Several updates have been made to this article.
Andrew Day, chief executive of Irish company Keywords Studios, is not shy about admitting that certain video games have a unique allure. Getting better, faster, and moving on to the next level all appeal to him.
“I have one of those horrible personalities, that if I open a game, I find, before I know where I am, that I have spent tens of hours on it,” he says. “Back in 2013… I went for a little break; I was lying beside a swimming pool with nothing to do. So, I picked up my phone and started playing Candy Crush. That was in June. I had to give it up in my New Year’s resolutions the following year, because I was just losing so much time on the game. So yes, I have to be a little bit careful.”
The 56-year-old heads a company which generates more than $369m a year and employs 7,500 people at 59 offices around the world, from Montreal to Tokyo, yet manages to remain an enigma since he doesn’t release games under the name Keywords Studios. Instead, he works with the world’s biggest gaming companies to help them develop their own products.
Keywords Studios produces games, handles the transfer from one platform to another, or simply designs all the visual components of a game, which is no small feat. “All of those are digital assets, and they get produced by artists, and we are the largest providers of video games art in the world,” Day says.
The company also tests nearly finished games and provides voice actors, some famous and some not, as well as music and sound effects. If that weren’t enough, Keywords Studios is the world’s largest game language provider, translating countless games into over 50 languages. Finally, the company handles post-sale customer support, helping gamers who have questions or simply want help reaching the next level.
Day got his start at Keywords in 2009. The company had started as a translation services provider for business software providers but soon moved into the gaming sector. The CEO, who was born and raised in South Africa, moved to the UK when he was 16. With a management degree from Bradford University in hand, he ventured into a variety of career paths, finally settling on technology.
Day says he has no intention of ever allowing the company to become a name in the industry. He rather not “bite the hands that feed it.” In addition, he is wary of the strange power of gaming. “I find it hard to put a game down. I want to complete it, to move to the next level. Or if I’m playing the same level over and over again, I want to do it faster, or jump higher, or catch more coins. It appeals to my personality rather sadly,” he says.
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