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New Business interviews David Darling CBE, legendary global game developer

If you know your computer gaming history, you should be aware of the legacy created by game developers David Darling and his brother Richard.

A legacy that began 40 years ago, around the time that Pacman was born. A game developer back then had a 1 MB computer or console to write for, so playability was everything and still is.

David Darling's experience and enthusiasm for the gaming world has not been lost to us, as founder and CEO of Kwalee, an expanding highly successful game developing empire, he employs nearly 400 staff globally that create games played by billions.

This is his story.

What were the influences that drove you and your brother to learn coding at such a young age and what exactly were you coding ?

My brother Richard and I were driven to learn coding at a young age due to a combination of factors. Firstly, our fascination with electronics was instilled by our Grandad, an electronics engineer who designed some of the very first colour televisions in Australia. He taught us how to build radios and various electronic gadgets. By the time we were 10 or 11, we had already constructed a multitude of devices, laying the foundation for our technical interests. Another key influence would be our love for gaming, where we would spend hours in the local arcades playing classics like Space Invaders, Galaxian and Asteroids.

Our childhood consisted of frequent moves across the globe, to countries like England, Netherlands, Australia and Canada; this also played a vital role, as when we moved to Canada at the age of 11, our maths teacher introduced computer programming, which was a transformative moment. Back when coding education was rare, this opportunity ignited our interest in the field. In order to practise what we had learnt, we used a school computer room with the help of a friendly janitor, coding long into the night. However, the clunky school computer posed limitations for game development, and it wasn't until around 1977 that our father's purchase of a Commodore PET computer for his business enabled us to write our first game. It was a text adventure set in the fantasy world of Dungeons and Dragons, marking the beginning of our game development journey.

Was gaming always the ultimate aim when you were learning to code?

Gaming wasn't the aim when I began learning to code. My passion for technology was rooted within physics and electronics, learned from an early age. In the 1970s, when arcades were first around, games like Space Invaders, Pac-Man, and Galaxian were sources of enjoyment and recreation, not career ambitions. And it was only later, as our coding skills matured, that the idea of selling our games entered the picture, and the transition towards gaming as a career aspiration grew as we wanted to share our games with a wider audience.
When did you realise that what you were doing could be monetised?

For the first year or so we were learning to make games. My brother Richard and friend Mike started a company called Darbert Computers and when I was 16, I started a company called Galactic Software Ltd., with my brother. We had always enjoyed programming games, but then we realised we could sell them as well. To make this happen we invested in a machine code monitor cartridge for our VIC-20 computer. This allowed us to write machine code games, offering smoother graphics and faster code execution. The VIC-20, an 8-bit home computer from Commodore, provided the platform we needed to take our coding skills to the next level. We set our sights on creating conversions of classic arcade games like Galaxian and Pac-Man.

We would then save up our pocket money to create and put ads in the local magazines and papers to advertise, such as the ‘Popular Computing Weekly.'
Do you remember the first game the two of you created that made money? and the console or PC it was written for?

We began by creating games that we would put onto tape, such as Neutron Zapper that I designed and 3D Maze by Richard.

The game that my brother created however that started making big money was BMX Racers. BMX Racers was our debut when we were in partnership with Mastertronic, this game achieved remarkable success, selling a quarter of a million copies and bringing in approximately £100,000. With this success, and other hits we had with Mastertronic we decided to publish our own games, and the earnings from our partnerships with publishers paved the way for the founding of Codemasters in 1986, marking the beginning of a new chapter in our careers.
Given the absence of social media when Codemasters was founded, how did you become so well known ?

When we launched Codemasters, the world of game advertising was very different from the social media-driven world we see today. Without the tools of social media and influencers to promote our games, we had to rely on a combination of innovative strategies to make our mark.

To enhance our presence in the public eye, we engaged the services of the accomplished PR specialist, Lynne Franks. Lynne Franks is a British PR and Communications expert who is often credited with helping to shape the modern fashion and beauty PR industry in the UK. She established her own PR firm, Lynne Franks PR (LFPR), in the 1970s, which quickly rose to prominence and represented many top brands and celebrities, including U2. Interestingly, it's believed that the character Edina Monsoon in the popular British comedy series "Absolutely Fabulous" (often abbreviated as "Ab Fab"), created by Jennifer Saunders, was loosely based on Lynne Franks. The show humorously depicts the world of fashion and PR in London. Using her expertise, we presented our story to her, two young teenagers starting up a business in the gaming realm, and it immediately caught her interest. She secured us coverage in national newspapers, television programs and various media outlets. For a considerable time, Lynne Franks created a successful marketing campaign that raised our business profile.

We also retained the services of individuals in the field, such as John Baxter and the renowned Bruce Everiss. Also, my father's involvement in the business exposed us to the significance of public relations alongside our primary focus on game development.
Favourite game you and Richard created or published on behalf of others?

Among the numerous successful games created at Codemasters, my personal favourite has to be Micro Machines for the Nintendo Entertainment System. We reached the number one position in 27 countries, and the multiplayer feature resonated well with players. We also took an innovative step by advertising it on television, which contributed to its popularity. Micro Machines became a cult classic, creating a lasting legacy. I must also credit Andrew Graham, Jonathon Menzies, Stuart Graham, Paul Perrott, Matt Gray and the rest of the team for their invaluable contributions to this project.
In 2007 Codemasters was sold - welcome holiday or planning time for a future project?

In 2007, my brother and I made the difficult decision to sell Codemasters after 21 years in the business. However, with the ending of our involvement in the company came the opportunity to travel, so for a couple of years following the sale, I travelled abroad, scuba dived, and went go-kart racing, enjoying the freedom that this space afforded.

However, I soon came to realise that this alone was not enough to satisfy my aspirations. I wanted a fresh objective and a challenge again, and it was then that my passion for game development came back. So in 2011, I took a bold step and set up a new company named Kwalee, dedicating it to the creation of games for mobile phones.
Given your massive experience in video gaming when you founded Kwalee in 2011, I can't see it as a typical start-up. What did the company look like when you opened for business year one?

When I founded Kwalee in 2011, it was the beginning of a new journey in the world of mobile games, and as we opened for business in April 2012, together with project manager Richard Trinder, we embarked on this journey by securing an office space in Leamington Spa. Our team grew with the recruitment of Nick Verigakis, a talented Greek programmer. It was here I asked him to create a game for the iPhone. We began with Gobang Social, which created the foundation of our vision for multiplayer games.

Over the years, our dedication and commitment to producing high-quality, entertaining games led to huge growth in the size of the team at Kwalee. By 2020, we had expanded significantly to 88 talented individuals. The company continued to flourish, and in 2023, we reached a milestone of over 380 team members.

Where did you see Kwalee's niche in the video gaming industry?

Kwalee doesn't position itself within a niche. Our core mission is "making the most fun games for the world's players". We do not produce games to put them in a drawer to forget about them, we want to create great games and distribute them to large audiences of players around the world

While our initial success was in the Hyper Casual gaming sector, we have expanded into various realms, including Casual, Hybrid Casual, and PC Console. One of our notable recent releases, Wildmender, has received ‘Very Positive' reviews on Steam and is also available on Xbox and Playstation.

Does Kwalee both create and publish games written by other developers?

Yes, at Kwalee, our flexible approach means we develop in-house and publish games, including Hyper Casual, Hybrid Casual, and Casual mobile games, as well as video games for PC and Consoles. Our extensive experience spans the realm of game development, making us a valuable partner for ambitious game developers looking to launch successful and profitable games.

We encourage creativity within our own company too, in 2017 we launched ‘Creative Wednesdays'. This allows anyone in our company, regardless of their position, to pitch game ideas to the entire team. With the support of their peers, these ideas can be transformed into fully-fledged game development projects. It's a system that has proven highly successful and rewarding, giving our team the freedom to explore their creative potential. Thanks to this idea, one of our most popular games, Draw it, was imagined by a member of our Kwalee team, with over 123 million downloads, continuing to rise daily.
Hitting 1 billion downloads of Kwalee games earlier this year must have been so satisfying, care to wow us with some raw stats behind this amazing achievement?

Hitting the milestone of 1 billion downloads of Kwalee mobile games was an incredibly satisfying achievement for our team. There are many games that contributed to this success.

For example, 2018 saw a total of 61.5 million downloads over the course of the year. Key titles that contributed to this early success included Looper! with 21 million downloads, Go Fish! with 12 million, and PLANK! with 10.5 million.

Fast forward to 2022, when Teacher Simulator gained 22.9 million downloads and Airport Security skyrocketed with a remarkable 62 million downloads. However, our star performer remains Draw it, boasting over 123 million downloads to date and still growing. At one point, it was also the #1 app in several countries, including the USA, UK, Australia, and Canada.

Is this entirely out of the UK or does Kwalee sell and/or have developer teams abroad?

Kwalee is not confined to the UK, we have a global presence with teams in different parts of the world. Our headquarters are in Leamington Spa, UK, but we've extended our reach beyond. We have a strong development team in India, which has been important in our game production. In addition, our presence extends to Paris, Beijing and Lisbon, where we have dedicated teams contributing to our projects.

Finally where do you see your industry sector and Kwalee, going from here?

Looking ahead in the games industry and for Kwalee, the future appears incredibly promising. Our mission is ‘making the most fun games for the world's players' because I believe that delivering for the player is fundamental to what we do, even as trends come and go. At Kwalee, we're not just a games company, but also a technology company, and we're investing in research, development and new technologies to help us make incredible games. We've gone all-in on Artificial Intelligence - seeing it as a tool to augment the skills of our teams rather than anything that can replace the human mind. As a company, we're committed to staying at the forefront of these advancements, and we constantly seek to learn and adapt, embracing new technologies and exploring innovative ways to make fun games.

Timeline

1982 The Darling brothers started coding for games and created Galactic Software

1986 At age 19 David founded Codemasters with brother Richard - it became one of the most successful video game development companies in the UK and released BMX Simulator, their first title.

1987 Dizzy the video game was released

1991 Micro Machines was released

1997 TOCA Touring Car Championship was released

1998 Colin McRae Rally was released

2007 The Darlings sell their Codemasters stake to Balderton Capital

2008 Both Darling brothers awarded CBE for services to the computer games industry

2011 David Darling founded Kwalee

2012 Kwalee launches its first game Flip The Cats

2016 Kwalee launch PlayPhoto social game

2018 Go Fish! was Kwalee's first number 1 hit game

2019 Kwalee announces that it will start to publish games from third-party developer

2020 David opens new office in Bengaluru, India