CONTINUED GROWTH
CEG survey finds that the Capital Region gaming industry is doing well
ALBANY, N.Y. » The gaming industry is growing in the Capital Region, according to an annual survey by the Center for Economic Growth, which is launching a new website GameOnNY. Org to attract game development investment, studios, and talent.
The region’s large digital gaming studios grew their employment by 16 percent over the past year as the pandemic stoked demand for video games, the survey found.
The local community of indie studios also remained active, helping push the size of the region’s digital gaming cluster over the 500-worker threshold.
As of February, the Capital Region Digital Gaming Cluster consisted of 24 studios, including seven large (>15 workers) and 17 indie (
Over the past two years, the cluster has grown from 352 in 2018 and 455 in 2019, according to past CEG surveys.
The region’s largest studio is Vicarious
Visions, which was founded in 1991 by brothers Karthik and Guha Bala while they were in high school, acquired by Activision in 2005 and
merged into Blizzard Entertainment earlier this year. In 2016, the Balas formed Velan Studios, which Fast Com
pany this month named the nation’s eighth most innovative design company.
Between releasing major award-winning titles and supporting the online networks that connected gamers during lockdowns, the Capital Region Digital Gaming Cluster played on in the face of COVID-19. In fact, 71 percent of the studios that participated in CEG’s survey said their business increased during the pandemic. And business continues to go strong with 76 percent of respondents reporting plans to add workers over the next 12 months.
“In 2020, the Capital Region enjoyed key milestones with new product introductions in gaming: Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2. We’re starting to get global recognition for breakthrough game making that can be built on to create a gaming cluster that can become a durable economic engine for our community,” Bala said in a press release.
“It is truly an exciting time for game development in the Capital Region,” Ben Chang, the program director of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences said in the release. “At Rensselaer, we are building on this momentum by continuing to provide opportunities for collaboration and learning, as well as a robust pipeline of talent and creativity.
“Throughout this pandemic, games have proven to be an absolutely vital tool for maintaining connections and enhancing education — and it has been heartening to see many of the best examples coming out of our own community.”
CJ Legato, co-founder of Troy-based Pine Drake
Games - one of the region’s newest indie studios - added, “The Capital Region is both a gaming hub in itself, and within a close distance of many other hubs, like Montreal, NYC, and Boston. Being close to other developers – even in quarantine – helps us work together in ways that wouldn’t be possible in other locations.”
In 2020, large studios in the Capital Region released their first games for Nintendo (Velan Studios, 1st Playable Productions). Additionally, Vicarious Visions released what was recognized as the Best Sports Game of 2020 by Blog.Playstation.com, Gamescon, and The Game Awards.
“The Capital Region is a great area for game development because of the high caliber homegrown talent that comes from places like RPI, right here in our backyard, as well as other programs in NYS like RIT, NYU, SUNY, and Marist, just to name a few… not to mention the growing STEM ecosystem at the high school level in the region,” Vicarious Visions studio head Simon Ebejer said in the release. “The quality of the game development programs at these schools coupled with the growing game development community of creatives, entrepreneurs, and full development studios make the Capital Region a magnet for highquality game development.”
Last year saw the emergence of new indie studios in the Capital Region and several local studios teamed up for a game. These studios launched games during the pandemic, and more releases are planned for 2021.
“The game development community in the Capital Region is fantastic, I’ve found a group of likeminded indie developers to share ideas and creations with and many mentors and advisors in the larger local studios to give advice and guide us,” Jordan FaasBush, co-founder of ToothPike Games in Troy, said in the release.
“The Capital Region is home to a number of fantastic game studios and game development organizations with a broad array of different goals and foci,” added Muse en Lystrala, executive director of Queenship Game Studio, which is also based in Troy. “Although the game development community in the Capital Region is growing and quickly at that, it has maintained a close-knit community feel with a generous spirit of collaboration that has helped the game dev sector realize greater success, from the individual to the corporate level.”
To help accelerate this momentum, CEG recently launched www.GameOnNY. org to showcase the region’s digital gaming assets, with hopes of attracting investment, new studios, and talent.
The website, supported with funds from National Grid, features information on Capital Region Digital Gaming Cluster stats and studios.
Later this year, CEG plans to promote the regional cluster at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in July and the Montreal International Games Summit (MIGS) in November.
“Being located near three major cities – New York, Boston, and Montreal – allows us to offer an affordable place to work and live with the Adirondack Mountains nearby, all the while we can be in a major metro to meet with clients in a casual day trip,” said Mitchell A. Patterson Jr., studio director of Wolfjaw Studios, in the release. “Additionally, the critical mass has started to occur where recruiting someone to work here is easier as they know there are other jobs in the sector that are available.”
Catapult Games studio director Dane Jennings added, “The Capital Region game development is great because of the passion of this community. When you love what you do, your work will shine.”
The Capital Region’s game development talent pipeline is also expanding. The University at Albany last fall launched an interdisciplinary, three-credit micro-credential in eSports, designed to provide an overview of the industry and provide hands-on experience with broadcasting, streaming ,and other relevant technologies.
Last January, UAlbany launched its first game design and development course and a second will be offered for spring 2022. As the university works toward a game development degree program in the near future, its College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity (CEHC) is also utilizing game development tools and emerging technologies such as virtual reality for student and faculty research in the areas of “serious gaming,” training and simulation.
“Not only is the University at Albany increasing course offerings in game design and development, other areas of advanced technology including data visualization, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, interactive user experience, and data analytics provide students interested in pursuing careers [in] the interdisciplinary gaming industry with unique and in-demand skills,” CEHC professor of practice and head coach/director of UAlbany’s eSports team Michael Leczinsky said in the release. “With the international reputation the Capital Region is building in digital gaming, we hope to continue to build partnerships providing research, internship, and career opportunities in this growing industry.”
RPI is also expanding its Games and Simulation
Arts and Sciences program, which Animation Career Review ranked the 20th Best Game Design School for 2021.
Last year the university launched the M.S. and Ph.D. in Critical Game Design, a groundbreaking graduate program that combines game studies scholarship and research with the creative and technical practice of game development.
Other digital gaming highlights at RPI include converting the Level Upstate games entrepreneurship program to an allvirtual format in summer 2020, hoisting the popular annual GameFest event entirely online for the first time, running a competition for small businesses creating games and gamification technology responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, and partnering with Questar III BOCES and Vicarious Visions on a teacher training program, resulting in development of new BOCES curriculum in game design.
SUNY Schenectady, in fall 2019, launched an associate’s
degree for Programming in Game Design as well. This program positions students well to transfer to four-year colleges while also laying the groundwork for students who may wish to enter the field as they work toward completing a bachelor’s degree.
“The Capital Region of New York educates some of the best game developers and designers in the industry at our local colleges, and we have been able to retain many of them to stay in the area to produce world-class titles,” said Clarke Foley, director of operations at PUBG MadGlory in Saratoga Springs, in the release. “The gaming cluster now has momentum and presence that cannot be understated due to its a strong sense of community support, engagement, and production of some of the biggest games in the world.”