MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
The game industry contributes more than $2.3 billion to Canada’s GDP, according to a new report by the Entertainment Software Association of Canada.
The research into the Canadian industry stated the country’s game sector was the third largest development sector in the world behind the US.
The region is home to some 329 game companies, housing 16,500 full-time employees, up five per cent from 2011.
88 per cent of firms in the local industry employ between one and 99 staff. The remaining 12 per cent house over 100.
84 per cent of game developers make titles for smartphones and tablets, while less than half at 48 per cent are creating games for current and next-gen consoles.
The average team size for a console studio is nearly ten times the size of a mobile developer, and over six times the size of PC and Mac studios.
The average budget for a console game is said to be $8.7 million, and takes around 583 days to complete.
Mobile games meanwhile costs around $300,000 on average, and take just 156 days to complete.
You can view a full breakdown of budgets and team sizes below.
The report also breaks down the Quebec, British Columbia and Ontario game industries, and notes that Quebec continues to lead the region’s games sector with 8,750 employees, up by around 500 from last year.
The Ontario industry has shrunk however. Although still containing 96 companies, the number of employees has dropped from 2,600 to 1,850.
British Columbia’s game industry is said to have blossomed however, housing 5,150 employees at 67 companies, up from 3,882 at 83 companies last year.
Update: A spokesperson for ESA Canada has clarified to Develop that its new research was carried about by a different company, Nordicity, than in previous reports, which has caused a slight discrepancy in its findings in regards to the number of employees in each region. The ESA said while the new report is not directly comparable year-on-year to previous research, it is still confident in the new numbers.
