Expression Games, the hitherto entirely remote developer behind Hell Let Loose Vietnam and co-developer on Star Wars Galactic Racer, has announced the opening of a physical studio in Manchester, in response to what CEO Errol Ismail described as the requirements of both its staff and its co-development clients.
Hell Let Loose: Vietnam has sold a million units since its release in August, the firm said, and Ismail confirmed it had also spent two years on co-development work with Fuse Games on Star Wars Galactic Racer. Expression launched in 2022 following the departure of Ismail and other key figures from Fabrik after it was acquired by Liverpool-based Playstation subsidiary Firesprite, and has been a regular winner at the GamesIndustry.biz Best Places To Work Awards since its inception.
“A physical space was always part of our long-term growth plans,” Ismail tells GamesIndustry.biz, although not at the expense of denying remote work. “The decision to be fully remote predated Expression, it was when I was the studio director of Fabrik. We saw an opportunity to recruit talent all across the UK.”
That was nevertheless paired with the goal of opening a physical office – interrupted by what Ismail describes as the “industry crash at the end of 2023” – to be “a creative hub for our team, a place for them to meet, to be creative, to collaborate. It’s not replacing remote working in a business, it’s to offer talent different ways of working.” The firm will not mandate attendance at the office and will continue its current policy of not having set working hours, leaving it up to staff to decide how to use it. Ismail said the new space “reflects our culture while offering an inspiring environment for those who want to work together in person.”
“We’re responding to what’s happening in the talent market across our business at the moment, which is that our people need more connections, they want more connections, and we need to facilitate that.” Slightly over half of the current team are close enough to access the office, he says.
“Our people need more connections, they want more connections, and we need to facilitate that”
The party spirit of Manchester was also a factor . “It’s a fantastic city to build games in. It was about finding a space where people could come and meet and spend time together, and ultimately to support the lifestyles of our talent as well. The Northern Quarter in Manchester is a fun place. There’s a lot happening there. There’s a lot of creative industry, a lot of creative businesses, and it supports the lifestyles of our team. We don’t have core hours. We have complete flexibility in how people work, and we needed a space that also was part of that.”
Ismail says that the office will also support the firm’s future co-development work. “We need physical infrastructure to work on certain projects with certain partners because we’re hosting data on our site,” he says, so the office is “preparing the studio for this next round or growth and success.”
His intention is that the office will enable the studio to support talent development in partnership with local universities. “We have education relationships with Manchester Metropolitan University, we’ve had a long-term relationship with Bolton in the past, and we’re building more. It’s important for us that we’re supporting education partners to build something significant.”