MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
The Canadian province of Quebec is one of the fastest-growing game development clusters in the world, but how did it become so?
With the help of data supplied by Investment Quebec, Develop has scoured the key facts of Quebec’s widely-envied and relentlessly expanding dev scene.
One of the key lessons to be learnt from the new data is how well tied its academic institutions are with local game studios – a lesson Develop will return to next week with the Livingstone-Hope Skills Review.
Scroll down to find statistics on workforce, job creation, education, expenses and tax breaks.
The figures are revealed days after Tiga warned the UK’s workforce could fall below 7000 by 2015 witout game tax breaks. If realised, that would give the UK a smaller workforce than the Quebec region alone.
Jobs & workforce
Quebec’s game development workforce has grown by 600% since 2003.
The core of the industry is formed by about 50 DEVELOPMENT STUDIOS that provide work for 5,000 people.
The region’s wider entertainment industry encompasses more than 80 COMPANIES INVOLVED IN GAMES development, publishing, production services, software and middleware.
In total, these companies EMPLOY 7,000 PEOPLE and generate many other jobs indirectly.
Development costs & tax breaks
Depending on certain criteria being met, games produced in Quebec can be given a TAX BREAK REDUCTION OF 37.5% OF LABOUR COSTS.
On average, Quebec studio operating costs are AT LEAST 20% LOWER than in the United States, nearly 24% lower than in Europe and nearly 30% lower than in Japan.
Education
Quebec has over 5,000 university students GRADUATE IN COMPUTER SCIENCE and multimedia‑related fields every year.
In 2008, the number of computer science graduates, in Quebec alone, stood at 2,852
Quebec is home to world‑renowned private schools including:
National Animation and Design Centre
National Institute of Digital Entertainment
National Audio‑Visual Institute
Studios
Triple-A
Ubisoft
EA
Behaviour (A2M)
Eidos Montreal
Activision (Beenox)
Bioware
Mistic Software
Mobile
EA Mobile
Gameloft
Frima Studio
Airborne
Longtail tudios
Online
Funcom
Sarbakan
Frima Studio
DTI Software
Wendigo
