" En route to Costco, I was phoned by John Doe for details on an upcoming
Tetris tournament, but we got side-tracked and ended up discussing work.
The big discussion around the office is how to alter BoasrdX's development"
Jpod, by Douglas Coupland
While Vancouver’s game-development industry may have had a modest start, it now includes about 75 companies that directly develop games, according to Kenton Low, president of New Media B.C. An additional 70 companies provide support services for game development, including animation and audio production. In all, approximately 3,500 people are working in the video-game industry in the Lower Mainland.
“Five years ago, that number was probably a couple of thousand,” Low told the Georgia Straight.
Vancouver’s video-game industry, which could be a central component of the future economy of the region, started, as these stories always seem to, with a couple of kids in a basement. The critical detail that’s often missing when the story of game development in the city is told, though, is the publisher of Evolution—Sydney Development Corporation. The brains behind Sydney Development, formed in 1978, belonged to Tarrnie Williams, who had spent 10 years working in Vancouver for IBM.
While all of this activity at MDA and MPR was happening in the late 80’s, a teenage son of Burnaby truck driver created a video game for the Apple II computer, called Evolution. Don Mattrick went on to build Distinctive Games until he sold to Electronic Arts in 1991. Seeing the potential of the creative class of film, TV and video production in Vancouver, EA made a big bet on a massive Vancouver studio, EA Canada. The single largest video game studio location in the world now operates in Burnaby, about 3 km from where Don mashed together his first game. The digital media industry is my pick for one of the sectors that emerges as a defining industry for Vancouver. From the dozens of video game studios operating in EA Canada’s shadow, Vancouver has also seen a tremendous rise in consumer focused Internet media. Exactly eight of the top eight Internet media companies in Canada by traffic are based in Vancouver, according to the Peer 1 Canada Start-Up Index. For some reason, the left coast has figured out how to attract millions of eyeballs to content on the Internet better than any other region. A couple more successful exits such as Super Rewards ($50 million) and Now Public ($25 million) in Internet media will spur further activity.
The software industry has been difficult to establish with that large talent-sucking monster to the south in Redmond, WA. Yes, a small company called Microsoft is only a two hour drive away. Despite that challenge, Vancouver has been home to leading global software innovations like AccPac, Crystal Reports and Pivotal CRM. Crystal Decisions became Business Objects, which became SAP and still employs over 1,000 engineers and sales people locally. Emerging stars in software such as Elastic Path, Absolute Software and Faronics have benefitted from the critical mass of great software developers.
Sources:
http://www.straight.com/life/vancouvers-video-game-family-tree
http://www.cantechletter.com/2010/01/looking-for-a-leader-vancouvers-tech-history/
Tetris tournament, but we got side-tracked and ended up discussing work.
The big discussion around the office is how to alter BoasrdX's development"
Jpod, by Douglas Coupland
While Vancouver’s game-development industry may have had a modest start, it now includes about 75 companies that directly develop games, according to Kenton Low, president of New Media B.C. An additional 70 companies provide support services for game development, including animation and audio production. In all, approximately 3,500 people are working in the video-game industry in the Lower Mainland.
“Five years ago, that number was probably a couple of thousand,” Low told the Georgia Straight.
Vancouver’s video-game industry, which could be a central component of the future economy of the region, started, as these stories always seem to, with a couple of kids in a basement. The critical detail that’s often missing when the story of game development in the city is told, though, is the publisher of Evolution—Sydney Development Corporation. The brains behind Sydney Development, formed in 1978, belonged to Tarrnie Williams, who had spent 10 years working in Vancouver for IBM.
While all of this activity at MDA and MPR was happening in the late 80’s, a teenage son of Burnaby truck driver created a video game for the Apple II computer, called Evolution. Don Mattrick went on to build Distinctive Games until he sold to Electronic Arts in 1991. Seeing the potential of the creative class of film, TV and video production in Vancouver, EA made a big bet on a massive Vancouver studio, EA Canada. The single largest video game studio location in the world now operates in Burnaby, about 3 km from where Don mashed together his first game. The digital media industry is my pick for one of the sectors that emerges as a defining industry for Vancouver. From the dozens of video game studios operating in EA Canada’s shadow, Vancouver has also seen a tremendous rise in consumer focused Internet media. Exactly eight of the top eight Internet media companies in Canada by traffic are based in Vancouver, according to the Peer 1 Canada Start-Up Index. For some reason, the left coast has figured out how to attract millions of eyeballs to content on the Internet better than any other region. A couple more successful exits such as Super Rewards ($50 million) and Now Public ($25 million) in Internet media will spur further activity.
Hastings at Columbia, 1958 Fred Herzog. Equinox Gallery
Sources:
http://www.straight.com/life/vancouvers-video-game-family-tree
http://www.cantechletter.com/2010/01/looking-for-a-leader-vancouvers-tech-history/
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