Game thinking from Adam Clare

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The Canadian Video Game Industry is Doing Well

The Entertainment Software Association of Canada (ESAC) recently released the results of a survey they conducted in April and things look good. In Canada the video game industry continues to grow with most companies aiming at mobile. With larger companies like Zynga recently announcing layoffs hearing that Canada is doing fine overall is rather nice.

“Video game developers and publishers have a positive outlook on the future. Four out of 10 respondents expect to grow by over 25% in the next 24 months, while 17% expect to grow by 15-24% in the same period,” said Hilchie. “Although there have been studio closures and shifts in the types of games produced here, there is an optimism about the future of the industry in Canada.”

Over 84% of Canadian video game studios are now working on games for mobile devices (phones and tablets), while just over 48% of studios are devoting some of their resources to console games. Studios in Canada are also developing PC games (66%) as well as games for the Web (46%) and for social networks (29%). Although the overall Canadian industry is shifting more of its attention to mobile or casual titles, bigger-budget console games are still receiving the lion’s share of resources. Companies report that the average budget for console games is $8.7 million, produced by an average team of 65 persons in 583 days, as compared to an average budget of $300,000 for mobile games, a team of 7 persons and 156 days of production.

Read the full press release at their site.

Canada is #3 Worldwide in Video Game Development

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The Entertainment Software Association of Canada (ESA) released their Essential Facts 2012 (here’s the PDF) report not too long ago and it’s filled with fun facts! According to the ESA’s research Quebec has the greatest number of industry workers while Ontario is expected to have the fastest growth.

Some notable facts from the 2012 edition:

  • The average age of a Canadian gamer: 31
  • 58% of Canadians are gamers
  • 54% of males and 46% of females play video games
  • 80% of Canadian households have at least one cell phone, tablet computer or other mobile device

The Globe and Mail picked up on the report and highlighted the fact that Canada’s video game industry is the third largest in the world right now. They also have a great breakdown and visualisation of the ESA’s report, you can view their presentation here.

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