have led us to secure a multi-million pound contract with a prominent global games developer. This is a huge step forward for us, especially as 94 per cent of the sales from the project will be in markets outside Northern Ireland. This will bolster our reputation globally.

“We would not have been able to maximise our new contract without Invest NI’s support. We approached Invest NI’s Eastern Regional team in 2020 when we were a team of six. Its support to help us triple our workforce and create 14 jobs has given us the capacity and specialist expertise to secure and deliver this contract. We now hope to make our plans to create a centre of expertise for strategy-based PC games in NI a reality.”

Invest NI has offered Rocket Flair Studios £98,000 of support towards the creation of the 14 jobs. Eight of the jobs are in place.

Susan O’Kane, Invest NI eastern regional manager, added: “Rocket Flair Studios is a local gaming start-up with a passion for building unique games.  Investments like these are key to our economic growth, as part of The Department for the Economy’s 10X Economic Vision. Rocket Flair really understands the global gaming industry and has created a niche with Dynasty of the Sands, which it has received worldwide recognition for. Securing a multi-million pound contract at such an early stage in its business is a significant achievement.

“Our team continues to work closely with James to help deliver a strategic plan for the company to progress at pace and scale. Our support is already making a real difference to the company’s growth and has helped it expand its team, with some of the roles now in place. If this is what Rocket Flair can achieve in such a short period of time, I really look forward to following the company’s future success and continued innovative games developed at its Northern Ireland based studios.”

Invest NI is committed to driving innovation in NI and is a proud partner of Innovate NI, a Department for the Economy programme, helping local businesses innovate successfully.

This support is part funded by the Department for the Economy Economic Recovery Action Plan.

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