Come and Make: AAA games that push the boundaries

There's an exciting new AAA game studio that's growing rapidly in Leamington Spa and already picking up awards.

Lighthouse Games is a new development team set-up by Gavin Raeburn, the co-founder and former studio head of Forza Horizon developer Playground Games.

The team is keeping quiet about the game it's looking to build at the moment (it is still early days), but it is working hard on establishing a strong culture so it can create something truly AAA, that lives up to the team’s legacy of creating highly polished and technically ambitious video games. In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz earlier this year, the studio also revealed it's building its own tools and pipelines in order to create something unique and different to what exists in the market today.

And the work it is putting in is already paying off. Just yesterday (September 27th), we revealed that Lighthouse Games is one of the UK's best places to work, winning a badge during one of the most competitive years in Best Places history. It’s a fantastic achievement.

So we caught up with the team to ask them what they feel makes the studio such an exciting place to be even at this early stage.

1. What do you think makes your studio a great place to work?
As a company, we aim to nurture the next generation of game developers. The team is full of encouraging, collaborative people who all live and breathe games. From associates to senior leadership, everyone is eager to support and collaborate with one another. With the wealth of experience the team boasts from many years of working on AAA games from a variety of studios, genres, platforms, we have a team full of people where everyone’s voice is heard, no matter their level in the company. We value every member of our team and their experience and want everyone to participate in creating what it means to be part of Lighthouse Games.

2. What makes the AAA game you're working on an exciting opportunity?
While we aren’t able to discuss the game we are making in more detail -- yet! -- we want to make a game for today’s audiences that push the boundaries of what has come before. Making something that players love is our utmost goal. There’s a real feeling of this in the studio, of people coming together and investing in each other, to raise one another higher to be the best that we can be. Hybrid working, for us, really facilitates this energy. At home, people are able to laser focus on their own projects. In person, we are accelerating discussions and helping form those personal bonds that are so vital for successful teams.

3. Tell us about the people and roles you need to make this project happen?
The most important element we need right now is to build the right culture. We need those who can help us build this, become part of our culture, and embody our three most vital studio attributes:

"The most important element we need right now is to build the right culture"

First there's 'inspiration'. We need people who can look back on what they’ve done before, become inspired by their projects of the past, work on inspiring each other and supporting one another as we grow as a workplace and as a collective.

Next it's 'collaboration'. We want to ensure that any new member of our team feels uplifted and supported as they go through their Lighthouse Games journey and beyond. We want to ensure we are providing opportunities so that our team can feel that they are learning from and supporting one another, too.

And finally, 'vision'. The future. We want to ensure that there are clear goals and objectives in place that are attainable for the team, both individually and for the project’s vision. We want to give people something to be excited about, and we need people who will help us build our vision.

For more on the jobs at Lighthouse Games, plus details on how to apply, click here.