Canada Celebrates Videogame Boom

The Entertainment Software Association of Canada released a report recently on Canada’s videogame industry. The PDF of the report is here. Videogames bring in $1.5 billion, topping the domestic box office receipts in Canada by a factor of four. Here’s a neat quote from Vito Pilieci, writing in The Ottawa Citizen:

Based on Statistics Canada’s estimate of 37,591 software developers in Canada, the ESAC study means video game development would account for about 24 per cent of all Canadian software production.

Canada has become a hotbed of high tech development, especially in the videogame industry. I’ve blogged previously about the outstanding research efforts Canadian universities are fielding in the field of educational videogames. According to Pilieci, videogame leviathan Electronic Arts employs 1,600 people in the Great White North. Ubisoft employs 1,500 with plans to double that number within five years. Several Canadian provinces provide tax incentives to encourage high tech growth.

References:
Hickings, Arthur, Low Corporation. (2007, October). Entertainment software: The industry in Canada. Entertainment Software Association of Canada, Toronto, CA. [Online]. Available: http://www.theesa.ca/esa-whitepaper.pdf

Pilieci, V. (2007, October 17). Report confirms growth of game industry. The Ottawa Citizen. [Online]. Available: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/business/
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