Related to the Joroff Project (whatever that is!), Austin has been struggling to sustain its video game sector. Story follows .. .
Game developers say Austin is falling behind Executives ask City Council for help to keep industry vibrant, growing. By Renuka Rayasam http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/technology/02/23GARRIOTT.html AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Thursday, February 23, 2006 Austin is losing ground in developing its fledgling video game sector, Richard Garriott and other digital media executives say. Although the city has about 35 game studios, increasing competition and the loss of key industry players have dented Austin's ability to build the sector. "Austin has a tenuous leadership role in the industry," Garriott, creative director at online game publisher NCSoft Corp., which employs more than 300 in Austin, told the City Council on Wednesday. After the tech downturn that started five years ago, the city and Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce have made the industry an economic development priority. Austin ranks third in U.S. cities for game development, but other cities are catching up quickly, said Rodney Gibbs, executive director at the Fizz Factor Game Studio downtown, which recently was acquired by Amaze Entertainment Inc. of Kirkland, Wash. The gaming industry was a $32.6 billion business last year, and it's set to double in the next five years. Now, game revenue exceeds movie box-office ticket sales. At the same time, game budgets and complexities are growing. The budget price tag of "Tabula Rasa," an online game South Korea-based NCSoft is developing, is $25 million, Garriott said. Austin is poised to grab a piece of that business, but it faces some hurdles. Even though small studios are proliferating here, recently, game publishers Microsoft Corp. and Acclaim Entertainment Inc. pulled up stakes in Austin. Meanwhile, other cities are using incentives to lure video game business and "steal our thunder," Gibbs said. Big publishers, which finance game development, act like anchor retail tenants at a mall, pulling in talents and creating spin-off companies. Their loss shakes the industry perception of Austin as a place to develop games, making it harder to recruit talent. NCSoft has had 12 highly paid positions open for about a year, Garriott said. The company recently opened a Beijing office of 25 artists because it wasn't able to find local talent. All those who spoke to the council called for the city to conduct an economic-impact study to get a sense of the industry's size. They also pushed for developing higher-education curriculum centered on game development and more actively promoting Austin throughout the video game industry. Quoting Anthony Townsend <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > What are the elements of a media city > How do they fit together > Hwo will they change > > Specialization import/export digital > Korean animation > LA porn > NorCal special effects > > Smart mobs journalism > > > > > Notes to Mike > > > > Look at some of the literature on media clusters > > > > 1) some things to jot down (notes) > > 2) some callls > > 3) jot things down > > > > Allen Scott > > Guys on Silicon Alley > > > > -make the argument to show what economic development can be > > -R&D centers (Yahoo, LA - USC Center for Interactive Cinema, Vancouver?) > > -video games/digital media > > -Silicon Valley > > -how do they fit together > > -R&D to production to > > -what is it that we could expect in a media region/media area? > > -questions/issues from Anne's memo > > > > BBC-TV is moving education and sports > > ITV in Grenada > > > > MLJ working for City of Salford > > > > $1500, 3x days > > Timetable: > > > > ------ End of Forwarded Message > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "telecom-cities" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/telecom-cities -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
