North East England offers one of the most skilled, loyal and affordable workforces in the country. We have some of the lowest labour turnover levels in the UK and highly competitive international labour costs.
The costs of hiring a video games designer here are 40% lower than in most European cities, 60% lower than US locations, 30% lower than London and 10% lower than the East or South East of England.
Those savings have helped attract world-renowned companies to the region. Ubisoft Reflections, Coconut Lizard, tombola and Coatsink have development studios in North East England and are all expanding and recruiting new local talent to their teams.
We’re proud of our skilled workforce. Over 32,500 people work in North East England’s ICT sector and we have more than 12,000 people working in the creative industries. Our links with the region’s universities and colleges also mean we have a strong pipeline of burgeoning talent coming out of education and directly into industry.
There are 67,000 Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) students in the region and we have the highest proportion of computer science students in England.
Our five universities and 10 further education colleges offer nearly 100 courses that support the gaming industry, from design and programming to technical development. Our higher education colleges also work collaboratively with private sector companies to deliver bespoke courses to equip students with the skills they need for a career in games development.
