Officials: State's Video Game Industry Poised For Growth
The video game industry in Massachusetts is a sleeping giant that could grow exponentially with "just a little push," business leaders and public officials said during a forum hosted by Becker College this morning.
The event included multiple panel discussions featuring business leaders in the video game industry, elected officials and members of the biotechnology industry who were used as an example of how to create an industry cluster.
According to State Rep. Vincent Pedone, D-Worcester, the video game industry in Massachusetts already consists of more than 75 companies, and employs about 1,200 people. Two of the top 10 colleges in the nation for video game design programs are located in Worcester, including Becker College and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, he said.
Ken Surdan of Turbine Inc. of Somerville, which was recently bought by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group., said the single most important factor for video game companies is having a talent pool from which to draw. He said Turbine already has about 300 workers and he expects them to grow 20 percent in the near future.
"(The state's) academic institutions are feeding that talent," he said.
Not all video game entrepreneurs were as optimistic about Massachusetts, however.
Jon Radoff, founder and CEO of the startup game company Disruptor Beam of Newton, said other states around the country are also focusing on the video game industry and are offering competitive tax incentives for companies to set up shop
"There's just not a lot of underlying support here (in Massachusetts)," he said.
That issue is exemplified by 38 Studios, the game firm founded by former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, which recently announced it would be moving its headquarters from Maynard to Rhode Island, after receiving a commitment of financial incentives from that state.
Other panelists at the event included Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray, state Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Gregory Bialecki, Worcester City Manager Michael O'Brien and U.S. Rep. James McGovern, D-Worcester, who was expected to attend later in the day.
Nurturing the video game industry could have positive spinoff effects for other sectors too, according to Michael Cavaretta, an intellectual property attorney with Morse, Barnes-Brown & Pendelton in Waltham.
"It's a huge, far-reaching industry," he said, explaining that video game technology is being used in a variety of applications including to train employees and test products.
Correction: This story originally stated that 40,000 people are employed in the state's video game industry, which is incorrect. Approximately 40,000 people are employed in the design industry as a whole - 1,200 of which are employed in the video game industry alone.
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