{"id":340439,"date":"2025-08-13T06:15:17","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T06:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/340439\/"},"modified":"2025-08-13T06:15:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T06:15:17","slug":"minecraft-console-developer-expands-into-edinburgh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/340439\/","title":{"rendered":"Minecraft console developer expands into Edinburgh"},"content":{"rendered":"

4J Studios<\/a>, the BAFTA award-winning Scottish games development firm, has opened its first Edinburgh office as work on its next major release intensifies.<\/p>\n

The firm\u2019s new studio in the capital\u2019s George Street will be home to staff focused on software and design roles, with a recruitment drive now underway to tap into the city\u2019s games sector talent pool.<\/p>\n

Founded in 2005 by Chris van der Kuyl and Paddy Burns, 4J Studios is best known for its work on the Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo console editions of Minecraft.\u00a0The firm now employs more than 50 people across its two studios in Dundee and Edinburgh and is sharpening its focus on the development and delivery of a major new release, entitled\u00a0Reforj.<\/p>\n

\"Scot-Secure<\/a><\/p>\n

Reforj\u00a0is being developed in collaboration with the gaming community through 4J\u2019s Pioneer Program, whereby hundreds of players have been given access to the title while it is in production.<\/p>\n

Their feedback is being used to inform and improve the user experience and 4J has recruited Joe Garrett \u2013 a popular figure in gaming circles whose YouTube channels and commentary on\u00a0Minecraft\u00a0have racked up more than eight billion views to date \u2013 to support that process and work with the\u00a0Reforj\u00a0design team in collaboration with the gaming community.<\/p>\n

The new title\u00a0is slated for release in 2026 and is built on the \u2018Elements Engine\u2019, a proprietary new software platform developed by the 4J team specifically to facilitate development of its latest game. An open-world \u2018sandbox\u2019 adventure game for players to explore, create, and thrive in, Reforj is currently in closed playtesting on Xbox Series S and Series X, with more playtest users being added soon.<\/p>\n

Recommended reading<\/strong><\/p>\n

Paddy Burns, chief executive of 4J Studios, said: \u201cThe development of Reforj\u00a0has been gathering pace for several months now and 20 years on from Chris and I launching the studio, this is as exhilarating a time as we can remember for the firm. The pioneer programme is really taking off and it\u2019s fascinating to see how people are experiencing the game and to hear their feedback and be able to incorporate it as we go.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope we can capitalise on that momentum and sense of energy by opening our first office in Edinburgh, which will give us even better access to the diverse pool of software and design talent that exists in and around the city.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recent Scottish Government figures highlighted the strength of the video games industry in Scotland. The number of companies operating in the sector rose more than seven-fold between 2010 and 2024, from 15 to 130 firms, with combined turnover growing in line with that increased activity, from \u00a338.1m to \u00a3340m in the same period.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"4J Studios, the BAFTA award-winning Scottish games development firm, has opened its first Edinburgh office as work on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340440,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[121317,748,1102,121318,4884,121319,121320,712,121321,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-340439","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-4j-studios","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-edinburgh","11":"tag-edinburgh-games-industry","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-minecraft-console-editions","14":"tag-reforj-game","15":"tag-scotland","16":"tag-scottish-game-development","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115019993907522674","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}