Lindsays teams up with Abertay to sponsor games design contest

Legal firm Lindsays has signed up as a key sponsor in Abertay University’s Dare Academy games design competition.

Dare Academy students come together in teams to create their very own computer games, with the six best teams demonstrating their prototypes in front of over 70,000 people at EGX, the UK’s largest games expo, held in September at the NEC Arena in Birmingham.

The prize for winning this year's competition will be an all-expenses-paid trip for team members to the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco in 2019.

This is the second year that Lindsays has been involved with the Academy, and the agreement includes the firm providing support for the competition’s running costs, a bespoke workshop on protecting the value of IP, and a series of video blogs, offering legal advice bespoke to the games sector.

Kate Wyatt, partner in the Employment Law team at Lindsays, explained: "We got involved in the competition last year and we were blown away by the quality of student work. We know many of the students go on to form their own companies and it’s important they know the legal pitfalls that exist.

"We are thrilled to be part of this year’s competition and to offer our support to Dare Academy. We will be following its progress over the coming months."

Welcoming the move, Dr Dayna Galloway, head of the Division of Games & Arts at Abertay, responded: "The support and advice they will be able to offer our contestants is invaluable and will stand our students in good stead moving forward in a career in the games industry."