Team17 head names Nordic area "a hotbed of talent"

Speaking at the Nordic Game event in Malmö, Sweden, today, Team17 studio boss Martyn Brown has endorsed development resources in Scandinavia and detailed how the company is using the region to meet increasing demand for digital download titles.

"It's massively important," said Brown, speaking of the Nordic area.

"It's a hotbed of talent. Always has been, always will be. Team17's involvement in the region goes back 20 years, right back to the demo scene. It's an area close to our heart. They're people we understand."

In Sweden, Team17 outsources to a group composed of ex-Team17 members for smaller projects.

"We've always looked to get satellites set up over here," said Brown. "Team17 Sweden's been a dream for a number of years. Everyone would like to see it, but the problem is how to manage it from a Team17 infrastructure point of view."

The problem of creating sizeable concerns abroad has seemingly been breached by an increasing need for digital download titles for services such as Xbox Live Marketplace.

"We outsource to key groups, key talent, particularly on digital download stuff, where we're at arm's length from the publisher anyway," said Brown. "We haven't got heavy milestones to deal with and that is something we can manage."

Team17's involvement in Scandinavia isn't restricted to Sweden.

"We're working with a team in Finland that's pretty much doing its own thing and we're handling the business relations management, overseeing things and helping them where we can, basically," said Brown. "I hate using the term 'quasi-publishing,' but it really is like that, and small developers will find us a hell of a lot easier to get on with than publishers."

Team17's current development projects are currently under wraps.