GlobalScot helps interactive spy camp go global

A police officer who left the force to develop an interactive spy game for children has taken his computer games business worldwide and is now heading for a £5m turnover, thanks to support from Scottish Enterprise, Scottish Development International and an introduction to an influential GlobalScot.

David Goutcher, managing director of Glasgow-based software developer Polybius Games Ltd, was introduced to Jumeirah chief executive Guy Crawford through a series of GlobalScot meetings organised by Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Development International.

Following the initial meeting, Crawford organised to have the game set up in his Jumeriah Beach Hotel, Dubai, and arranged several key meetings to progress the business in the Middle East. He also provided invaluable input for the young company on how to do business in Dubai, by helping Goutcher overcome the cultural differences, working in collaboration with the many different customs and traditions.

As well as this, Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Development International provided assistance to have the game translated into additional languages and facilitated market research visits overseas.

As a result of this package of integrated support, the company is now enjoying worldwide success with major clients including the Jumeirah group, the Hilton, Gleneagles, Center Parcs, MacDonald hotels and the Four Seasons.

The product, ‘Super Spy Camp’, is an online interactive game for children, designed to be played within hotels, cruise ships and holiday parks worldwide. The game issues players with missions which they complete by finding and solving clues in the grounds of the hotel. The stories behind the games are unique and can be tailored to specific venues.

As a result of this success, the company has recently established a new base in Spain and is currently set to make its game available to 6000 hotels, across 86 countries in 26 languages. Winner of the 2009/2010 John Logie Baird Innovation Awards, and the Barclays Small Business Support award, Goutcher has also just signed a book deal with a major publisher and has a possible television deal in the offing.

Goutcher credits the integrated package of support from SE, SDI and the GlobalScot network in helping him develop his business: “SE, SDI and the GlobalScots have been very supportive and have helped us make introductions that we wouldn’t otherwise have made. There are very few groups in the world that can give you direct access to the big players. For example, SDI staff in the US are pro-active at putting you in front of the right people, while we’ve had great assistance form GlobalScot Guy Crawford who helped us get up and running in his hotels in Dubai.

"Through working with SDI we’ve been able to get direct access to people like the head of Walmart in America. And it was on a visit organised by SDI to the US in October that we met with senior directors of Tuner Broadcasting (part of the Time Warner group) in Atlanta to explore the opportunities of a possible television deal."

Since 2009 SE, SDI and the GlobalScot network have worked closely with the company to research and develop its product and to explore new overseas markets, helping it make essential introductions to the key players in the industry.

Susan Hunter, account manager at Scottish Enterprise said: “This is a great example of a company that we’ve worked with intensively, which has made use of our services and the expertise of our extensive networks, and as a result has achieved great success.

“The integrated package of support that we have provided included research and development support from SE to help bring the product to market as well as making connections with major international businesses through members of Scottish Enterprise’s GlobalScot network and SDI staff based in the field.

“The more we can work with ambitious companies like Polybius to help them adopt an international mindset and be successful in new overseas markets, the more we can boost Scotland’s reputation as a truly globally competitive economy.”