To my dismay the game industry in Toronto has been somewhat shall we say… luke warm for as long as I can remember, ever since developer Digital Extremes moved house to London, Ontario, it seems like the gaming industry in Toronto has been pretty stagnant. Other than the familiar rustling inside the walls of Koei or the occasional romps from Pseudo Interactive and Rockstar Toronto, we’ve hit a serious lull here in the T dot O.
After receiving an invite to the upcoming Montreal International Game Summit, I instantly began to wonder if there was a connection or better yet a ‘disconnection’ with the state of the game industry here in Toronto. Could it be that the lack of growth in the industry here is grounded on the fact that there’s a severe lack of video game conventions to spark the needed interest? Well not solely the reason no doubt, but it can be a major contributor. Imagine if you will, that there was an event as big as past E3′s in your hometown, how would that effect the local gaming industry? If you take a look at the entire situation from a distance like I have, I had to ask myself a question, “if I looked at some of the most bustling video game development hubs around the world, will you find a video game convention worth noting The answer is a resounding YES! If you look around the globe you will notice that many of the development hubs such as California, Germany, London, Tokyo, or even closer to home Vancouver and Montreal, they all have their respective game conventions catering to literally thousands of enthusiastic gamers, developers and publishers all under one roof from the world over. Why won’t a city the size of Toronto not cater to an event as large as this? Yes I have many questions and this is only because a lot of them go unanswered, which is indeed frustrating.
So we’ve established what Trade shows are, but what does it mean?
So what does this all mean, what are the benefits of having trade shows in your area? It’s quite simple really, notable conventions do spur interest in the cities they’re presented in, especially if they’re annually stationary conventions, it not only aids the local gaming industry but offers numerous avenues for developers and publishers to connect and collaborate. Here’s a short list of things that come to mind;
- Networking - There’s no other point that is more important here. Making new contacts and retaining your old ones is vital in this industry. You not only network with like minded gamers, but you can use trade shows as an opportunity to speak to the top talent and top brass in the industry where you most likely won’t by other means
- Education - Providing an outlet where developers can learn and collaborate with one another on the latest trends and techniques, this allows the industry to continue to grow and mature as a whole
- Marketing - Additional marketing and advertising tools for developers and publishers. What better marketing tool as a publisher can you offer?
- Explore new products ‘ Having an outlet for developers to display their yet to be released products to the masses allows them to gauge their future markets and gain important preliminary feedback that can further shape the product
- Inspiration - I know for a fact that after visiting trade shows, you renew your passion and inspiration for the industry 10 fold
It baffles me that the gaming industry in one of North America’s largest cities has been so lax in recent years while other cities have been thriving on the multi-billion dollar industry. I’m quite aware that it can be expensive to put together a convention, and yes it takes a lot of time, commitment and dedication to make one even remotely successful, but it never stopped GDC, The Tokyo Game show or even the newly restructured E3 event which still draws an immense amount of interest.
It is a frustrating aspect I assure you, but maybe something can be done. I’m not sure what at this point, but I still have hope for Toronto, it’s a growing city with a lot to offer when in the right hands.
For your convenience I’ve compiled a list of video game conventions below all in one place. Take a look and see if there’s one in or around your city.
If they’re any I missed please don’t hesitate to drop me an email.
Adapt Conference – Montreal, Quebec
Austin Game Developers Conference – Austin, Texas
Australian Game Developers Conference – Melbourne, Australia
DigiWorld Summit – Montpellier (France)
E3 Media & Business Summit – Los Angeles, California
Entertainment for All – Los Angeles, California
Games Convention – Leipzig, Germany
Game Design Expo ‘ Vancouver, Canada
Game Developers Conference – San Francisco, California
Hollywood and Games Summit ‘ Hollywood, California
Independent Games Festival – San Francisco, California
Independent Game Conference – Austin, Texas
Independent Games Conference – Eugene, Oregon
London Games Festival ‘ London, England
Midwest Gaming Classic – Oconomowoc, Wisconsin
Montreal International Game Summit ‘ Montreal, Quebec
Nordic Game – Malm M ssan AB, Sweden
PAX – Seattle, Washington
Siege Con Atlanta – Atlanta, Georgia
Tokyo Game Show – Chiba, Japan
