Contrary to the expectations of his younger self Colin Macdonald has avoided getting a “proper job in a bank or telephone company”.

Instead he has spent his entire career working in the computer game industry he loves.

Having been at Channel4 for more than three years creating interactive games based on things such as Made in Chelsea, Hollyoaks and The Snowman the broadcaster has now appointed him head of its new game publishing label, All 4 Games.

The plan is for Mr Macdonald and his growing team, which includes producers and marketers, to work with companies around the UK to help them maximise exposure and revenues from the products they are creating.

Mr Macdonald has certainly come a long way from his beginnings programming games in his Dundee bedroom and producing a magazine about the SAM Coupe computer.

While he acknowledges it is some time since he has written a line of code his passion for games and technology appears unabated.

He said: “Games is quite an aspirational industry. In my case I grew up with this pipedream of I would love to work in games.

“I knew it wasn’t realistic and I would end up having to get a job at a bank or phone company. That was my genuine expectation.

“When it started to become a possibility, albeit I made it happen myself, it was that dream come true.”

Sitting in Channel4’s open plan Glasgow office in the centre of the city he outlines what he believes is a massive opportunity to improve the chances of more hit games coming from the UK. 

The Herald:

So is the Hollyoaks game any good? We asked a seasoned gamer to test it out (Images courtesy of Channel4.com) 

He said: “When the app store first came about people were making little games and uploading them. There weren’t that many other people doing it so a lot of developers were having a bit of success.

“These days there are a million and a half apps on the app store. The big guys, Candy Crush and Clash of Clans, are spending literally millions of dollars every day and dominating the charts.

“All these little indys are releasing amazing games but just getting drowned and seeing no users as a result.”

The public service broadcaster is confident it can help to bridge the gap that exists.

Mr Macdonald said: “Channel4 wants to be a curator and commissioner of content on screens. TV is part of that, games is part of that.

“We do a Made in Chelsea game which the fans love. Half of the people who watch the show have downloaded and played the game.

“Channel4 is seeing this converging of content and devices.”

Mr Macdonald admits it is not always easy to know exactly how an audience will react to a game but points out it is very much a global marketplace.

He cites the example of The Snowman game being downloaded in China around one million times.

“We don’t know why. The show is not on TV there and they don’t know the brand.

“But something about the game, because it was a beautiful game, just resonates.”

Mr Macdonald and his team are currently on a series of roadshows around the UK to meet developers to let them know what All 4 Games can do.

In the first instance it will be able to provide financial backing for studios to develop Channel4 related games.

Then outside of that it will give companies developing their own games access to its team of experts but allow the firms to retain their intellectual property.

Mr Macdonald believes that along with helping businesses to monetise their products and provide advice on how to retain players it can offer a novel marketing approach.

That could include offering up trailers for games to a Channel4 television audience or highlighting new launches to existing players already using the broadcaster’s games.

Mr Macdonald said: “We want to be collaborative and figure out ways to make things work.

“You can have the greatest game in the world but if no-one plays it then you don’t have a business.

“That launch it and they will come mentality just doesn’t work anymore.”

Interestingly he also believes there is scope to leverage Channel4’s advertising might and transfer some of it into the gaming arena.

He said: “Because Channel4 has a sales team which sells a billion pounds of advertising to fund itself each year why not apply that to games?

“[For example] BMW are looking to invest in some high quality digital content, we can say there is an Edinburgh developer with a brilliant driving game.

"We are not going to be able to do it with every game but the fact we have these sorts of relationships you can at least have the conversation and try to make it happen sometimes.

The Herald:

That is a new revenue stream that most developers can’t even think about as they just don’t know how to speak to the brands.”

A perceived lack of sales and corporate talent is one area Mr Macdonald believes the Scottish industry could improve.

While he continues to see passionate and talented developers coming through he is adamant improvement can be made on the commercial side.

He said: “We make amazing games but I don’t think we are ambitious enough or entrepreneurial enough or commercial enough. As developers we want to make amazing games and will just beaver away without sticking our heads up and thinking how could I do another deal around this? How can I market this better?

“You can make the best game in the world but if it doesn’t sell anything then you are not in business to make the second game.

“Scotland is a little short on very experienced people at the top of their game in terms of the people who have 10, 15, 20 years under their belt and can operate at executive level.”

Mr Macdonald is someone who has seen the effects of a business failing at first hand. He spent around a decade at Realtime Worlds initially as one of the co-founders and was still there as it built to a peak of around 300 people in Scotland before falling into insolvency.

He said: “It is easy for the horrible end to sour the memories but we did amazing things for nine of those 10 years. Crackdown won a couple of Baftas [and] people still frequently cite it as one of their favourite games ever which is amazing to hear.

“We raised a lot of money on an ambitious plan to get into the online gaming market that ultimately didn’t work. The fact we tried I’m really proud of.

“I would have a much harder time living with the regret knowing that we might have tried but decided not to. We failed but at least we tried.”

And Mr Macdonald believes most of those involved with RTW have gone on to found their own, albeit smaller, studios or secure employment both at home and abroad.

Companies are also continuing to look to innovate in new technologies such as virtual reality or bring gaming to existing platforms such as Apple TV.

On the latter Mr Macdonald said: “You can relatively easily take a mobile app and have it running on that.

“We are looking at that as a team going that’s not technically mobile but why wouldn’t we be looking at that?

“Everything is changing so much faster than it has ever changed before, you just have to be flexible enough to keep taking advantage of the opportunities.”

That should mean there is little fear of having to get a proper job any time soon.

Mr Macdonald added: “There came a point when you are working for or running big organisations and you are doing well financially and critically and everything and you and people around you start to go ‘maybe this is the proper job’.

“I’m now about half way through my working life and I can’t do anything else, this is it.”

 

Curriculum Vitae 

  • Colin Macdonald started making computer games in his bedroom in Dundee after saving up for two years to get a SAM Coupe computer.
  • Soon he was publishing a magazine and giving away games sent to him by fellow enthusiasts. That led to him forming a publishing company which released between 40 and 50 games, including some ports of classics such as Lemmings, for the SAM Coupe format.
  • He also managed to fit in a general computing degree at what is now Abertay University.
  • He wound down his game publishing firm in 1997 and joined the DMA Design studio in Dundee which was then working on a game called Grand Theft Auto.
  • Mr Macdonald stayed at DMA through to its sale to Rockstar in 1999 before leaving to be one of the co-founders of Realtime Worlds.
  • That studio racked up critical acclaim and BAFTA wins over the next decade but ran out of money as it made a bid to move into the online multiplayer gaming arena.
  • Mr Macdonald joined Channel4 in December 2011 as its first games commissioning editor and now heads its publishing label All 4 Games.