Video games companies in Brighton and Hove are creating jobs as playing games becomes a serious business.
Although the games development community has suffered job losses in recent months, the industry as a whole is on track for a record year.
Global sales are projected to increase by 12 per cent to more than £20 billion, according to a report by research company Informa.
A number of companies in the city are hiring new staff and expanding their operations.
Babel, the Hove-based outsourcing specialist, has announced the launch of a sound studio aimed specifically at the games industry.
The company has launched technical, editorial and print departments in response to customers' demands and, earlier this year, it unveiled the world's first compatibility laboratory for testing wireless games on different platforms.
The company, which employs 35 full-time staff and uses a regular roster of up to 80 freelances, is currently looking for language specialists and quality assurance professionals to help on its projects, which also include web design and online marketing.
Business development director Ben Wibberley said: "We're having to look to national agencies to fill our vacancies even though there is a big development community in Brighton.
"Babel is a games services company so we're looking in a slightly different arena to other companies. But we're looking to hire the right candidates as quickly as possible."
Wide Games, based in Brighton, is also expanding. The company has just completed its first major title, Prisoner of War, for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC, and is searching for programmers, designers and animators as it works on its next product, Rush Club.
Executive producer Carl Jones said it was quite a difficult time to find staff.
He said: "We've had quite few CVs but we've not been inundated."
"It's not so much a shortage of skills. It's more the case that most people in the industry are currently working on projects for Christmas and don't want to leave them until they've finished.
"We're looking to put together a new team but coders, especially experienced ones, are hard to come by.
"We have 25 people and are looking to increase by 15 or so by this time next year."
Games developers Climax Brighton, whose latest game MotoGP: Ultimate Racing Technology has picked up rave reviews in the press, is seeking to hire staff.
The company is seeking game artist and experienced programmers to develop games for the GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox.
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