Media Centre: In the News

Players wanted for Canada's thriving video-game industry
Published March 25, 2009

By Vito Pilieci, Canwest News Service

OTTAWA - Despite the doom and gloom surrounding most of the Canadian economy, the country's video-game industry continues to boom.

According to a study released Tuesday by the Electronic Software Association of Canada (ESAC), more than 14,000 people are now directly employed by more than 247 Canadian video-game companies. The number balloons higher once related jobs such as those in retail and transportation are included.

The head count helped Canada leapfrog the United Kingdom to become the world's third largest centre for video-game development talent, trailing Japan and the United States.

"We have to start looking at intellectual-property industries like the video-game industry as really significant and important to the future of our country," said Danielle Parr, executive director of the ESAC. "We are not going to be successful unless people really understand that this industry is important, it's growing and it's valuable to Canada."

According to Ms. Parr, most jobs in the video-game industry are high-paying software development jobs. Based on the most recent statistics provided by Statistics Canada, 138,000 people were employed as computer programmers and interactive media developers in Canada in 2008. When compared with the ESAC numbers, it shows as much as 10% of Canada's software jobs are in the video-game industry.

"We are producing the third most video games in the world and if you look at it on a per-capita basis, that is unbelievable," said Ms. Parr.

Ms. Parr used the study to push for more video-game oriented education programs at Canadian schools. As in any booming industry, finding top-notch talent is getting hard and competition among video-game makers is fierce, she said.

Thanks to generous tax incentives, Canada already has the world's two largest video-game development centre - the Electronic Arts campus in Burnaby, B.C. and Ubisoft's campus in Montreal. But hot spots for development are popping up across the country and companies in those regions are competing heavily for talent.

The competition is expected to grow. According to ESAC's study, Canadian video-game developers hope to add as many as 29% more employees by 2011.

"Talent really is the most important ingredient," said Ms. Parr. "Without talent, all of the tax incentives in the world aren't going to help."

Last month, Ubisoft expanded its Canadian presence by acquiring Vancouver-based game developer Action Pants Inc. The acquisition marked the first studio for Ubisoft on Canada's West Coast and added 110 people to the company's Canadian roster, which now stands at around 1,700 employees. The company has publicly touted plans to almost double its Canadian presence to 3,000 employees by 2013.

Still, ESAC's Ms. Parr warns that while the gaming industry is doing well, some parts are going through a retooling.

Electronic Arts, which employees more than 1,800 in Burnaby, B.C., announced it was cancelling plans for a 20,000-square-foot expansion in December and would be cutting global staff levels by 10%, or around 1,000 employees.

Still, a quick search of jobs available at Electronic Arts Canadian offices showed more than 38 openings for high-paying positions. EA also announced it would create a new team of developers in Montreal to work on the company's upcoming sequel to Mass Effect 2.

Ottawa is feeling the video-game heat. Fuel Industries Inc. is ready to expand its ranks by 30 people - a 30% increase over the next year. The company is looking within Ottawa for employees, and is holding a job fair at its Ottawa offices on April 1. Fuel is also opening or expanding offices in Colorado and Los Angeles.

Despite the slowdown in consumer spending, sales of games have remained robust. Video-game sales broke records in February, climbing 10% in the U.S. to US$1.47-billion. Comparable Canadian sales data are not available. However, video-game sales in Canada hit record levels in 2008, topping $2.09-billion, a 23% increase over 2007, according to market researcher NPD Group Inc.

The market won't show signs of slowing anytime soon, according to recently released figures from researcher Media Control GfK show, video games are predicted to account for 57% of all home entertainment sales in 2009.