A Nottingham-based independent games developer and publisher, creator of the social avatar world Avakin Life.
Lockwood Publishing is a British developer and publisher of virtual worlds for mobile and console. Its flagship product is Avakin Life, a social 3D world where players create avatars, style them with more than 30,000 virtual items, including real-world brands, and meet others. The company's own press release describes Avakin Life as having more than 200 million downloads and 1.3 million daily players. In March 2024 it launched Avacraft, an AI-powered design tool that lets players create clothing in the game without any 3D modelling skills, and the company says players can design, share and earn as they work towards a Fashion Designer Career. Avakin Life has partnered with brands such as Walmart.
The company describes itself as an award-winning, independent UK company. We did not find a formal mission statement. In 2022 its chief executive, Halli Bjornsson, said the aim was to build on Avakin Life's success, explore new experiences for its community and show what such games can offer in the metaverse. The company's 2024 release says it aims to give its community more ways to express themselves through user-generated content, to work with more brands and IP holders, and to build a path towards a creator economy in the game. Mr Bjornsson said the company always wanted to build on experiences within the game.
Lockwood is headquartered in Nottingham. A 2022 press release also lists studios in Newcastle, Lisbon and Vilnius. Avakin Life first launched for Android in December 2013, and the press material says it began with inspiration from PlayStation Home. The company's 2024 release names Halli Bjornsson as chief executive and founder and gives the founding year as 2009. The game's tenth anniversary was recently marked.
In November 2022 the company named three senior hires: Jay Cho as Director of Production, Ivee Feria-Padua as Product Director and Ketan Vachhani as Director of Cyber Security. This shows the kinds of roles a game of this kind needs: production, product, security and community work as well as art and engineering. We did not find published detail on its culture.
A game based on user creativity needs 3D artists for clothes and items, game programmers, designers, data analysts and moderators who keep the world safe. Lockwood is one to follow if you live in the Midlands. See its website for current roles.
Website: www.avakin.com
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