Electronic Arts’
Maitland-based chief operating officer says Central Florida’s videogame community could use another major studio to augment a growing number of smaller companies.
Central Florida’s video-game community could use another major studio to augment a growing number of smaller companies, Electronic Arts’ Maitland-based chief operating officer Daryl Holt said Monday.
It would create healthy competition that would increase opportunities here for graduates of area video game development schools, he said: The more options those students have, the more likely they stay in Orlando.
“I’d love to have another major gaming company here,” Holt said. “It would be competitive, in terms of, if we lost people. But it would bring some talent here.”
Electronic Arts Tiburon has long been considered an anchor of Central Florida’s video game community. The 23-year-old studio was acquired by EA in 1998, when it was known as Tiburon Entertainment. It builds the popular John Madden football video game series.
Components already exist that could make the video game community in Orlando thrive, said Kunal Patel, one of that community’s leaders.
“We have the talent base here,” he said. “What is lacking is the exposure to the greater industry and the rest of the world. It’s a difficult problem.”
Patel spearheaded an effort to build BrandVR, a consortium of local game companies that now take on contract work for virtual reality-based products.
The schools here, which annually place high in national video game school rankings, churn out game developers he said, but need to do more to keep those people here.
Last March, a group of local game pros went to the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco to lure more firms here.
Patel said those efforts were necessary because Central Florida has yet to be recognized as a video game hub.
“You could have a great video game company but if you don’t have the exposure, you will not be seen,” Patel said. “The cases of being organically discovered and shared is rare.”
It has been a while since Electronic Arts has needed the exposure, though its regular schedule of game releases keeps the company visible.
Still, Holt said building a community of strong video game companies can be beneficial to EA because it would create a constantly replenishing workforce in Orlando.
“If you have a healthy ecosystem and culture going on around you, people can have career options,” Holt said. However, “there is definitely greater energy (right now).”
“If you have a healthy ecosystem and culture going on around you, people can have career options.” Electronic Arts CEO Daryl Holt