Team spirit is so important – half the work is done for you if everyone ’ s happy .”
FEATURE
Trio - Bob ( centre ) built the SockMonkey brand with fellow Teesside University graduates Darren Cuthbert ( left ) and Darren Falcus .
When the business was acquired by Team 17 , he spent 18 months working in Wakefield , and life turned full circle because he was developing the latest versions of the Worms games he ’ d enjoyed in his youth .
During daily journeys to West Yorkshire , he carshared with Darren Cuthbert – a Teesside University programming graduate – and , having agreed they ’ d had enough of Worms , the pair got talking about launching their own company .
With the help of a grant from DigitalCity , SockMonkey was founded in February 2013 , with the name suggested by Bob ’ s wife , Rachel , in honour of a sock monkey toy he had , called Giraffe .
Bob quickly sketched the logo on the back of a Morrison ’ s receipt , not expecting the company to last long , but the contacts he ’ d built up paid off , and the business gained momentum .
Within a couple of years , he and Darren found themselves working with clients such as SEGA , tinyBuild , Sumo Digital , Disney , Team17 , Moonbug , Paradox . And then there was Kwalee – run by Jason Falcus .
A new dimension was added when Jason ’ s brother , Darren , joined SockMonkey as business development director and , within 10 years , the company had nearly 50 employees .
In 2021 , collaborative talks began with worldwide video game developer Behaviour Interactive , and those
Team spirit is so important – half the work is done for you if everyone ’ s happy .”
discussions resulted in SockMonkey being acquired in February 2023 , almost 10 years to the day since its launch .
“ Behaviour Interactive wanted a studio in the UK and SockMonkey ’ s culture fitted perfectly ,” explains Bob .
The acquisition was part of an exciting but challenging period for Bob , both professionally and personally . His daughter , Robyn , was born in April 2020 , just as the pandemic was taking its grip . Then , Rachel was diagnosed with breast cancer just as lockdown was being lifted , and Bob suffered from stress alopecia .
“ It was a mad , mad time , but I ’ d always been taught to keep calm and carry on – so that ’ s what I did ,” he explains .
Thankfully , those dark clouds have lifted and the sun ’ s
16 | Tees Business