Vancouver Gaming Industry: Digital Warfare
It’s 4 p.m. on a crisp January 15, but inside the Vancity Theatre things are about to heat up. Five panel members are in their seats at the front of the auditorium for the final session of Vancouver’s first-ever Game Design Expo.
It’s an impressive group – including Rory Armes, senior VP and GM of Electronic Arts (Canada) Inc. and Kelly Zmak, president of Radical Entertainment Inc. The hot topic they’re here to discuss is “The Future of Gaming, Cinematics and Storytelling in Games.”
Most of these senior execs are upbeat, and why wouldn’t they be? Canada is the sixth-largest game producer in a $27-billion international industry. And with 44 per cent of the country’s game companies setting up shop here, Vancouver is a key player.
But to one of the panel members, Vancouver’s gaming’s future isn’t so bright. In fact it’s downright bleak. Delivering his pronouncements with an earnest expression and neat, clipped movements, Jay Balakrishnan, former executive game director at Radical Entertainment, thinks the digital sky is falling – at least on the West Coast. “If we don’t do something, we could lose our status as the Hollywood of gaming,” he says to his fellow insiders and a couple hundred spectators. “I would say this: it’s ours to lose.”
What’s his panic about? After leading the country’s game industry for years, Vancouver is in danger of handing over its number-one status to Montreal, where government subsidies and lower operating costs make it an increasingly appealing place to do business. Soon Vancouver – and B.C. – might see jobs and revenues start to trickle, then flow to the east and other parts of the world. Balakrishnan and others believe the animation and film industries could set out for greener digital pastures as well. High-profile events, such as today’s Expo hosted by the Vancouver Film School and the creation of a Centre for Digital Media, are just two ways B.C.’s private sector and government are trying to put the spotlight back on the game industry. But will the attention be too little, too late?
As it turns out, Vancouver’s pre-eminence in Canada’s video-game industry is something of a fluke. In the late 1980s, local company Distinctive Software developed games for big publishers such as Sega. In 1991 it was bought by California-based Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), which is now the largest independent gaming company in the world. (The purchase didn’t take talent south of the border – despite foreign ownership, many EA developers are in Vancouver.) That same year, another local game developer, Radical Entertainment, was launched. Suddenly the city was a hub of digital creativity – and commerce.
It didn’t take long before pioneers with grand ideas for games left established companies and set out for Vancouver too. Its climate, its proximity to Los Angeles, its booming film industry and the infrastructure of schools such as the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design made it the place to be. Looking back, it was what Rick Mischel, executive producer of the animation and post-production studio Rainmaker Entertainment, calls “a perfect storm.”
Today, 138 game companies in B.C. employ close to 3,000 people and generate $300 million in annual revenues. Lynda Brown, executive director of New Media BC, says her stats show that, per capita, Vancouver is one of the largest video-game-development centres in the world. With locally generated products such as Scarface and EA Sports’ NBA Live selling millions of copies, it does seem there’s nothing to worry about.
Vancouver may have established a history, but is Montreal the future epicentre of gaming? Certain indicators suggest that could be the case. In 2003 EA opened a studio there, with GM Alain Tascan saying, “We settled in Montreal because it’s going to be the place to be 10 years from now.” According to reports, the province’s 40 game developers already employ 2,700 people. And a 2005 study by advisory firm KPMG found Quebec’s operating costs for an advanced software company were, on average, four per cent lower than B.C.’s.
Top-rated U.K. game publisher Eidos Interactive Ltd., which holds the Tomb Raider and Hitman franchises, is readying its first Canadian studio in Montreal, which will create 350 jobs over the next three years. This year the Quebec government confirmed that game publisher Ubisoft Entertainment SA would receive $19 million to facilitate the expansion of its Montreal office and the establishment of a new digital design studio. The company, which already employs 1,000 people, is expected to hire 1,000 more by 2013. Clearly Montreal is not just sitting back waiting for business to grow.
Montreal’s momentum is what has insiders such as Balakrishnan worried. “This is the tipping point,” he says. “The Trojan horse is here. It’s not just gaming moving to Montreal, but CGI [computer-generated imagery] as well. This is going to slowly impinge on our film industry. You don’t want to be caught sleeping when the next vanguard of filmmaking is also moving.”
But not everyone is quite ready to rush into battle. “That sounds a little alarmist,” says Rainmaker exec Rick Mischel, former CEO of animation studio Mainframe Entertainment Inc. (acquired by Rainmaker) and president of his own company, Reach Games. While he agrees the two cities are competitive, he’s reluctant to paint the situation as a conflict. Citing livability and infrastructure, as well as the upcoming Olympic Games, Mischel says Vancouver is still one of the top international centres for the creation of world-class games.
And Rory Armes, one of the studio execs on the Game Design Expo panel with Balakrishnan, agrees. What’s good for Montreal is good for the country, says the EA senior VP – and there’s enough gaming action to go around. Commenting on his company’s Montreal studio, Armes cites the interest from the Quebec government; a young, creative workforce; good universities; and a desirable culture as influences on the location. But he doesn’t see one city having an advantage over the other. Provincial governments in both locations, he says, do their part, if in different ways: Quebec focuses on helping companies grow, while B.C. emphasizes building and attracting a capable workforce through personal tax credits and education.
“I can see great growth in Montreal, and I can see great growth in Vancouver,” says Armes. “I believe what you’re going to see is more and more original IP [intellectual property] in this country. You’re going to see some of the big titles in our industry being developed and created by Canadians. Kind of like hockey, I guess.”
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