One of the biggest names in Liverpool’s gaming sector has called for it to get more of the attention given to the sport, film and music industries.
Clemens Wangerin is the CEO of VTime and was speaking at an exclusive gaming event in the city called Game On!, which was hosted at the offices of Sony Interactive Entertainment on Old Hall Street.
Wangerin has worked in the gaming industry since moving to Liverpool in 1997 but said the sector was the poor relation when compared to the attention given to sport, film and music in the region.
He said: “I keep hearing gaming is the city’s best kept secret. Liverpool’s gaming sector is in its third renaissance.
“It’s been around since the early 80s. In the last 10 years we’ve seen a wave of new founders coming to the local sector and starting some really successful businesses.
“It’s been a part of this city and the region for 30 years, shaping things globally from here and increasingly created by people from here.
“Games are not as personality-led as music, sports and films. A lot of people have a favourite game but even the most ardent gamer would be hard pushed to name the producer and director of a game.
“That is one of the humps we still need to get over but in the meantime what we have are the brands of the companies and their games.
“The creative and digital sector is big, it has a lot of talent and covers a lot of sectors but gaming is a huge part of it, and a proven success with global appeal that’s instantly recognisable and relatable to people of all ages. And I think we need to talk about that more.
“I struggle to think of another aspect of the creative and digital sector that is as big and as globally successful. There’s an argument to elevate gaming to the same level as music, film and sport in terms of the cultural and popular narrative.”
Wangerin said Liverpool was dominated by one company – Psygnosis – when he first came to the city in 1997 but it’s now home to the likes of PlayStation and a number of burgeoning independent studios.
In 2013 he joined visionary founder Martin Kenwright to help set up vTime, which now employs 40 people and has raised $11.7m in investment, led by Deepbridge Capital.
He said: “vTime is a company that focuses on changing how people to communicate with each other and engage with the world around them, using enabling technologies such as AI and VR.”
The Game On! event was a joint venture between the Business & IP Centre Liverpool (BIPC) and Professional Liverpool.
Nearly 100 people attended and Wangerin was joined on the speaker panel by Matt Wilson of Sony Interactive Entertainment and Lauren Forbes of InnovateHer.
The event was hosted by Chris Maguire, executive editor BusinessCloud and TechBlast.