Who says that video games are just child’s play? State and local governments certainly don’t. Its $30 billion—and growing—global industry brings a plethora of opportunity for a community. Some states are capitalizing on the high volume sales by proposing a surcharge in video game purchases, using the money earned to fund community programs.
Perhaps friendlier to consumer pockets and business owners are states that are including video game companies in their long term economic development plans. Georgia, New Jersey and Louisiana are examples of states that are banking on the industry’s growth and are providing tax incentives for companies looking to set up shop in their areas. In fact, Raymund Flandez of the Wall Street Journal today reported on Baton Rouge’s success in luring a video game company from Dallas due to its attractive incentives.
It was also published that the growth rate of the video game industry significantly outpaced the nation’s growth rate. With that, would it be so frustrating to hear that your community leaders are spending their time playing with video games?
But will incentives be enough? Irvine, Calif., for example, doesn’t offer any, but has a cluster of gaming companies, including World of Warcraft maker, Blizzard, none-the-less, thanks to its abundance of skilled videogame designers.
Regardless, for some communities, it seems like it’s time to grab economic development by the joystick, embrace their inner Guitar Hero – and Dance, Dance, Dance their way to an economic development Revolution….
For those of you unfamiliar with the gaming world, World of Warcraft is the U.S.’s most popular “massively multi-player on-line (mmo)” game. Guitar Hero and Dance, Dance, Dance Revolution are both Nintendo videogames.)
There is a College in Orlando called FullSail (sp?) that I understand, turns out "game developers" and game industry educated students as their primary focus. What an excellent asset to have when Orlando (EDC CEO Ray Gilley) is recruiting in the video game industry. This, plus being located in Florida (great climate, no income tax), offering somewhat affordable housing, a young and vibrant night life downtown, all must combine to make Orlando a very attractive and competitive location for the video game industry and its employees, not to mention the students. Maybe there are lots of video game tracks at other Colleges, but I'm not familiar with them.
But will incentives be enough? Irvine, Calif., for example, doesn’t offer any, but has a cluster of gaming companies, including World of Warcraft maker, Blizzard, none-the-less, thanks to its abundance of skilled videogame designers.
Regardless, for some communities, it seems like it’s time to grab economic development by the joystick, embrace their inner Guitar Hero – and Dance, Dance, Dance their way to an economic development Revolution….
For those of you unfamiliar with the gaming world, World of Warcraft is the U.S.’s most popular “massively multi-player on-line (mmo)” game. Guitar Hero and Dance, Dance, Dance Revolution are both Nintendo videogames.)
There is a College in Orlando called FullSail (sp?) that I understand, turns out "game developers" and game industry educated students as their primary focus. What an excellent asset to have when Orlando (EDC CEO Ray Gilley) is recruiting in the video game industry. This, plus being located in Florida (great climate, no income tax), offering somewhat affordable housing, a young and vibrant night life downtown, all must combine to make Orlando a very attractive and competitive location for the video game industry and its employees, not to mention the students. Maybe there are lots of video game tracks at other Colleges, but I'm not familiar with them.