Leamington-based mobile gaming company has paid staff more than £1 million in bonuses in just over 12 months

The million pound topping scheme entitles each and every employee to a base percentage of Kwalee’s overall profits for each quarter, ensuring that when the company finds success, the entire team benefits.

However, in addition to the base-level payout seen by all staff, employees who pitch ideas for games and develop titles that result in success for the company are eligible for an increased cut of all profits from those particular games, with no upper limit.

Facilitating this added incentive are Kwalee’s Creative Wednesday’, which on a weekly basis provide the platform for anyone in the company to pitch their own game ideas, regardless of their position or seniority within the company.

This is not a gimmick, but the main way in which new titles emerge internally.

Those who have directed games through the entire process, from initial pitches to globally-released titles, range in discipline from user acquisition executives to quality assurance testers and titles include Draw It!, that has to-date received more than 70 million downloads worldwide.

With 73 team members, all disciplines and levels of seniority have benefitted widely from the scheme in the past 15 months, including 1 in 10 staff members that have even doubled their salaries in the past year; one junior staff member came close to doing so in a single quarter!

When it comes to spending the money, many employees have taken dream holidays to far-flung destinations such as Japan and the Philippines, while others have paid house deposits, bought cars, helped pay for their wedding day and of course, funded multiple gaming purchases, with most Kwalee staff being avid gamers themselves.

“All companies claim to value the ideas and creativity of their staff, but for us it was important to enshrine that in policy,” said David Darling (CBE), CEO of Kwalee.

“Not only do we welcome game ideas from all corners of the company, but we actually rely on them to power our internal game development, so it’s only right that everyone has a stake in what they create.

"Beyond that, we feel it's essential that all employees, from game development to administration, can share in the successes, as it's not just about the money but creating a real ‘community’ feeling in the studio, where everyone, no matter the discipline, is working towards one shared goal.

One million in payouts is a great milestone in a short space of time, but we all hope we can reach two million even quicker”

Kwalee is currently hiring, with several open positions at the company.

All newcomers are eligible for the profit share scheme, to pitch game ideas during Creative Wednesdays and all other existing benefits from day one of their employment.

To find out more visit: https://kwalee.com/join-us/