The Entertainment Software Association of Canada (ESAC) was in town last night and hosted a cocktail mixer at Rogue Wet Bar to celebrate the launch of their 2017 Canadian Video Game Industry Study. The crowd, made up of a variety of people from the Vancouver gaming community, were treated to a tasty assortment of appetizers and drinks while networking and socializing ensued throughout the evening. There was also a short presentation from Jayson Hilchie, CEO of ESAC, who said a few words to address the state of the industry, as well as touch on the results of the economic study. Following that, Jon Lutz, DigiBC Board Chair, gave an update on DigiBC's progress with its IDMTC whitepaper and proposed changes to the tax credit.
ESAC's video game industry study is carried out every two years in conjunction with Nordicity. Some interesting stats and results that came out of the current one include:
- BC has 152 companies and 5,900 full-time employees
- web game development increased by 8%, PC/Mac by 7%, and console by 5% since 2015
- mobile game development has seen a 36% decrease
- 52% of Canadians are gamers
- the average age is 36 years old
- 51% are male and 49% are female
