Channel 4 increases gaming investment

Channel 4 Education has commissioned a range of UK-produced video gaming projects as part of its multi-million pound investment in educational content.

According to Develop, the broadcaster has set aside £4.5m to support console and PC games which incorporate online elements and "don't preach to their audience".

Half of this money will go towards projects being led by UK studios, including Beatnik Games, Zombie Cow and Littleloud.

All games commissioned by the broadcaster will deal with "broad" issues facing teenagers today, and be made available for free via digital channels.

"To reach 14 to 19-year-olds we took all of our investment and moved it online to support television on the web, mobile and games projects," said Channel 4 Education commissioning editor Alice Taylor.

"Our games have to be free at the point of consumption for UK players. The web is really easy, as is PC and Mac download.

"XBLA, PSN and WiiWare are all guarded, gated communities and you have to go through somebody and get permission to a degree. However, our plan with the Zombie Cow game is to get it on the Xbox Live Indie Games channel."

The move has also been buoyed by Channel 4's first online game Bow Street Runner, which was developed by Littleloud and won a BAFTA award last year.

"Channel 4 Education's output in the past couple of years has performed far better than television ever did. It's got a lot of attention and it's got a lot of positive feedback from both teachers and from the industry," said Taylor.

"In the Digital Britain report the stuff that education is doing was noted as being what Channel 4 should do more of."