Education
GDC 2019: Danny Bilson named new director of USC Games program
Succeeds award-winning game designer Tracy Fullerton who oversaw the program from 2014 to 2018
Jobs
Former Atari COO Todd Shallbetter goes medical with Level Ex
Shallbetter will help the surgical training company's drive into VR and AR technologies
Let It Go
Disney collaborates with Kuato Studios for new storytelling app Disney Story Realms
The genie is out of the bottle
Learn
Indian learning platform Byju’s buys out US games firm Osmo for $120 million
Osmo will help the online education firm craft learning content for younger students
Unity
Unity Playground aims to open game development up to kids
Scriptless asset suite seeks to provide a stepping stone for young users looking to get into the engine
Teach
Supercell clashes games skill shortage with free new coding school
Finnish developer puts significant funding behind the free Helsinki program
Masterclass
“Games are for everyone:” Space Ape on breaking misconceptions and helping people find their way into the industry
“Our studio is overflowing with knowledge, I think it would be selfish not to share it”
Acquisition News
Chinese tutoring services provider snaps up chidren's apps developer Dr. Panda
Companies to work on "new models for future education"
R&d
Scotland set for $11.6m games research and development centre
Students also stand to benefit with work experience through InGame partnership
Ban
France bans mobile phones during school
Phones, tablets and smart-watches banned during school hours for under-15 students
Labo
Nintendo launches Interactive Labo Workshops across America
DIY sessions for kids will run in ten cities across the country
Field Trip
Indian learning platform Quizizz raises over $3 million in funding
Homework gamification app has amassed over 10 million active users
Tapped Up
TinyTap raises $5 million to fund accessible learning platform
The platform currently has over 150,000 educational games, digital books and interactive activities
Jobs News
Lightneer names new CEO, cancels Big Bang Legends
Co-founder Lauri Jarvilehto steps into chairman role
Not Bad
Osmo surpasses one million educational AR game sales on iPad
Developer wants to scale up its operations
Education
Chinese developer NetDragon buys online learning community Edmodo for $138 million
Deal paid via a combination of cash and shares of an affiliated education company
Partners In Education
Tencent partners with Age of Learning to bring ABCmouse English curriculum to China
Consists of more than 5,000 learning activities, including games, puzzles and books
Skills Development
Google puts up 15,000 online scholarships for new and experienced African developers
10,000 of the scholarships will go to beginners while 5,000 will go to those with over one-year of experience
Going Ape
Space Ape teams up with London universities for Varsity: Masterclass programme in March
UK developer to host a series of seminars in March in association with Universtiy College London and the University of Greenwich
Level Up
Video games graduates have more than doubled in the UK over the past five years
Gamer grads in fine company after 116 per cent increase over the last five years
Ultra Educational
New educational mobile games studio Ultra Creative Games sets up shop in Vancouver
Headed up by former IGG senior game designer Matthew Tomporowski
Get Certified
Unity partners with testing firm Pearson VUE to roll out Unity Certification tests globally
5,000 test centres in 180 countries now have access to Unity Certification tests
The Next Generation
Code.org raises $12 million to provide more computer science education for children
22 million users of its platform, 10 million of which are girls
Budget 2017
UK government to provide an additional £1 million to UK Games Fund
Budget 2017 adds further support for computer science and maths education too
#fundthebgi
UK games industry campaign launches for creation of national agency British Games Institute
Petition and social media push begins for its formation
Tiga Accreditation
TIGA awards 17 game development courses around the UK its University Accreditation
Recognising courses that will actually get graudates jobs in the industry
Nfts Scotland
National Film and Television School to open new location in Scotland in January 2018
It offers game design courses too
Talent Development
How the Outplay Academy has created a centralised hub for learning at the studio
Outplay's Emma Purvey discusses the studio's new initiative to educate staff and the wider games industry
Explosive Start
Lightneer secures $5 million seed funding round to prep for launch of Big Bang Legends
Invisible-learning game now due to launch in January 2018
Financing Education
Games learning platform Kahoot raises extra $10 million in Series A funding round
Mobile app for teachers and students to launch during the new school year
Master Plan
British Games Institute unveils proposals for £8 million a year programme on funding, culture and skills
Could go up to £12 million after three years
Acquisition Of Dragons
Chinese developer NetDragon buys LA educational games studio JumpStart
Plans to utilise IP and partnership with Dreamworks
Education Funds
Supercell grants over $280,000 to Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture
Studio wants to turn Finland into a "Hollywood for gaming"
Children Are The Future
British eSports Association partners with Wesminster City Council to create first after-school eSports training club
Teaching kids important life skills through the power of competitive video games
Accessible Programming
Raspberry Pi merges with CoderDojo to get more children coding
Aims to quadruple number of CoderDojo clubs around the world to 5,000 by the end of 2020
Game Dev Education
YoYo Games aims to make development more accessible with GameMaker 2 education edition
Free trial version available for schools and students
Finnish Games Jobs
Finland's games industry growth is slowing - but a new generation of students could help boost it once again
Developers offer their thoughts on how to fix the country's internal recruitment woes
Next-gen Education
Zynga partners with University of Southern California to support diversity and inclusive game production
Class for social mobile game design innovation will commence in autumn 2017
Critical Training
Critical Force wants to fix Finland's game dev shortage with new academy
20 students at Kajaani University will get specialist coaching and feedback
Revolution Not Evolution
Unity's John Riccitiello: The world would be a better place if there were more creators
The tech firm's CEO discusses China, artists, designers and education
Educational Ar
Kingston University invests $66,000 in new educational AR and VR facility
Hoping to develop skills from students across multiple disciplines
Establishing Priorities
Kuato Studios on learnifying gaming and not gamifying learning
Creative Director Kris Turvey explains the game-first approach
That'll Teach Them
Outplay Entertainment launches learning and development hub Outplay Academy
Teaching all aspects of the company in a centralised resource pool
Funding Uk Games
UK games industry leaders back call for new British Games Institute
Organisation would support funding, culture and education
Dun-deal
Abertay University partners with Perfect World to promote game dev education in China
Sets up a five month course to prepare students for a full degree
Learning Bonanza
Black Friday: Udemy is offering cut price deals on game development courses starting at £12
Sales end at midnight on Friday, November 25th
Unity Certification Partners
Unity gives greenlight to external training providers to offer Unity Certification Exams
11 partners already signed up
Educating Unity
Free Unity Licence Grant programme now available to all educators
Primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities can now use game engine in lessons
N-app-oli
Apple opens App Development Centre in Naples' oldest university
Free iPhone, iPad, and MacBook for all students on the free nine month course
Powering Ideas
Why King is entering the game engine space with Defold and how it will help other devs launch their games
Evangelist Oleg Pridiuk explains all