GAMES DEVELOPMENT IN CANADA | BETA
RELIC ENTERTAINMENT STUDIO Founded: 1997 Headcount: Unspecified Previous games: Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War, Company of Heroes Currently working on: Space Marine “THERE’S A really strong history between studios in British Columbia, and whenever something new opens, you can assume that within their first growth period they’ll end up with a good cross-section of people from the city,” Relic’s general manager Jonathan Dowdeswell says. “There is a lot of support for each other here. Most of the studio leaders know each other, and everyone knows how hard it can be for studios to succeed.” Not that Relic seems to struggle. Over the past decade or so, the studio has produced some of the most popular and acclaimed RTS titles of the current generation. “The only real difficulty is that it can be challenging to convince people to just up and move their entire lives to another part of the globe. The industry is established enough that there is a pre-existing acknowledgement of the serious levels of development talent around here, as well as a lot of interesting games to work on,” Dowdeswell says.
“However, sometimes people are just wary of uprooting and moving to Canada from the US or Europe. Often we find someone that fits us culturally, but the move is just a bit too big for them.” But that won’t hold Relic, or the community in British Columbia, back. “I believe that we have some of the most talented developers in the world here,” Dowdeswell enthuses. “I’m certain the games industry here in British Columbia will continue to be a leading light in the future of the interactive entertainment business around the world.” www.relic.com
BC INTERACTIVE TASK FORCE Founded: 2009 Headcount: 30+ firms
“THE BC Interactive Task Force is a great example of the community we have here in British Columbia,” says the chair of the development community spokesbody in the region Howard Donaldson. “The Task Force was formed in 2009 by local leaders of the video game industry to work with the BC government on a longterm plan to support video game development in this province. “More than 30 BC companies, ranging from large international publishers to small entrepreneurial developers, are represented by the Task Force.” Donaldson is clearly, and rightly, proud of the work that his sector body has achieved for the games development community in British Columbia. Despite this, he has no intention of taking time out to bask in his achievements to date. “Going forward, our mandate is to educate, promote and influence the the BC video games development industry with a single, unified voice,” he continues.
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“That includes continuing to work with the provincial government to implement and improve the Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit, promote BC’s industry in partnership with the provincial government, and encourage new investment in the local industry.” For Donaldson, these factors all contribute to the relevance of Canada as an international games development centre, and high esteem that the country holds from with in this position. “Canada is already well known for making high quality games across multiple genres. As a country, it provides a great quality of life and is a desirable home and destination for world-class talent,” he explains. “You only really need to look at all the titles that are made here, and that Canada ranks as the number three video game developer in the world compared to being ninth in the world based on video game sales. It’s something that this country is very proud of.”
NOVEMBER 2010 | 47