On behalf of Best of British, I’ve written a piece for Pocket Gamer about my experience at Somethin’ Else making branded games.

Historically, a ‘branded game’ had some pretty grim connotations.

It was work-for-hire of the most embarrassing type – game mechanics glued to product placement and churned out as cheaply as possible (it’s Pac-Man with cereal. Or is it Fridge Tetris? No, it’s Frogger Road Safety!).

More recently there was the gamification boom, which had brands haemorrhaging money until they realised it was 99 percent snake-oil, 1 percent quite-difficult-actually.

Now, rather than sticking some badges on a thing and calling it a day, brands are commissioning increasing numbers of proper, full, credible games – games that aren’t plastered with product placement.

Read the full article at PocketGamer.biz: How brand power can turn your work-for-hire into something to be proud of