Andy Hobbs on developing LA Brands’ first licensed game with Cryptic Killers: Peaky Blinders

Andy, it’s great to connect. For anyone new to LA Brands and Cryptic Killers, can you talk us through your origin story?
Sure! LA Brands is the parent company to Cryptic Killers. It sits alongside some other products – and there’s nothing fancy about the name LA Brands… It stands for Luke and Andy, we are the co-founders.

Ha! I was going to say, that’s not a US accent!
Yes, it sounds like we’re an American company doesn’t it? But Luke and I met back in 2012. We were both on our holidays – separately, we didn’t know each other – and we bumped into each other at a beach bar in Mexico. We were both waiting for our partners to get ready, we started drinking some cocktails and just got chatting. We struck up a good friendship and stayed in touch.

We eventually formed a little side hustle and then lockdown hit and everyone stayed at home. We were looking at things to do and ended up playing some sort of escape room murder mystery game… We thought: We could do something with this and do it better! So we’re not the first in the market with this sort of thing, but we’re first to market doing it in the way that we’re doing it.

And how would you define Cryptic Killers’ point of difference?
We focus more on the narrative and the immersive aspect to it. We embrace the theatrical side of things – we have a magic-themed one where you have to complete a magic trick to solve the case. That kind of thing. Anyhow, soon enough we were doing Cryptic Killers full-time and we’ve grown the brand with a little bit of luck along the way.

Luck?
We were sitting there one evening and our Amazon sales just went through the roof. We even raised a ticket with Amazon saying: ‘We think something is broken!’ But no, they were actually orders coming through, and it was all down to a TikTok video that had gone viral. We didn’t even have a TikTok account at the time, so we stayed up to the early hours creating one! That viral moment opened the door, but we turned that opportunity into sustained growth through strategy and execution.

Amazing. And talk me through some of the ways you’ve made these games immersive for players?
We’ve brought audio and video into the experiences. You might be hacking into a police website or reviewing CCTV footage – and we’ve done a great job of making it all feel very real. We want people coming away from the experience thinking that they’ve just watched a film or read a good book. Yes it’s about solving cases, but, for us, it’s really about telling stories. So even if you’re not a fan of murder mystery or puzzles, but you like a good film, you’ll really get on with a Cryptic Killers game.

What goes into crafting one of these? It must be quite an undertaking!
We’ve got a blueprint that we follow, and that blueprint is layered across multiple levels. You’d be amazed that when we come through to playtesting, changing one word can change the whole complexity of a game. There’s a fine balance. Ultimately you want people to solve this right? But even if someone doesn’t, they’ll have been wrapped up in a compelling story. That’s where we’ve appealed to the mass market, rather than your armchair detectives or puzzle enthusiasts.

An exciting new launch for you guys is your first licensed product – Cryptic Killers: Peaky Blinders. What made this brand right for you?
It’s a perfect fit – it’s raw, gritty, and there are murders! I’m a huge Peaky Blinders fan and Liam Blackley, the author behind the game, is a huge Peaky Blinders fan as well, so to get involved with something like this was amazing. And we’ve really created something bespoke here – it’s been designed specifically around Peaky Blinders and written in that tone of voice. We’ve set the game between seasons one and two, so we can use Tommy Shelby and Arthur as part of the storyline, but we’re not affecting or changing the universe.

Did being a fan help with the development process?
100%. It meant we could get straight to the writing. If we didn’t have that passion for it, perhaps we wouldn’t have had that knowledge instantly to come up with these pitches to Banijay. It definitely helped. And one of our playtesters had never watched one Peaky Blinders. He played our game and loved it so much that he binge watched the entire series. That was a great win and ultimately what great licensed products should be all about. It’s pleasing existing fans and bringing new people in too.

How have Banijay been to work with?
They’ve been brilliant – open, honest, quick to respond, which is exactly what we need for our games, because changing one aspect can have a massive knock-on effect to the whole experience.

Has it made you interested in doing more licensed games?
It’s been a positive experience so far and if it proves successful commercially, we will look at other licenses in the future.

Last question! What’s the most underrated Cryptic Killers case?
I’d say Murder at Merivale Manor. The 1920s theme gives it a real sense of atmosphere, the writing is exceptionally strong, and it has some clever twists. The story is that your great-grandfather dies and he used to be a detective. You’re cleaning out his attic, and you find his old case file. Inside is a case that he was never able to solve, so you take it upon yourself to try and crack it.

It’s got lots of authentic evidence from the 1920s that looks old, but you’re solving it in the present day. So there’s a nice mix of old material, and new. There’s also some really nice backstory behind it around female racing drivers in the 1920s. And that stuff is all true. It’s a fantastic game!

I’ll check it out! Andy, a huge thanks again and congrats on Peaky Blinders!

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