Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Dundee-founded video game companies among best-selling developers over past two decades

The massive GTA series can trace its routes back to Dundee.
The massive GTA series can trace its routes back to Dundee.

New statistics show Dundee-founded companies are among the UK’s most successful video games developers over the last two decades.

Grand Theft Auto (GTA) developer Rockstar North, now based in Edinburgh but born as DMA Design in Dundee in 1984, is the most successful boxed game developer in the country.

Dave Jones, co-creator of the original Grand Theft Auto.

Minecraft producer 4J Studios, still based in the city, came 12th on the list, which was revealed at The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment’s (UKIE) Best Selling Games Awards this week.

The list is based on boxed sales over the past 23 years (from 1995 – 2018).

GTA V, the latest incarnation of the worldwide sensation, is the highest-selling game produced by Rockstar.

Grand Theft Auto, released in 1997, was one of the first ‘sandbox’ games, giving players an open playground in which to explore.

Minecraft, released by Swedish developers Mojang in 2011, was developed for console and handheld use by 4J Studios a year later.

Chris van der Kuyl, left, and Paddy Burns of 4J Studios.

The game, which has been consistently popular worldwide ever since, allows players to build with a variety of different blocks in a 3D procedurally generated world.

The two titles are widely considered among the most played games in the world in recent years.

It comes as the city continues to produce top industry talent, particularly through Abertay University, which is regularly hailed as Europe’s top destination to study computer games.

Gregor White, dean of Abertay University’s School of Design and Informatics said: “Dundee’s influence on gaming is felt right across the industry, with talent produced in the city working at some of the biggest games companies in the world.

“The city itself continues to be at the forefront of video game innovation, something we are pleased to contribute to at Abertay through the InGAME R&D Centre and our games courses, which were recently ranked as best in Europe for the fifth year in a row.”

The top-40 list, compiled by GfK, UKIE, and 30 Years Of Play, does not include digital sales meaning mobile games developers are not included.

Primarily PC-orientated gaming companies are also less likely to make the list as in recent years these have been mostly downloaded.