Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Department
Office of Governor Deval L. Patrick
Press Release
GOVERNOR PATRICK VISITS DIGITAL GAMES START-UP ACCELERATOR IN MONTREAL TO STRENGTHEN EMERGING VIDEO AND DIGITAL GAMING INDUSTRY
MONTREAL – Thursday, October 10, 2013 – As part of the Massachusetts – Canada Innovation Partnership Mission, Governor Deval Patrick today met with digital gaming start-up companies and industry leaders in Montreal to identify opportunities for collaboration between globally recognized digital and video game clusters in Massachusetts and Canada.
Read the full press release here.
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Word play: Video games and journalism
October 22, 2013, 7:00 p.m.
Becker College, Weller Academic Center, Lecture Hall/210, 61 Sever Street, Worcester, MA
Alexander Sliwinski is the news editor for game industry news site, Joystiq, and has been a contributor to the site for over half a decade. He is responsible for more than 8,000 posts and is distinguished by his breaking and original news reports. He has a degree in broadcast journalism from Hofstra University, and he is currently studying for his MBA at Northeastern University.
The Franklin M. Loew Lecture Series at Becker College is free and open to the community. This lecture is sponsored by MassDiGI. RSVP to lectures(at)becker.edu. Seating is limited.
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As part of a trade mission to pursue job growth and economic opportunity, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick will be visiting Execution Labs in Montreal. The Governor has specifically identified the game industry as a target sector for collaboration, and wants to learn more about XL’s talent platform as an engine to fund and launch talented teams and hit games.
The Governor will visit XL 3:15pm on October 10th. Game development studios interested in building bonds with the Boston area game community are welcome to attend. More information here.
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Come on down and ”Meet MassDiGI” with NUGDC – a great opportunity to network, talk games and more! All Northeastern game development/creative industries students are welcome.
When: October 3, 2013 – 6:00 p.m.
Where: Northeastern University, 106 West Village G, 450 Parker St., Boston, MA 02115
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Come on down, check out the Becker IGDA chapter and “Meet MassDiGI” – a great opportunity to network, talk games and more! All Worcester area game development students are welcome.
When: September 27, 2013 – 6:00 p.m.
Where: Becker College, Weller Academic Center, 61 Sever St., Lecture Hall/210, Worcester, MA
More information can be found here.
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80 William St., future home of the MassDiGI NVC at Becker College.
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration has awarded $1.4 million to the Massachusetts Digital Games Institute to help create the MassDiGI New Ventures Center at Becker College. Please click here to read the press release and stories in the Boston Globe, Gamasutra, GamePolitics, MassLive, Develop, GameSpot, Polygon and Worcester Telegram.
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Playing games with the future
By Tim Loew, executive director, MassDiGI
There were no careers in video game development 20 years ago; not in the way we understand gamedev today. The idea that thousands and thousands of students would dedicate their academic careers – and their futures – to studying game-making would have been viewed as farfetched.
But today, according to the Entertainment Software Association, about 400 US colleges, universities, art and trade schools in all 50 states now offer courses, certificates, and degrees in those fields with more programs coming online each year. And there is a good chance many of these passionate students took part in a game jam, went to one of nearly 700 programs at more than 100 summer game camps, or even published an indie game when they were in high school.
In a multi-billion dollar, highly competitive, fast-moving yet spiky industry driven by talent, this pipeline presents tremendous opportunities and challenges, both in the region and across the nation.
Recently, MassDiGI conducted an informal survey of a sampling of public and private schools in New England and upstate New York, an area that The Princeton Review says is home to several of the top undergraduate and graduate game programs in the US, in order to get a better of understanding of our region’s role in the future of the video game industry.
Eighteen survey respondents, from community colleges to research institutions, reported a total of 3,752 students working towards an undergraduate or graduate degree with a major, minor, or concentration in game design, game programming, game production, game art, game music/audio, animation, media studies, or computer science; 2,407 of those students were reported by the twelve participating institutions in Massachusetts.
Given that the total number of direct game industry employees in our state is just over 2,000, what do local organizations and individuals need to do to ensure our ecosystem can draw, absorb, and retain a healthy share of these young, skilled students after graduation—so necessary if we want to capture their energy to grow our innovation and creative industries?
At MassDiGI, we think about that question every day. And based on our own experiences with students from many institutions, we have a few ideas, some of which are noted below. We certainly could use yours as well; please send them our way.
• Increase access, quantity, and quality of game internship programs for students. In such a rapidly moving industry, connecting students with real-world experience is critical.
• Expand mentorship initiatives for game students and young game entrepreneurs, particularly in areas that complement disciplines such as marketing and analytics.
• Advance the public understanding of what valuable skills these game students have and where those skills can be applied across a broad array of sectors beyond games, including education, training, simulation, publishing, planning, healthcare, advertising, data/scientific visualization, and user interface and experience design.
• Develop targeted policies such as incentives that help game startups and established game companies compete, grow, and expand.
• Play more games!
Clearly, our state and our region have an opportunity to put the amazing skills of these talented young people to work right here. Sit ludos incipiunt!
*This blog originally appeared on Boston.com.
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MONTREAL – Thursday, October 10, 2013 – As part of the Massachusetts – Canada Innovation Partnership Mission, Governor Deval Patrick today met with digital gaming start-up companies and industry leaders in Montreal to identify opportunities for collaboration between globally recognized digital and video game clusters in Massachusetts and Canada.
