Kwalee


Kwalee is an independent UK video game developer and publisher. The company was founded in May 2011 by David Darling CBE, who founded Codemasters and is hailed as one of the 'founding fathers' of the UK games industry. The company makes and publishes hypercasual games for iOS and Android devices, including the iPhone and iPad. The company is based in Leamington Spa in the County of Warwickshire. Kwalee is one of several companies that make up the Leamington Spa video gaming cluster, sometimes known as Silicon Spa.
Kwalee employs over 70 technical, marketing, publishing and administrative staff in its Leamington Spa offices. Andrew Graham, the designer of the Micro Machines series works for the company as Gameplay Guru, while COO Jason Falcus previously worked on hit titles such as NBA Jam.
As of early 2020, Kwalee's games have achieved over 300 million downloads worldwide.

The Kwalee name

Kwalee is the Australian Aboriginal for “wait for me”. It was the name of David Darling's grandfather's sailing boat which David sailed on frequently in his youth. David's grandfather was a TV engineer who taught him electronics. The name Kwalee is thus a homage to the grandfather who started David on his career.

Third-Party Publishing

In 2019, Kwalee launched the publishing side of its business. This dedicated team works with third-party developers to help their games reach a wider audience by signing and publishing them under the Kwalee brand.
Successes of the Kwalee publishing department include Rocket Sky! from developer DP Space AG, which has been a number one app in 11 countries including the United Kingdom, France and Australia and OverTake, a 2020 driving title that has been the number one iOS game in countries including the United Kingdom, Australia and more.

'Creative Wednesdays' and Profit Sharing

Kwalee offers a unique opportunity to all of its employees in the form of its 'Creative Wednesdays', where any member of staff is encouraged to pitch ideas for games on a weekly basis. Some of these ideas are then made by Kwalee's internal development and launched to the world. Kwalee state that they "rely on them to power our internal development."
Alongside 'Creative Wednesdays', Kwalee are known for championing the idea that all employees should be rewarded for the success of the games it creates, via a profit sharing scheme. In just over one year, the scheme paid out over £1 million to its employees, with "a base amount that goes to everyone no matter the role, which is added to based on how closely the work of the individual has related to the success and profit of particular games".

Published titles

Awards

In 2012 Kwalee was named in the Startups 100 awards as one of the UK's most innovative, inspiring and ground-breaking new companies. In 2019, its game Shootout 3D was awarded a TIGA award for 'Best Puzzle Game'.

Notable staff