Canada's Video Game Industry in 2015

Key insights

7 takeaways

01
Direct employment in Canada's video game industry rose 24% between 2013 and 2015, reaching approximately 20,400 FTEs.See it on page 4
02
The number of active studios rose from 329 in 2013 to 472 in 2015, with much of the growth driven by micro-sized firms.See it on page 10
03
Mobile accounted for 66% of completed projects in 2015, but the survey reported fewer companies working on mobile platforms than in 2013.See it on page 4
04
Console games required an average budget of over $17 million, 485 days and 54 people to produce.See it on page 5
05
The industry's total GDP impact reached just over $3.0 billion in 2015, a 31% increase over 2013.See it on page 7
06
Temporary foreign workers made up 13% of the total industry workforce, and about 34% of TFW hires went on to become permanent residents.See it on page 6
07
Women represented 16% of the overall video game workforce, with only 6% in technical job categories.See it on page 6

Summary

Nordicity's 2015 study, prepared for the Entertainment Software Association of Canada, profiles Canada's video game industry using an online survey of Canadian-based companies conducted May to June 2015, supplemented by expert interviews, with comparisons to 2013. It identified 472 active studios in 2015, up from 329 in 2013, with micro-sized firms driving most of the growth. Direct employment reached about 20,400 FTEs, a 24% rise from 16,500 in 2013, and total employment including spin-off reached 36,500 FTEs. The average full-time salary was $71,300. Companies completed about 1,280 projects in 2014, with 65% on mobile platforms, though the survey reported mobile activity declining. Quebec led with 29.4% of studios and 10,850 direct FTEs. Total GDP impact was just over $3.0 billion, a 31% increase over 2013. Women made up 16% of the workforce, and 13% of workers were temporary foreign workers.

Games and companies in this document

Connections

Each row is a game or company this document names, each column a document, oldest first. A mark means that document names it. Select a row to see those documents.