Mark Eyles

A first-hand account of Quicksilva and its part in the birth of the UK games industry, 1981–1982

Abstract This article is a first-hand account of the birth of the UK game development industry through the lens of the rise of Quicksilva, the most successful game development company of the early 1980s. Between 1980 and 1982 Sinclair Research released the ZX80, ZX81 and ZX Spectrum home computers and these supported the nascent game development industry. The market created by the volume of sales of the ZX81 meant that UK game developers could, for the first time, support full time employees through their sales of games. Game developer Quicksilva was one of the first game developers in the UK and this account explains how the UK industry game development industry was improvised into being. The material for this article is drawn from the personal collection, and recollections, of Mark Eyles, the first employee of Quicksilva.