Scottish games publisher Outplay Entertainment is to establish new offices and up to 150 high value jobs in Dundee, First Minister Alex Salmond announced today.

Established in 2010 by brothers Douglas and Richard Hare, Outplay Entertainment Inc is a new business that specialises in publishing games for use on mobile devices, social networks and other e-distribution platforms.

Both brothers have over 25 years of experience in the videogames industry. Having started their professional careers in the mid 80s, they moved to Orange County, California in the 90s to work at Virgin Interactive. With colleague and friend Gary Priest, they left Virgin to found their first development studio The Collective in 1977,  developing numerous high-profile titles.

The Collective merged with Backbone Entertainment in 2005 to form Foundation 9 Entertainment. With Douglas and Richard as senior management, Foundation 9 went on to secure a significant investment from a large Private Equity company in 2006 to become one of the world's largest independent developers with over 800 staff  in 11 studios on three continents.

The Hare brothers’ decision to return to Scotland to launch and grow Outplay Entertainment was based on Dundee’s competitiveness for games development and skilled workforce. create up to 150 full time equivalent, high value posts. The company will receive £2.25m in Regional Selective Assistance support from Scottish Enterprise.

Scottish Development International (SDI) has worked closely, providing non-financial support, to secure this inward investment.

Director of Business Development Paul Durrant said: “Outplay Entertainment’s decision to choose Dundee to launch this exciting new social and mobile gaming company is a massive boost for the local computer games industry.
 
“This is a vote of confidence in the international excellence of the Dundee computer games sector, and in the exceptional graduate talent produced at Abertay University. Indeed, our record in producing highly skilled staff to step straight into industry was cited as a major factor in the decision to pick Dundee as the company’s base.”

 “The Outplay jobs announcement comes shortly after the Livingstone-Hope Review and the Scottish Affairs Committee report into the industry both backed Abertay as the model for how this multi-billion pound industry of the future can be best nurtured.
 
“As the UK Centre for Excellence in Computer Games Education, we have had several meetings with Outplay ahead of today’s great news and will continue to work closely with the management team as they establish this exciting new business.
 
“Today is a great day for computer games in Dundee, and we once again extend an open invitation to games companies based across the world to visit the city, visit Abertay and learn why they too should be setting up [outsourcing] studios in the City of Discovery.”