Game Academy achieves first investment to help video game players play their way to success

Press Release, 30.04.2020

Game players, unite! Your gainful employment is just a sequence of gameplay away!

Game Academy, a new talent tech venture for game players, has been announced as a participant in a prestigious new programme set on transforming opportunities for people in the changing world of work.

Supported by the UK Government’s Department for Education and Nesta, the innovation foundation, Game Academy has won extensive support to pioneer the power of commercial video game play in online adult education.

With Game Academy’s software, all of the problem-solving, communication, agility and supreme skills that players deploy in-game can become valuable to life beyond the console.

An analytics tool translates in-game achievement into real world skills. An online course helps players learn new soft skills for work, using the commercial games that they know and love. Game Academy then helps players find work and new educational opportunities through the currency of their game play.

With the aim of quantifying in-game skills and matching game players with opportunities, the new tech service is perfectly poised to hook players up with their next job interview and help players level up in game and in life.

“Employers are seeking to tackle some of the world’s most challenging problems by hiring people who can help them ‘think outside the box’”, says Game Academy Founder Irina Agafonova. “This support for Game Academy, part of the UK Government’s National Retraining Scheme programme, will help us maximise the life opportunities for players of video games.”

The CareerTech Challenge Fund will enable Game Academy to test and bring its first consumer product to market. The venture’s technology is based upon unique data analysis that correlates game skills with careers. URL: http://gameacademy.co

Notes for Editors:

1. Nesta is an innovation foundation. For Nesta, innovation means turning bold ideas into reality and changing lives for the better. They use their expertise, skills and funding in areas where there are big challenges facing society. Nesta research suggests that more than six million people in the UK are currently employed in occupations that are likely to radically change or entirely disappear by 2030 due to automation, population aging, urbanisation and the rise of the green economy. In the nearer term, the coronavirus crisis has intensified the importance of this problem. Recent warnings suggest that a prolonged lockdown could result in 6.5 million people losing their jobs. Of these workers, nearly 80% do not have a university degree. The solutions being funded through the CareerTech Challenge are designed to support people who will be hit the hardest by an insecure job market over the coming years. www.nesta.org.uk
2. The National Retraining Scheme is a programme overseen by the UK Government, Trades Union Congress and Confederation of British Industry to help adults retrain into better jobs, and be ready for future changes to the economy, including those brought about by automation. The scheme is part of the government’s industrial strategy to improve productivity and build a country that works for everyone. More: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-retraining- scheme/national-retraining-scheme
3. Game Academy is a new technology venture based in London. A graduate of the Zinc VC social impact venture builder programme, Game Academy is a member of UKIE, the UK Interactive Entertainment Association.
4. Further Enquiries: DavidBarrie–david@gameacademy.co(Game Academy, 07775945302) or Liz North — elizabeth.north@nesta.org.uk (Nesta)