Channel 4's new games commissioner, Colin Macdonald, delivered his strategy at an industry briefing yesterday.
The broadcaster recently moved into the games industry, and is looking to commission interesting projects with a broad appeal, with budgets varying between £50-500K.
Macdonald said: "Games are great ways to engage young audiences. Over 85% of Channel 4's target audience play games so this is a very natural space for us to explore. And as with other commissioning departments, I am looking for opportunities to develop new talent and to entertain."
"The UK has a rich history of creative and technical excellence in gaming, but some of those games haven't always reached as wide an audience as they deserved, and that's where Channel 4 is aiming to make a real difference."
"The relatively recent accessibility of indie games has unearthed some of the best new experiences we've seen in years," he later added.
Much of Channel 4's strategy involves careful planning; they hope to achieve success by matching the right platform with the right content. They also plan to explore existing Channel 4 IPs.
Channel 4's brief for game developers is as follows:
"Fun: Games that grab players' attention quickly, and keep them coming back for more.
Agile: Be on top of the digital possibilities for the games of tomorrow.
Data driven: Connected games allow for deep understanding of what players are doing; what they're enjoying in games, how long they spend doing it, and what they might want to do next.
Crafted by experts: The best gaming experiences come from experts playing to their strengths.
Accessible: Games should be accessible to as wide an audience as possible, as well as being intuitive for that audience to get into."