Let Green Man Gaming (GMG) entertain you all year long with its expansive library of digital video games that open up thrilling journeys of discovery for seasoned players through to first-timers.
The versatile UK business is now a leading e-commerce site renowned for its great value deals for computers and consoles with customers worldwide. But is also far much more.
A champion of established and emerging developers and studios, GMG plays a crucial role bringing ideas and talent to a mass market with services from publishing and investment to global distribution to marketing.
Enhancing these is a social channel where customers connect, manage games, and shout about their achievements while providing data for GMG about what is working well now and what could in future.
Although still not recognised for the star performer it is, the UK’s video games market overall is worth £7 billion with 35 million players and the sixth largest globally where customer numbers are projected to reach 2.7 billion this decade.
Being at the forefront of that creative growth GMG, which launched in 2009, generated £62m in net revenues last year. Its team now numbers 100 staff and it works with 2,000 publishing partners as well as investing in its own games.
“There’s a high level of dynamism in the industry here in the UK, we collaborate with 150 UK studios. We’re successful because we adapt to industry trends, utilise data effectively and expand offerings to meet the diverse needs of gamers worldwide,” declares founder owner Paul Sulyok, a tech entrepreneur who served in the military with tours of duty in Northern Ireland and Bosnia.
Holding multiple patents in the US and Europe, partnerships include with Pewter Games in Dublin that resulted in the Filthy Animals: Heist Simulator.
“Despite part of the game being developed in Ukraine at the start of the war, the project succeeded,” says Sulyok. “Model Builder from Moonlit Studios in Poland proved to be the perfect hobby game during lockdown and we are now developing the next direction for it.”
Preferring an organic growth strategy, but open to offers and M&As, the company’s “plucky, anti-hero start-up Brit” stance with a bottom-up strategy has paid off, Sulyok explains.
“We saw a gap for growth in the general industry model. We start with the customer, understand what they want, then take service to the next level and invest. We have a proactive entrepreneurial approach and have a team handling content and advising on IP ownership.
“Now the industry is changing, a proportion of the audience are older now and have less time. Games types need to reflect that and interactive experience is increasingly popular, for example simulation such as learning to fly a plane. AI is not a substitute for creating games. For our staff I stress enjoyment, all of them love the industry and it’s important they make the most of that. Leadership is about making this possible”
So for GMG and the industry the sky’s the limit or rather could be if the UK upped its game on the investment front with more support for entrepreneurs and bigger tax incentives.
“We need to mend our broken funding cycle. Fixing that could help us exploit the massive potential in countries such as China,” says Sulyok. “Video games perfectly embody the British psyche – technical and engineering expertise combined with artistic creativity. www.greenmangaming.com
GMG’s best games buys: Alaskan Road Truckers, the sci-fi tactical Marauders and action role play Starfield.
