North East Company of the Year launches ambitious expansion plans in the UK and Malaysia

The Northeast Company of the Year has announced that the expansion of its Malaysian base will create numerous new jobs – and is also considering the creation of a second regional office.

Gaming studio powerhouse Double Eleven won four trophies in the grand finale of the North East Business Awards last week, surpassing a year of phenomenal growth.

The Middlesbrough company – Winner of High Growth and Ambition, Innovation and Technology Awards, Teesside Company of the Year and Northeast Company of the Year – has worked on a number of bestsellers including Minecraft, Crackdown 3, Prison Architect, Lego Harry Potter and Goat Simulator, and its work rate has skyrocketed over the past year.

Two years ago, the company had around 80 employees, many of whom were from Teesside University who had signed a letter of intent pledging to work together to create more opportunities for graduates.

However, last year’s growth resulted in the 200th employee being hired in the summer and an office opened in Malaysia.

The company decided to open its second base in Kuala Lumpur in order to have access to high-profile talent and a great ecosystem between governments, universities and corporations.



Kuala Lumpur city, where Double Eleven is moving to a larger base

The move has also helped catapult Double Eleven into an international publishing house that operates across multiple time zones while tapping into new Asian markets and partnerships.

Nine months later, the company announced it was expanding into a new, larger base in Kuala Lumpur and starting a new recruiting campaign.

The company will invest around £ 1 million in the new 12,000 m² office, which can accommodate more than 100 employees.

Lee Hutchinson, Founder of Double Eleven, said, “We opened the office just before the pandemic lockdowns in February 2020 and we now have up to 25 employees.

“We started in a private 1,000 m² office in a co-working space, but soon grew. We recently secured 12,500 square feet in the Mid Valley Mega Mall Towers in Kuala Lumpur and are currently undergoing renovations which will cost nearly £ 1 million. This office should have room for 110 people and be good for the next two to three years.

“At the moment we are building the KL team. Predominantly more young people work with our teams to gain experience so that they can eventually take on their own title on their own, but this can take three to five years or possibly longer.

“On the customer side, there is no difference between the UK office and KL – we work together like a global team. We don’t care about the outsourcing method used by many western companies in Asia where segmented work goes back and forth to be completed. We want this team to have experience in all areas of game development and have access to all of our UK staff for support.



Lee Hutchinson, CEO and Founder of Double Eleven
Lee Hutchinson, CEO and Founder of Double Eleven

“We want to build something that is as Malaysian as it can be. Although we have almost unlimited skilled work visas to send people there, we would prefer to build a structure with mostly Malaysian employees and offer them opportunities for advancement. “

Mr. Hutchinson – who was named Teesside Business Executive of the Year in 2019 – announced that the company is also operating in Teesside and that a second office in the northeast is also planned.

The size of the office they were looking for would give Double Eleven room to grow to 500 employees, and he stressed that it was important that the company keep its northeastern roots.

He added: “In the UK we are currently in talks about a new head office and are looking for over 50,000 m², that’s all I can say right now.”

He added, “The North East is where our roots are and we are considering opening another office in the North East of England instead of going to other gaming hubs like Leamington Spa or Guildford.

“I think we pay pretty competitively and can keep up with some of the UK gaming industry plcs in terms of salaries and better quality of life.”

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