Last year, us folk at Into Games announced our official partnership with Electric Square, and received their support to make the industry more accessible. Their support has allowed us to continue guiding anyone with a passion to succeed, particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds. 

As we look back on our first year together, we wanted to recognize and celebrate what Electric Square has contributed to our partnership. 

Electric Square’s achievements so far..

Electric Square showcased an awesome studio trailer at the Into Games Career Festival 2022, helping over 5000 games industry career seekers to understand what kind of games they make, more about what life is like at the studio, and learn what skills they would need to work at Electric Square!

Into Games has run three Access to Games Events with staff from Electric Square - sessions that teach school students from disadvantaged areas about job roles and careers in gaming. In these sessions, students get to try their hand at becoming game designers, programmers, artists and marketers; all whilst undertaking their first game jam!

For our last session, Electric Square opened up the doors of their studio to welcome a group from a local school. The group were given a tour, then introduced to their Electric Square mentors to learn more about what life is like in different roles at the studio. The jamming teams made games about adventuring and gardening, with an energetic rap-presentation at the end! 

In total, three different educational opportunities have been completed through Video Games Ambassadors - the UK’s only platform for connecting industry professionals to educational opportunities.  All together, 65 young people have been supported by Electric Square through the Video Games Ambassadors.

So far, we’ve seen 12 members of Electric Square go through the Into Games Champions Training Program - a project to help empower and upskill the next generation of games educators, mentors, and public speakers through learning sessions delivered by Routes, Matteo Menapace, & Limit Break Mentorship.

A massive well done to Electric Square team members:

• Charlotte Pook
• Geraldo Nascimento
• Guy DeRosa
• Mathieu Puffet
• Yasmin Down
• Eril Selecky
• Eva Camba
• Jens Vandewater
• Jun Leung
• Kat Hendersen
• Morgan Rashand
• Sandra Ferri

As of today, Electric Square staff members have volunteered 49 hours to help the Video Games Ambassadors connect young people to game developers across the UK.  This time includes Access to Games workshops to inspire young people onto paths in the industry, and taking part in our Into Games Careers festival to help Careers Seekers all across the country!

Supporting our work

On top of these landmark contributions, Electric Square partnership has also allowed our core projects to continue and has let us explore and launch crucial new pilot projects, including

• Building a ground-breaking after school club for some of the UK’s most disadvantaged young people that will help students in deprived areas learn how to make their first videogame.
  
  
• Delivering the UK’s first ever apprenticeship report, kickstarting new avenues to vocational employment for people from underrepresented groups.
  
  
• Launching an Into Games course pilot, that will help diverse games careers seekers build out their portfolio with guidance from industry experts.
  
  

A huge thank you to Electric Square and all their staff for helping to support our work in making the UK games industry more inclusive and become the most rewarding place to work.

If you would like to find out more about helping your company be an Into Games partner,  reach out to Brandon our Head of Partnerships to find out more.