With an extensive network of established game companies, experienced game veterans, and a skilled entry-level workforce, over 150 companies are involved in Vancouver's game industry. This includes some of the top game developers and publishers in the world. About 120 of these companies are directly involved in game development, game publishing, game distribution, or providing contracts services to the game industry. The remaining companies are made up of educational institutions, retailers, and professional services that play a role in the sectors value chain. From support roles to direct involvement, opportunities in game development in the province are plentiful, and reportedly on the rise. New Media BC's 2006 Industry Survey found that 87% of new media companies are privately held; the study showed that game companies had similar tendencies, with many smaller game developers continuing under private ownership. Some of the larger companies, however, such as Electronic Arts Canada, Relic Entertainment (which is owned by THQ Inc.), Nokia Canada, are publicly held. Publicly held game companies, including Electronic Arts Canada, account for a majority of the revenue in the game industry in British Columbia. Be it through private or publicly operated business, there are definite financial gains tied to BCs video game industry. The game industry continues to hire for all positions, in all aspects of the industry. While artist and programmer positions are most common, there are plenty of opportunities in game production, game design, sales and marketing, administration, and other related services and professions. Find the game industry opportunity that fits for you by reviewing the job postings at www.newmediabc.com Make a connection, and get your game on. Want to connect to industry contacts and more information about the video game sector in BC? New Media BC is the only provincial association representing game companies in British Columbia. We also work closely with other associations, such as the IGDA Vancouver Chapter, which represents game developers internationally, and also boasts partnerships and affiliations with game companies worldwide. Look to www.newmediabc.com for association details. From students to big business, they offer a variety of membership options. Regular networking events and resources such as website job postings are terrific ways of getting in the game, and connecting to the career path youve been imagining! Listing of Major Companies in Vancouver Backbone Entertainment Barking Dog Studios, Vancouver, British Columbia (now Rockstar Vancouver) Black Box Games, Vancouver, British Columbia (a subsidiary of EA) Brainchild Studios, Vancouver, British Columbia Briar Patch Music Inc., Vancouver, British Columbia byHeart Consultants Limited, West Vancouver, British Columbia Clockwork Productions, Vancouver, British Columbia
Creativeway Services, Vancouver, British Columbia Cyop Systems, Vancouver, British Columbia Digital Game Systems Inc., Vancouver, British Columbia Electronic Arts, Vancouver, British Columbia Famous Gamus, Vancouver, British Columbia Fever Pitch Productons, Vancouver, British Columbia (Digi 001 studio) Furious Entertainment, Vancouver, British Columbia fresh karma communications inc., Vancouver, British Columbia GoatPants, Vancouver, British Columbia Greg White Design, Vancouver, British Columbia Jenstar, Vancouver, British Columbia KokoHead Studios, Vancouver, British Columbia Lionshead Entertainment, Inc., Vancouver, British Columbia Lost Boys Studios, Vancouver, British Columbia Lunny Interactive, Vancouver, British Columbia (a division of Lunny Communications Group) Mainframe Entertainment, Inc., Vancouver, British Columbia Mike Jackson, Vancouver, British Columbia Nintendo, Vancouver, British Columbia New Media BC, Vancouver, British Columbia Piranha Games Inc, Vancouver, British Columbia Pure Anarchy Online, Vancouver, British Columbia Pure Illusion Entertainment, Vancouver, British Columbia QA Labs, Vancouver, British Columbia Radical Entertainment Ltd., Vancouver, British Columbia Relic Entertainment Inc, Vancouver, British Columbia Rockstar Vancouver, Vancouver, British Columbia Ross Patel, Vancouver, British Colubmia SaneWave, Vancouver, British Columbia Singular Inversions Inc, Vancouver, British Columbia Studio X Labs, Vancouver, British Columbia TechVibes, Vancouver, British Columbia Thrive Media, Vancouver, British Columbia Yamisoft Entertainment, Vancouver, British Columbia Valve Entertainment, Vancouver, British Columbia Threewave Mod, Vancouver, British Columbia Animetix Technologies, Vancouver, British Columbia Eyeball.com Network Inc., West Vancouver, British Columbia Enterprise NX-01 Mod, Vancouver, British Columbia

Electronic Arts

EA Canada is a video game developer located in Burnaby, British Columbia, close to Vancouver. The development studio was opened in January 1999 and is EA's largest studio. EA Canada alone employs more than one thousand people. Inside the building there is: a motion-capture studio, twenty-two rooms for composing, fourteen video editing suites, three production studios and a wing for audio compositions. There are also facilities such as fitness rooms, a theatre, a cafeteria called EAt, coffee bars and a video games room. The building is situated next to Discovery Park. EA Black Box was founded when EA acquired Black Box Games in 2002, as a part of EA Canada. It became an independent EA studio in 2005. In March 2003, the firm decided that they lacked space for their current projects so the top four floors of an office tower in downtown were used for expansion. Since its founding, EA Black Box have been home to the Need for Speed franchise, among others. EA Canada is a major studio of the American gaming software giant Electronic Arts or EA, which has several other non-American studios around the globe. EA, based in Redwood City, California, had acquired EA Canada in 1991 for $11 million when this Canadian software firm was then known as Distinctive Software. At the time of the business acquisition, Distinctive Software was noted for developing a number of racing and sporting games published under the Accolade brand. Since becoming EA Canada, it developed many EA Games, EA Sports and EA Sports BIG games. Below, a list of games EA Canada and EA Black Box have developed. Items with an asterix (*) indicate that they are known to be currently working on that project.

EA Games

Games developed for publishing by EA Games/EA (EA dropped the "EA Games" brand and now uses only "EA" instead): Bratz Kidz EA Replay EA Playground Def Jam: Fight for NY James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2

Need for Speed: Underground Need for Speed: Underground 2 Need for Speed: Underground: Rivals (PSP) Need for Speed: Most Wanted Need for Speed: Most Wanted: 5-1-0 (PSP) Need for Speed: Carbon Need for Speed: Carbon: Own the City (PSP) Need for Speed: ProStreet

EA Sports

Games developed for publishing by EA Sports: 2006 FIFA World Cup Cricket 07 FIFA 06: Road to FIFA World Cup FIFA Manager 06 FIFA Knockout Kings Madden NFL 2007 (Wii) MVP 06 NCAA Baseball NBA Live 2003 NBA Live 2004 NBA Live 2005 NBA Live 06 NBA Live 07 NBA Live 08 NCAA March Madness NHL 06 NHL 07 NHL 08 Rugby 06 Rugby 08 Skate. Total Club Manager 2005
UEFA Euro 2004 Fifa 07 Fifa 08

EA Sports BIG

Games developed for publishing by EA Sports BIG: Def Jam Vendetta FIFA Street FIFA Street 2 NBA Street NBA Street Vol. 2 NBA Street V3 SSX SSX Tricky SSX 3 SSX On Tour

Relic (THQ)

Relic was started in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada by Alex Garden and Luke Moloney in 1997. Their first title, Homeworld, was released to critical acclaim and successful sales. Though they did not immediately continue working on the franchise (Sierra Entertainment, the game's publisher owned the rights), the game did have a spin-off, Homeworld: Cataclysm, developed by Barking Dog Studios and published by Sierra. Their next title was Impossible Creatures, produced and released by Microsoft in 2002. It focused on a fictional environment during the 1930s, allowing players to design units from different anatomical parts of animals. The game was successful, though it did not receive the same attention as Homeworld. In September 2003, a sequel Homeworld 2 was released. Although it boasted improved graphics and features and changed some elements of gameplay from the original, reviews cited some issues and did not score it as highly as its predecessor. On April 27, 2004, publisher THQ announced it was acquiring Relic for close to $10 million in an all-cash transaction, completed around early May, 2004.[1]
Relic then released Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War on September 20, 2004, an RTS game based on Games Workshop's popular Warhammer 40,000 franchise. The game was a success, with many reviewers applauding its innovative resource management system and squad-based interface. Following up on the success of Dawn of War, Relic released an expansion pack entitled Winter Assault on September 19, 2005. The expansion added a fifth race, the Imperial Guard, to the game, as well as giving the existing races several new units. The expansion was mildly successful, although it did not have the impact of the original game. Relic's first foray into the console world of gaming, The Outfit, was released on March 13, 2006 for the Xbox 360. Not very successful, many reviewers saw it as a love-it-or-hate-it game. It was also criticized for its weak single-player modes. September 11, 2006 saw the release of Company of Heroes, a World War II-themed RTS that used Relic's new Essence engine. The engine, which had been designed in-house by Relic, featured many next-generation graphical effects, including HDR and dynamic lighting, as well as utilizing the Havok middleware physics engine. The game was very successful and won many awards from multiple gaming magazines and websites. Soon after, a second, standalone expansion pack for Dawn of War was released on October 9, 2006. Dark Crusade brought many new things to the franchise: two new races (the Necron and the Tau), new units for the existing races and a Total War-esque turn-based campaign, as well as a much-needed rebalancing and tweaking of game mechanics. Its standalone design meant that the player needed neither the original Dawn of War nor the Winter Assault expansion to enjoy the game's full feature (apart from online multiplayer games). Dark Crusade was successful and considered one of the best expansions of 2006. On September 24th, 2007, Opposing Fronts, the stand alone expansion pack to Company of Heroes was released in North America. It introduced two new playable armies, the British 2nd Army and the German Panzer Elite. A third expansion for Dawn of War, Soulstorm, is being made. It will include the Dark Eldar and the Sisters of Battle as new races, as well as new units for the existing races and possibly a new campaign system. There has been speculation supported though various sources that Relic has re-acquired the rights to the Homeworld franchise from Vivendi. Finally, following the discovery of a document on the United States Patent and Trademark Office's electronic filing system by a fan, THQ confirmed that Relic indeed owns the trademark again, making a continuation of the series under THQ's lead possible. However, no comment on future installments was given. [1]

Release History

Homeworld (1999) Impossible Creatures (2002) Homeworld 2 (2003) Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War (2004) Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Winter Assault (2005) The Outfit (2006) Company of Heroes (2006) Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Dark Crusade (2006) Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts (2007) Company of Heroes Online (2008-unreleased) Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Soulstorm (2008-unreleased)

Awards

Best Developer, IGN.com Best of 2006 Awards[2]
Rockstar North Limited (formerly DMA Design Limited) is a Scottish developer of computer and video games founded by David Jones in Dundee and presently located in Leith Street, Edinburgh, Scotland. The company is a part of Rockstar Games which is owned by Take Two Interactive. It is the primary developer of the Grand Theft Auto series, including Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which are three of the best-selling games on
sixth-generation consoles; in its earlier guise as DMA, it was responsible for originating the Lemmings franchise.

History

Late 1980s
The name DMA was taken from the Amiga programming manuals and the initials were later 'retrofitted' so that they briefly stood for Direct Mind Access. In 1988 DMA signed with UK label Psygnosis and developed Menace and Blood Money -- side-scrolling space shooters which gained attention from gamers and critics for both their high-quality presentation and difficulty. As with all the company's early games, Menace and Blood Money debuted on the Amiga, the leading platform for videogames in Europe between the late 1980s and the early
1990s. A Commodore 64 port was published immediately after, later followed by DOS and Atari ST versions.

Early 1990s

DMA's major breakthrough came with 1990's Lemmings, a simple puzzle game that sold over 20 million copies on 21 different systems. It debuted on the Amiga and it was available on other major platforms like the NES and Macintosh, and obscure formats as the FM Towns and the CD-i. Much of DMA's time over the next few years was devoted to Lemmings follow-ups (Oh No! More Lemmings, Lemmings 2: The Tribes, All New World of Lemmings, and two Christmas-themed Holiday Lemmings special editions). They also released two original titles: 1993's Walker (a side-scrolling mech shooter) and 1994's Hired Guns (a firstperson tactical shooter game with a four-way split screen). Other Lemmings sequels and spinoffs, such as Lemmings Paintball and Lemmings 3D, have appeared over the years, but these were produced without DMA. 1994's Uniracers, a 2D platform racer featuring riderless unicycles was the company's first game to debut on a console (the Super Nintendo). Published by Nintendo, it also marked DMA's first game without Psygnosis, which got bought out by Sony in 1993. This was the beginning of what would be a long and often bumpy relationship with the Japanese console giant. After spending some time experimenting with various next-generation consoles (particularly the 3DO), DMA was asked by Nintendo to join their "Dream Team" of developers for the upcoming Ultra 64 system (later renamed Nintendo 64), alongside such other developers as Rare, Paradigm, Midway Games, and LucasArts. Under this arrangement, DMA would produce an N64-exclusive title that Nintendo would publish. The result of this collaboration was Body Harvest, a third-person 3D vehicular action game with a storyline about aliens arriving on Earth to harvest mankind for food. Nintendo requested a number of major overhauls, such as the addition of puzzle and roleplaying elements, to make the game more appealing to the Japanese market. The game underwent numerous delays, and Nintendo finally decided to drop their publishing plans. Midway picked up the rights and finally released it in 1998, almost three years after the game was first shown. Reaction was mostly favourable, in particular for the game's innovation and free-roaming gameplay, although a few gamers criticized the graphics. In the interim, the company released (through the short-lived BMG Interactive label) Grand Theft Auto for the PC and PlayStation, which applied the Body Harvest play mechanism of allowing control of any vehicle in the environment to a top-down 2D game of cops-androbbers. The game put the player in the role of a petty hood who works his way up through the criminal ranks in three fictional US cities; Liberty City, Vice City, and San Andreas. Despite its undetailed retro graphics and tongue-in-cheek humour, GTA (as it was soon known) attracted controversy for its violence, with the Daily Mail calling for an outright ban. The uproar no doubt contributed in some part to making GTA a success.

Its given the player vast, fully explorable cities and dozens of optional missions. DMA's second N64 title, Space Station Silicon Valley, was yet another take on the multiple vehicles concept, this time in a 3D platforming environment and with robotic animals such as hovering sheep and turret-equipped turtles -- instead of cars and trucks.

Late 1990s

In 1997, DMA was bought by British publisher Gremlin Interactive, with Jones becoming Creative Director of both companies. Gremlin published two DMA titles -- the UK release of Body Harvest and the PC version of Wild Metal Country, a tank combat game with a complex control scheme and realistic physics. In 1999 Gremlin was acquired by French publisher Infogrames for 24 million. Complicating this sale was the pre-existing deal between DMA and BMG Interactive, which had published the first version of Grand Theft Auto, and by 1999 itself had gone through some complex financial moves, becoming Rockstar Games, an internal label of publisher Take-Two Interactive. Infogrames sold DMA Design to Take Two. Rockstar published the Dreamcast version of Wild Metal Country (retitled simply Wild Metal) and Grand Theft Auto 2 for the PC, PlayStation and Dreamcast. Prior to DMA becoming part of Rockstar, Jones left, setting up a new development studio in Dundee as a subsidiary of Rage Software. Through a management buy-out, this later became Real Time Worlds. DMA had several announced projects that were subsequently cancelled in mid-development: Nintendo 64 ports of Wild Metal Country and the original GTA; Clan Wars (a real-time 3D castle building and siege game set in medieval Scotland); Attack! (a caveman-themed platformer for the N64); and a port of Epic Games' PC hit Unreal for the Nintendo 64 disk drive.
Whereas GTA2 had been an incremental improvement on the original, keeping the top-down 2D perspective and adding a few new features, 2001's Grand Theft Auto III brought the series into 3D. It was the first high profile game to use middleware technology; in this case Criterion Software's RenderWare graphics engine. It became the PlayStation 2's biggest system seller in both the U.S. and Europe; Sony, realising that the game was a sure-fire success, paid Rockstar to keep it a PS2 exclusive for some time. Rockstar bought DMA outright, renaming the company "Rockstar North" in early 2002. That same year a PC version of GTA III was released, as well as Grand Theft Auto: Vice City for the PS2, which retained the engine and core gameplay of GTA3 while adding a number of refinements (plus a roster of top Hollywood voice talent). In 2003, the company released a PC port of Vice City, as well as a two-pack of both GTA III and Vice City for Microsoft's Xbox console (ported by Rockstar Vienna).

Manhunt was released for the PS2 in 2003. The game is a violent stealth adventure in which a death-row inmate must flee killers. Rockstar North released Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for the PS2 in October 2004, and ports to Xbox and PC followed in 2005. The studio is currently working on Grand Theft Auto IV for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It was due to be released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in October 2007, but on August 2, 2007, the game's release was delayed until April 29th 2008. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, a new installment for PlayStation Portable, was released in October 2005. It was developed by Rockstar Leeds, under Rockstar North's supervision. It has been ported to the PlayStation 2 and features a slightly better framerate and draw distance than its PSP counterpart. A second PSP Grand Theft Auto title, Vice City Stories, was also developed by Rockstar Leeds, under Rockstar North's supervision for PSP, and released in October 2006. It was also ported to the PlayStation 2.
As DMA Design: Menace (1988) (Amiga, ST and PC) Ballistix (1989) (ports to MSDOS, C64, TG16) Blood Money (1989) (Amiga, ST and C64) Lemmings (1990) (Amiga, CDTV, MS-DOS, ST, Spectrum, CD-I, Lynx) Oh No! More Lemmings (1991) (Amiga, ST, MS-DOS) Shadow of the Beast (1992) (PCEngine SuperCD-ROM2) Walker (1993) (Amiga) Hired Guns (1993) (Amiga, MS-DOS) Holiday Lemmings 1993 (1993) (MS-DOS) Lemmings 2: The Tribes (1993) (Amiga, MS-DOS, SNES) All New World of Lemmings (1994) (Amiga, MS-DOS, 3DO) (published in the U.S. as The Lemmings Chronicles) Holiday Lemmings 1994 (1994) (MS-DOS) Unirally (1994) (SNES) (published in the U.S. as Uniracers) Grand Theft Auto (1997) (PS1, GBC, PC) Body Harvest (1998) (N64) Space Station Silicon Valley (1998) (N64) Grand Theft Auto: London, 1969 (1999) (PS1, PC) - Expansion Pack for GTA Grand Theft Auto: London, 1961 (1999) (PC) - Free Expansion Pack for GTA: London 1969
Grand Theft Auto 2 (1999) (PS1, Dreamcast, GBC, PC) Tanktics (1999) Wild Metal Country (1999) (PC) Wild Metal (1999) (Dreamcast) Grand Theft Auto III (2001) (PS2, Xbox, PC) As Rockstar North: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002) (PS2, Xbox, PC) Manhunt (2003) (PS2, Xbox, PC) Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004) (PS2, Xbox, PC) Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (2005) (PSP, PS2) (with Rockstar Leeds) Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (2006) (PSP, PS2) (with Rockstar Leeds) Manhunt 2 (2007) (PS2, PSP, Wii) (with Rockstar London, Rockstar Leeds and Rockstar Toronto) Grand Theft Auto IV (2008) (PS3, Xbox 360)
Smaller Vancouver Game Studios

Backbone Entertainment

Backbone Entertainment is an independent video game development company with offices in Emeryville, California, Vancouver, British Columbia, and formerly Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Backbone Entertainment is the result of a merger between Digital Eclipse Software (which specializes in arcade game emulation), and ImaginEngine (which specializes in children's software). One of their first franchise projects as Backbone Entertainment was Death Jr., for the PSP. They have also produced a sequel, Death, Jr. II: Root of Evil, and a Nintendo DS version of the franchise entitled Death Jr. and the Science Fair of Doom. When Death Jr. was first announced, the CEO of Backbone spoke on making DJ a full-featured franchise, with comic books, a TV show, action figures, and more. Though many of these have happened since the launch of the game, the success of the franchise overall is considered by some to be

hampered by the mediocre quality of the games themselves. According to Gamerankings.com [1], the average review score for the three games in the franchise is a 59% (out of 100% total), with Death Jr. and the Science Fair of Doom scoring the lowest overall. In 2004 the company merged with another video game developer, The Collective, Inc. in Newport Beach, CA to form a new conglomerate, Foundation 9 Entertainment. The Foundation 9 Entertainment conglomerate continues to use the Backbone Entertainment brand for its original titles, the Digital Eclipse brand for its arcade emulation titles, and ImaginEngine for many children's titles. This company is also known for making Sonic Rivals and Sonic Rivals 2. They developed Bomberman Live, Shrek N' Roll, and Yaris for the Xbox 360, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and Sega Genesis Collection for the Playstation 2 and Playstation Portable. They also created the Halo 3 interactive bonus disc included with Collector's and Legendary versions of the game. In 2008, they are set to develop Monster Lab for the Wii, to be published by Eidos Interactive.

Games developed

Year Video Game Platform(s)

2004 Spider-Man 2

2004 The Incredibles: Escape from Nomanisan Island PC
2005 RIFTS: Promise of Power

2005 Death Jr.

2006 Age of Empires: The Age of Kings

Nintendo DS

2006 Charlotte's Web
Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance
2006 Death Jr. II: Root of Evil
2006 NBA Ballers: Rebound

2006 Sonic Rivals

2006 Mech Assault: Phantom War
2007 Death Jr. and the Science Fair of Doom

2007 Sonic the Hedgehog

2007 Brooktown High

2007 Sonic Rivals 2

Vancouver Links http://www.igda.org/vancouver/ http://www.newmediabc.com/