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6th March 2012

Canadian Presence Hits Record High At Game Developers Conference

The Canadian Interactive Alliance/Alliance Interactive Canadienne (CIAIC) is pleased to announce that attendance from Canadian companies at Game Developers Conference (GDC) has increased 50 per cent from 2011, proving that the Canadian games industry is stronger than ever.
“The Canadian presence at this year’s conference is astounding,” said CIAIC president and CEO Ian Kelso. “In the middle of this recession, our games industry continues to defy expectations. Canada is well-known internationally for its large-scale blockbuster studios such as Ubisoft and Electronic Arts, but the real story this year is the fast-growing number of smaller, independent game studios finding mainstream success.”

Among the well-known independents is Montreal-based Polytron, an Independent Games Festival’s Main Competition and Seumas McNally Grand Prize finalist for its platformer Fez. The story behind Polytron is also prominently featured in Indie Game: The Movie, the Sundance Award-winning documentary from Winnipeg’s BlinkWorks Media.

CIAIC has partnered with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT) and Telefilm Canada to coordinate Canada’s presence at GDC, introducing Game Nation as a bold brand for the Canadian games industry. “Canada is a world centre for game production, so we wanted to reflect that in the branding,” said Kelso. Game Nation is prominently featured at GDC on 20,000 delegate badges and throughout the CIAIC’s other GDC initiatives such as co-organizing the Canada Business Lounge, the Canadian presence at the GDC Play showcase for emerging developers, and hosting the Canada Networking Reception.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 6th, 2012 at 7:04 am and is filed under Associations, Business News, Events, National News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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