Alberta gamemaker calls for provincial tax credits

Edmonton-based BioWare used the upcoming release of its longawaited new game Mass Effect: Andromeda to push the province Wednesday to introduce tax credits for interactive entertainment companies.

“I just think the high-tech industry here in Alberta is ready to explode with the right government support,” general manager Aaryn Flynn told a news conference.

“There’s so much talent in this province, so many people coming out (of school) with great education … and then they find themselves going to British Columbia, going to Ontario and Quebec.”

Flynn wants Alberta to bring in tax credits modelled on programs in Quebec and B.C. that reimburse firms from 17.5 per cent to 37 per cent of their wage bill.

He estimated the province would have to spend about $10 million annually to have an appreciable impact on the industry, which had 425 full-time Alberta employees in 2015.

“It’s high-tech jobs, it’s software industry jobs,” said Flynn, who also called for more post-secondary training for Alberta game developers. “I don’t want to see them move to where there’s a tax credit program to support them.”

His company, owned by Redwood City, Calif.-based Electronic Arts, has 350 workers at its Edmonton headquarters along with 100 people in Montreal and 150 in Austin, Texas.

He has had a half-dozen calls from people interested in moving to Canada and said many colleagues are hearing similar stories, partly as a result of American “uncertainty” and U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.

Mass Effect: Andromeda will be released March 21, the first game put out in the franchise since 2012.

The game took four years to develop, using a team of about 100 people and an approximately $100-million budget.