Jamie McClenaghan

Role: Founder and CEO, Classy Games

Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Background

Jamie McClenaghan founded Classy Games in 2021 during the pandemic with a focus on building accessible, high-quality games for a global audience. Before founding Classy Games, he worked as a computer science teacher in the UK, a lead application developer at Hampshire County Council, and a Unity developer across several studios.

He later moved into the games industry more directly through roles in game strategy, creative technology, and VR experience design in Dubai. He also serves on the advisory council at SAE UAE and as Director of Special Projects at the Centre for Entertainment Arts in Canada.

Current Focus

McClenaghan is focused on shipping Silly Suspects, a first-person detective role-playing game built around procedurally generated characters and scenarios using an in-house AI system capable of producing over two trillion unique character combinations. Classy Games operates as a seven-person remote-first team based in the UAE.

The studio secured $300,000 in funding through the Exel by Merak accelerator, which it is deploying toward scaling development, expanding the team, and community building. McClenaghan is also the founder of the Game State Podcast, launched in April 2025.

Industry Position

Classy Games is one of the more technically ambitious indie studios operating out of the UAE, with its debut title Orbital reaching 200,000 unique players and accumulating over 180,000 hours of gameplay organically. The studio has worked with around 10 interns and apprentices drawn from local universities, positioning itself as an active contributor to talent development in the UAE games ecosystem.

What He Is Open To

Publishing conversations for Silly Suspects and future titles. Partnerships around talent development and education in the UAE games industry. Accelerator and investment discussions for studio scaling.

Introduction Network

Available for introductions through IsaKaba's introduction network.

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