937. That’s how many video gaming studios there are in Canada – at least, it is how many there were last time somebody properly counted, but as that was almost two years ago, in the summer of 2021, the figure could have crept closer to 1000 by now.
More than half of these studios are micro companies, meaning they employ fewer than four people, but there are also 58 large companies employing 100 or more people. The number of large companies has risen by 50 percent in two years. This is not due to new large companies appearing but to the rapid growth of companies previously categorized as standard size. Indeed, 57 percent of the companies surveyed said they had more employees than in 2019. Only 13 percent said they had fewer.
Changing leisure habits
More people started playing games during the unique circumstances of 2020 and 2021, and that’s true. But it is only one part of a more complex equation that has led to the dramatic rise of gaming studios in Canada. If it was simply a case that people sat around playing games when they couldn’t go out, then demand for new games might have peaked in 2021 but would then have dropped off again last year. That has not happened.
Those strange times only accelerated a shift that was already happening. People have a different relationship with gaming now than 20 years ago – or perhaps because today’s main householders were the ones who 20 years ago spent their leisure time gaming in their bedrooms.
Today, gaming is a mainstream activity, something anyone can do, like watching TV or listening to music. But it is also a far more social activity than people used to think. Sure, some isolate themselves in a virtual gaming environment, but these are the same people who would otherwise be immersed in a book or movie.
For more people than ever, gaming is an opportunity to get social, whether it is over a game of FIFA or perhaps sitting round a virtual Monopoly table. It’s just that for some of us, it took playing Words with Friends online with Grandma because we couldn’t go to see her to fully get wise to the social benefits of gaming.
The Canadian casino gaming boom
The change in gaming habits is not unique to Canada, of course. But there is another that is. When Ontario launched its new online casino licensing framework last year, it opened up a world of possibilities for iGaming businesses to establish a real presence in North America. Yes, that led to all the Canadian casino platforms you can read about at onlinecasinolist.com, but that is only the start.
Casinos demand games, and games are created in game studios. Canada has numerous indie studios that specialize in the iGaming, or gambling, niche, such as Toronto-based Zartac International and Gamma Stack. But many people might wonder if some in the industry had a prior inkling that online casino regulations might be set to moderate in Canada.
If they had no such precognition, it was a fortunate night in British Colombia when Evolution decided to move in in 2017. Widely regarded as the most forward-thinking game studio in the casino niche, Evolution moved to BC in 2017, launching its first live casino gaming studio outside Europe.
Looking to the future
The future of gaming looks both bright and exciting. New technology in areas as diverse as AI, VR, XR, blockchain and the increasing importance of the Metaverse will all have a profound influence on the games we play. Canada’s ever growing collection of game studios will be competing as hard as ever to bring those leading edge ideas into our lives and living rooms.
