NCS teams up with PRELOADED and Livity to cook up financial confidence in new game
NEWS Tuesday 21 January 2025
NCS (National Citizen Service Trust) has teamed up with immersive games studio, PRELOADED and youth marketing agency, Livity to create a compelling gaming experience. Launching today, the game titled ‘Neohaven Noodles’ aims to teach young people how to budget, save and ask for loans via the concept of running a shop.
NCS offers a range of experiences to young people that support them to grow their strengths and realise their potential — through boosting their confidence, getting involved in social action, making new friends from different backgrounds, and learning skills to become world and work ready. In order to target its audience of 15–17-year-olds, PRELOADED and Livity were tasked with taking the NCS mission and delivering it in a format that is increasingly native to them – gaming. To ensure the game would reach the correct audience, youth expertise and marketing insights supported the collaborative co-design process from the beginning.
‘Neohaven Noodles’ is a narrative-driven cooking game about good food and bad debt. Set up your own noodle shop in the near-future city of Neohaven and strive to survive the first 10 days. In the game, you’ll serve noodles, solve problems, and manage your finances—all the while meeting a host of interesting characters, each with their own story to tell. Through a unique and compelling art style, it’s an experience that is designed to be played and replayed so young people can learn specific skills to improve their financial literacy.
The game launches today on the NCS website!
Chris Brown, Director of Service Delivery, NCS Trust comments: “We are delighted to partner with PRELOADED and Livity to launch NCS’ first gaming experience. Through this research-backed experience, we can facilitate young people learning more about managing their finances in an environment that suits them. It has been a pleasure to work with partners that are not only experts in their field, but share our young person focused values.”
Phil Stuart, Executive Creative Director, PRELOADED adds: “We were delighted to collaborate with the NCS audience to create a game that was both engaging and meaningful for them. The co-design process, supported byLivity ensured that young people’s voices were heard throughout development, resulting in an authentic and deeply relevant experience. This collaborative approach showcases the innovative potential of audience-driven game development alongside the power of games to deliver informal learning to young people at scale”
Alex Goat, CEO Livity, said: “This work is a best-in-class example of our long-standing partnership with PRELOADED. Bringing co-creation into game development allows us to ensure audience-centricity and authenticity at every level. We’re extremely proud to be part of this flagship piece of work for and with the NCS Trust”.
-ENDS-
For more information, please contact charlotte.nicoll@ingenuitylondon.com
About NCS (National Citizen Service)
NCS offers a range of experiences for young people that support them to become world ready and work ready — through growing their confidence, independence and skills; connecting them with people from all walks of life; and empowering them to make a difference in their communities and wider society.
NCS is managed and supported by NCS Trust, our central team who are constantly working to make sure that NCS delivers impactful experiences to as many young people as possible. NCS is funded by the UK Government through the Department for Culture, Media and Sport as a core part of the National Youth Guarantee.
About PRELOADED
PRELOADED is a BAFTA-winning immersive games studio dedicated to inventing new ways to play for everyone. Its ‘Play with Purpose®’ mission is to craft playful experiences that change how people think, feel, and act in our world. Over the past 25 years, PRELOADED has collaborated with global brands like the Sky, Disney, and The LEGO Group, and partnered with leading technology platforms such as Meta, Niantic, and Google to shape the future of playful engagement.
About Livity
Livity is a youth specialist creative agency and part of the krow Group. Working to future proof brands for the next generation, young people inform, inspire and co-create everything they do. Purpose driven since day one, Livity had spent 24 years working exclusively with youth audiences across the globe to understand what fundamentally matters to young people. They have won dozens of awards for campaigns and programmes that drive genuine impact out in the world for brands from Google to Coppafeel!, Nike to Speedo and many more.
CREDITS
Preloaded
Executive Creative Director: Phil Stuart
Executive Producer: Nicky Borasinski
Creative Strategist: Hattie Foster
Creative Lead: David Arnold
Art Director: Nat Cooper
Producer: Tommy Jauregui
Game Designer: Jamie King
Developer: Lyle Entwistle
Artist: Nadine Bucknor
Livity
Senior Creative Project Director: Zerrin Oteng
Lead Researcher: Sheyi Ogunshakin
Researcher: Saoirse Ní Scanláin
Strategist: Deji Adeleke