Chinese games studio gets ready to make a new home in Scotland

The move will see 21 new highly-skilled game development jobs initially come to Scotland’s capital city of Edinburgh, with further development planned over the next two years. This is another excellent example of the close relationship that Scotland and China share and it looks set to be another strong partnership between the two countries.

Skymoons’ hugely popular mobile game, The Journey of the Flower, has an incredible 10 million active users and generates revenue in excess of 200 million RMB (over £23 million). These are numbers that many game developers can only dream of achieving and highlight just how big a deal Skymoons are in the gaming world. However, not content with dominating the Chinese gaming market, the company are keen to expand their horizons and see Scotland as the ideal location to launch into the international market.

Scotland already has an impressive pedigree in the gaming world and is home to industry giants like Rockstar North and Reloaded. Skymoons have tapped into this expertise by bringing on board Michael Boniface, previously of Reloaded, to head up the new Scottish studio. Boniface brings with him first-hand experience of the gaming sector in Scotland and is working with Skymoons to help bring the best Scottish talent to the studio to work on new projects.

Boniface said of this exciting news:

“The establishment of Skymoons’ new studio in Scotland is a game changer and an exciting opportunity for those who make up the strong resource of locally-based talent. I am very pleased to be representing Skymoons in this venture and will be recruiting new staff shortly, aiming for all 21 jobs to be filled by the end of June. We are delighted to work so closely with Scottish Development International in bringing this plan to fruition and are confident that it will have great success”.

Skymoons was first established in Chengdu – a hotbed for gaming studios in China – and has gone from modest beginnings to become one of the most established mobile gaming publishers in all of China. In their decision to expand globally, Skymoons were particularly impressed by the access to skilled tech graduates from Edinburgh’s universities and tech incubators like CodeBase.

However, the developer will be able to also take advantage of the unique range of benefits outside the Scottish capital. Abertay University, situated in the city of Dundee, is the first university in the world to offer a degree-level computer games course. The university also has a close relationship with the University of Beijing, allowing Skymoons the chance to benefit from access to skilled bi-lingual games developers.