Ahead of PC Connects London 2019 on January 21st and 22nd we are catching up with some of the big names that we have on-stage at the show.

Today, industry veteran Jon Hare tells us about his development outfit Tower Studios and how the industry has evolved in the last 30 years he has been making games

Tell us about your company. 

Tower Studios is a small UK developer, publisher and licencor of mobile, PC and console games that has been running since 2004. Tower's CEO Jon Hare was previously the owner of legendary UK development house Sensible Software. Previous hits include Sensible Soccer, Cannon Fodder, Wizball & Speedball 2 Evolution.

What does your role entail?

I am the creative director and business manager, which means I spend all day jumping between design documents, game builds, accounts and contracts.

Why did you want to work in the games industry?

I just started doing it and liked it over 30 years ago.... never looked back.

What advice would you give to anyone looking to get into it?

Identify the things you are good at, this is the core value you bring to the team. Don't use a shared project to find yourself, games are a team effort.

What are your thoughts on the industry in the last 12 months?

The industry has generally stabilised a bit in the last 12 months

What major trends do you predict in the next 12 months?

Free to play and cross-platform games will really start to take off.

How has the games industry changed since you first started?

Very, very much. The main problem for developers is the difficulty in finding advance against royalty deals from publishers to fund their development.

Which part of the Connects event are you most looking forward to and why?

The meetings we have with publishers, because you never know which one of the frogs is really a prince.

Tickets for just PC Connects London 2019 are available right here, with tickets for the entire show on sale here  - buy now to save big. 

More info about the event can be found right here.