LogInFormal training in game development is still a relatively young field in the UK, but a handful of private schools are helping set the standard for how it’s taught. Among them are Escape Studios and DoubleJump Academy: two institutions with a shared mission to prepare students for careers in games, animation, and visual effects.
For this case study, 80 Level spoke with Simon Fenton, Deputy Principal at Escape Studios, and Urban Bradeško, CEO and Founder of DoubleJump Academy. Their schools represent two approaches to education: Escape Studios, with over 20 years of experience offering structured, industry-aligned courses, and Double Jump Academy, a newer initiative focused on bringing active professionals into the classroom to share up-to-date skills and practices.
Degree vs. Bootcamps
Game dev education offers traditional university degrees and vocational bootcamps. Universities in the UK, like London South Bank University and Manchester Metropolitan University, provide comprehensive degrees with significant independent and project-based work, focused on creating publishable games. Bootcamps offer a faster, more affordable alternative (12-20 weeks, ~$11,874 vs. 4 years, >$163,140 for universities), leading to quicker workforce entry and higher starting salaries ($70,698 vs. $59,124).
Urban Bradeško, CEO & Founder at DoubleJump Academy:
The majority of the lectures are pre-recorded with all of our instructors available if you need them in Discord. Courses range from Unreal Engine to Houdini. We're trying to do some Blender workshops now and Cinema 4D workshops. We teach a wide range of things. The thing is when we started double jump we started with advanced workshops. So it was more catered towards experienced artists.
And then over time we also did introductionary workshops. Then people can take those workshops and once they are good they can take the more advanced workshops. So there's like a ladder system. So start with the intro workshop and then once you have the fundamentals you can then pick between the more advanced workshops.
While bootcamps, courses and workshops offer quick entry into the job market, their condensed nature often means a limited scope of learning, skipping crucial computer science fundamentals like algorithms and data structures. This can make it significantly harder to secure employment compared to a university degree, highlighting a trade-off between speed and comprehensive, recognized foundational knowledge.
Urban Bradeško, CEO & Founder at DoubleJump Academy:
I mean, it's always getting better. When I started there was pretty much nothing. Right now the internet became almost like an unlimited library of knowledge and people who knew how to navigate it came out on the winning side. Now it's even more available. You go to LinkedIn and you see people: you see recruiters, you see artists, you go on Instagram. You can talk to anyone now if you're willing to learn, people will help you.
There's a lot of schools as well, a lot of brick and mortar schools that are teaching this, a lot of online schools like ours, everybody has different kind of instructors, different levels.
Business-Led Growth
Game development education in the UK is characterized by its close ties to the industry. For instance, organizations like TIGA (The Independent Games Developers Association) have established an accreditation system for university degrees. This system ensures that curricula meet industry demands and that graduates are well-prepared for professional positions. While this system has contributed to a workforce with a high percentage of degree-level qualifications, a TIGA report has highlighted persistent recruitment challenges for key technical roles.
Simon Fenton, Deputy Principal at Escape Studios:
The big difference with Escape Studios is our deep industry connection. In 2024, our student Game Art projects were voted number one in the world by The Rookies for immersive entertainment. Part of our success in the developemnt of our graduate outcomes is the input from industry. Many universities claim to be industry-linked, but we truly are. We design focused, industry-led courses. For example, our game art course was built with input from many studios to ensure graduates — our "escapees" — have sustainable, adaptable careers.
The industry's success is closely tied to the private sector's direct investment and leadership rather than to government programs. Trade bodies like the UK Interactive Entertainment Association (Ukie) and TIGA function as powerful advocates for business interests and have a direct hand in shaping the talent.
Investment And Innovation
The government's role is often limited to providing strategic, but comparatively small, injections of capital. For example, a UK government report from 2024 detailed that the total investment in the UK Games Fund (UKGF) was approximately £13.4 million between 2022 and 2025. In contrast, private sector investment, particularly through mergers and acquisitions, operates on a much larger scale. For instance, a single bid for a UK-based company was valued at £2.1 billion in 2024.
Simon Fenton, Deputy Principal at Escape Studios:
Apprenticeships exist in theory, but they're extremely hard to implement due to heavy regulation. As a result, we don't see many games-focused apprenticeships from companies or universities. It's just too difficult for both sides to commit.
Over time, we saw a shift where polytechnics, which were more technical, all became universities. That's led to a tension between academic demands and the practical skills needed in fields like games. Successive governments haven't seriously embraced the games industry in education, despite some positive changes like tax breaks.
- Industry-Led Education: The business community has been proactive in addressing its own skills needs. TIGA's university accreditation system is a prime example of this, as it is a business-led initiative designed to ensure graduates have industry-relevant skills. However, even with this system, reports have consistently highlighted a persistent skills gap.
- Government's Role: A Supportive, Not a Primary, Factor: Programs like the Video Games Expenditure Credit (VGEC) provide significant tax relief, but their primary function is to make the UK an attractive business location, not to fund development from scratch. The success of these schemes is measured by how much they encourage private enterprise to invest more, and they do not replace the need for business-led investment.
Parents' Perceptions and Shifting Attitudes
Parents' perceptions of game development as a career have evolved, moving from skepticism to increasing acceptance. While concerns about gaming as a distraction persist, highlighted in academic studies on parental views, the economic reality of the industry has shifted this view. GameIndustry.biz reports the UK's video games sector's value at £7.63 billion in 2024, a figure that helps legitimize it as a high-tech profession with stable career prospects.
Simon Fenton, Deputy Principal at Escape Studios:
Parents often don't understand what the games industry really is. I see a lot of concern when they visit: "Is my daughter, is my son doing the right thing here? Is there a career?"
The irony is that, for several years, the games industry has been "bigger than music and film combined," yet it still doesn't get the recognition it deserves. Film is seen as glamorous, while games get a bad reputation.
That perception misses the real value of games: they offer educational benefits, foster communities, and promote socialization. Unfortunately, games are still misrepresented in the media. I hope that as more successful titles like The Last of Us or Fallout gain mainstream attention, public perception will finally shift.
Strategic Recommendations for UK Policymakers and Educators
To secure the long-term future of the UK's game development industry, a coordinated, multi-level strategic response is needed.
Formalized Collaboration: An "Industrial Secondments Programme (ISP)" should be established to combat the technological lag in educational institutions. Proposed by TIGA, this program would enable games lecturers to spend up to 12 months in games development studios.
Incentivizing Creativity: The introduction of a "Digital Creativity GCSE" would provide a structured academic pathway connecting students' passion for gaming with creation skills from a young age. By embedding foundational game design and programming into the secondary school curriculum, this initiative would help rebuild the talent pipeline and address a critical skills gap before students enter further education.
Legitimizing Vocational Pathways: Transforming the Apprenticeship Levy into a "general training levy" would allow employers to fund diverse, high-quality programs like bootcamps, which are faster and more affordable than traditional degrees, leading to quicker workforce entry. This legitimizes alternative pathways, diversifying and expanding the talent pool to meet industry demands.
Info: The Apprenticeship Levy is a UK government tax on employers with an annual pay bill exceeding £3 million. These companies are required to pay a levy of 0.5% of their total payroll into a digital account. The funds in this account can then be used to pay for apprenticeship training and assessment costs for their employees.