Canuck Devs Don’t Get Support
In talking to some fellow Canadians recently about the state of the gaming industry in our fair, there seems to be a strange dichotomy of comments. On one hand, gaming studios are being created, existing ones are expanding, and development hubs are beginning to take shape in Vancouver, several cities in Québec, as well as in Toronto. Great right? Well sort of.
While the expansion is definitely the sign of a strong interest and healthy industry, positive sentences seem to be stuck with the caveat that despite all of this growth, getting any kind of support within the country itself is difficult. Canadian gaming media, like everyone else, is generally more liable to look for content from the big boys from the US side of the border rather than either their Canadian subsidiaries, or completely independent studios.
Turns out that the media aren’t the only folks contributing to Canuck dev woes. GamePolitics recently commented on a Montréal Gazette article showing the counterproductive stance taken in the consideration of federal government grants. Canada has always been fairly good at supporting their own, and kicking in a little extra cash through business development funds. Unfortunately, many of these funds are geared towards helping to keep local business local and allowing them to survive doing business in Canada in the face of competitive market pressures to outsource and downsize. It sounds pretty good in theory, until you consider the fact that they also have a tendency to favour anything involving Canadian cultural flavour. In essence: how Canadian is the game? Does it represent Canadian culture?
Considering that only 5% of games developed here (according to the Gazette piece) actually get sold on Canadian shelves, I’m sure you can imagine just how culturally reflective most games are. Considering that external sales measure in the $2 billion dollar range, you’d think they’d be a little more interested in keeping things afloat.
Suggested solutions seem to centre around a bottom-up sort of mentality. Start initiating game study programs and getting them into the curriculum at post-secondary institutions, start recognizing that games can support not just computer geeks, but the art disciplines, business graduates and public relations gurus as well. While the stipulations on these grants and tax reliefs are well-meaning enough, they fail to recognize Canada’s growing digital entertainment media industry and the truly global nature of the endeavour.
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POSTED IN: Musings, Things That Suck
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