GAMES DEVELOPMENT IN CANADA | BETA
COLUMBIA competitive and to be able to offer projects that will use our talent before they start looking outside the region,” says managing director of Ubisoft Vancouver Bertrand Helias. “Tax incentives should help our industry to plant the firm roots of a stronger digital infastructure which the industry along with academia must formulate and facilitate in order to maintain momentum in the region.” SVP and chief operating officer of EA Sports Pauline Moller agrees with that vision of the region’s future. “The Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit is a really positive development for the local games community,” she enthuses. “British Columbia has really stepped up to the plate.” STEP IN TIME As encouraged as the community in the region seems by recent development, British Columbia has long been working in the wake of Québec, which has enjoyed the kind of financial benefits that are only now coming into effect in BC. Now that the playing field has been levelled in that regard however, developers in the latter region are excited about future competition. “Québec has long recognised the value of investing in the sector, and it has led to the development of a local industry that’s extremely healthy,” agrees BCITF’s Donaldson. DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET
“We have a strong industry that will only improve in the future. Some of the world’s biggest franchises live here, and there’s an amazing level of local pool. Local studios will continue to produce hits, do new things in online and digital and continue to strengthen Canada’s reputation as an industry leader.”
We have a strong industry that will only improve in the future. Some of the world’s biggest franchises live here, and there is amazing depth to the talent.
that have grown up and vanished almost overnight around the world. “It’s easy to grow a studio, but I think it’s actually harder to keep it smaller and more intimate,” he says. “Now we are able to make a few games at once, and we have a great studio vibe. It is important to protect that, executing the highest quality in game design rather than growing to meet projects we could sign.” And that sums-up the development industry in British Columbia. Powerful, forward-thinking and yet dedicated to preserving the important work it is already performing. The future in the far Canadian West looks bright indeed.
Howard Donaldson, BCTIF That optimism seems to span the entire sector in British Columbia. However, it is also fused with a level-headed sensibility that stems from a culture built on hard work in what was traditionally a wild and difficult environment to live in. Relic’s GM Dowdeswell knows what he wants for the future of his studio, and it is a hope that would seem outlandish in some of the more furious centres of sector growth NOVEMBER 2010 | 45