Island game developers look to form their own industry association

After several years without an organized voice for developers, video gamestudioson P.E.I. are finally looking to establish their own industry association.

More than a dozen developers and industry leaders held a meeting on Wednesday to determine whether to form anassociation and it was aunanimous yes.

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Other Ocean Group's Deirdra Ayre, the head of operations for thestudio behind anupcomingRick and Mortygame,and Creative PEI's Mark Sandiford are leading the charge on forming the association.

It will avoid a lot of time wasted hunting around for information when there can be one place, a network of people you can go to and meet with regularly. Kathleen Cassidy

Ayre said there's a "very strong mini cluster" of game developers on the Island and a formal association for the hundreds employed wouldprovide studios with"a strong unified voice" as well as raise the profile of the gaming industry.

Sandiford says developers are meeting again in February andthey plan to elect executives and decide on whether to implement association dues in the coming weeks.

He also said he hopes the association will be established and running by April.

'Alot we can learn from the larger studios'

Game developers were previously organized under theInteractive Media Alliance, which was later absorbed by ITAPthe Innovation andTechnology Association of Prince Edward Island.

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However, ITAP folded in 2016 due to a lack of funding.

Since then the industry has been without an organized voice although with the unanimous vote at Wednesday's meeting the wait may come to an end within the coming months.

Kathleen Cassidy, co-owner of Queen Bee Games in Charlottetown, said Wednesday was the first time she's been in the same room with someof the developers.

She saidwhat's been missing on P.E.I. sinceITAPended isa "solid network" that developers can usetoshare information, hoist up each others work and further development the skills of each others employees.

"It will avoid a lot of time wasted hunting around for information when there can be one place, a network of people that you can go to and meet with regularly to keep the industry thriving and growing," she said.

Many small studios like hers scattered across Charlottetown can benefitfrom an association, she added,to shareideas and resources with other developers inP.E.I.'s "thriving" gaming scene.

"There's a lot that we can learn from the larger studiosany sort of resources, networking building that the smaller studios can get access to is a very positive thing," she said.

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