Tag Games' new global sales head Graham Chambers talks Dundee's development distinction

Former Amazon UK games and software head Graham Chambers' decision to join Dundee-based studio Tag Games come at an interesting time.

Just weeks ago, a report published by Creative Scotland claimed the nation's games industry employed just 300 people across the entire country, contributing nothing to the economy in the process.

It was immediately branded as hopefully inaccurate by many, with the thriving development scene in Tag's Dundee cited as a notable counter point.

So, just how important is Tag to Dundee and Scotland as a whole? And what lies ahead for the studio? We caught up with the newly appointed global head of sales for answers.

I particularly liked the fact that Tag had built its own game engine and wasn't afraid to make investment into R&D to ensure it is well placed to accelerate the growth of the business. Tag is working on some interesting projects and have ambitious plans for the future.

In addition, Tag has a team of very talented individuals within the business who are all passionate about making high quality games and I felt that with my experience I could add real value to the business and help grow it considerably.

Well I think the experience and skills are definitely useful, and yes I do think they are directly transferable.

At Tag we want to grow the studio and grow the business - both own IP and partnership work - and to do this we need to work with both new and existing clients.

In my previous roles I've been involved in having to present the face of the business and I've been directly responsible for growing the businesses. Ultimately the principles behind running a successful business are the same.

Absolutely.

Over the last couple of years we have seen more and more traditional boxed games publishers trying to figure out how they can get involved in the mobile space.

They have seen a reducing sales number for boxed products, both for home console and for handheld devices and they understand that many consumers are now directly choosing that they want to consume their games on mobile devices.

You will see all traditional games publishers continue trying to figure out their mobile strategy and I'm sure you'll see more experienced senior personnel moving over into the mobile space.

Yes, it's very important. Over the last few years there have been some casualties in the Scottish development sector and I think that is to be expected in an industry that is evolving.

We have seen changes on a global scale with studio's changing direction and in some cases closing down as the consumers change their gaming habits. In Dundee there are many good studios producing some very high quality product and Tag are at the forefront of this.

You will see some fantastic products being released over the next few months that are currently being developed by Tag Games for our partners.

Well, we need to continue to develop our own IP and turn these products into profitable hit games, and as we all know there isn't a magic formula for this.

However, with the team we have in place and the experience that we have gained on previous projects, the team at Tag we are well placed for this.

In conjunction with this, we need to keep attracting new clients and retaining our existing clients by showing them that we are capable of being a strong dependable partner that can deliver high quality product, on budget and on time.