Stranger in a Strange Land: A South African Perspective on the Evolution of British Game Development

Abstract

This research examines what "British game development" means to those working in the modern UK sector. Using 17 semi-structured interviews with students, educators, and industry developers, augmented and analysed through reflexive thematic analysis and analytic autoethnography, the study explores how Britishness is something negotiated through practice rather than a specific national identity. Participants described Britishness less as a stable industrial identity and more as an affective texture, citing British dry humour, ambiguity, post-industrial melancholy, or accents and landscapes that are most strongly expressed regionally. They also highlighted how globalised production, UK co-development work, access barriers, and ongoing layoffs contribute to British labour being technically capable but culturally invisible. The findings argue that cultural national identities in games are most likely to survive through smaller studios and regional collectives. Here craft-focused values and local flavour can be celebrated despite broader structural pressures to create homogenised, commercially successful products.