The Canadian video game industry has doubled in size from 2013 to 2022, jumping from 775 local firms to 1,628 in that time period.
According to a report from Statistics Canada published in September, the growth is attributed to Canadian-owed firms, companies primarily engaged in video game design rather an publishing, and small studios with fewer than five employees.
This, in turn, has had an effect in revenue, rising from $2 billion to $7 billion during that near-decade.
Just under 60,000 people were working in the Canadian industry in 2022, a 116.2 percent increase from the decade prior. In terms of specific cities and areas, Ontario had 638 game development firms, followed by British Columbia with 426 and Quebec with 338.
The majority of studios are small and Canadian owned
As the report notes, 97.4 percent of the video game businesses operating in the country in 2022 were Canadian owned. Moreover, 77.5 percent of the grand total were smaller studios with fewer than five employees.
It’s worth noting that foreign-run companies, which the report says tend to be relatively larger businesses with 20 or more employees, generated more revenue than Canadian companies in 2022—$4 billion versus $3 billion.
Two other notable metrics include that one in four employees in the Canadian game industry are women. According to the report, the figure saw an increase of 17.8 percent in 2013 to 24.5 percent in 2021, while the shared paid to women increased from 14.4 percent to 20 percent.
As noted by Statistics Canada, women’s employment share is growing more rapidly than women’s compensation share, likely the result of industry newcomers occupying entry-level positions with lower salaries.
Studio Closures slowed from 2014 to 2021
The second notable metric from the report involves entry and exit rates—meaning, businesses opening and businesses closing shop. As per the report, entry rates for video game companies in Canada were higher from 2014 to 2018 but lower from 2019 to 2021, which is relative to all private employer firms. Then, from 2014 to 2021, exit rates for video game firms were much lower than those for all other private employer firms.
The conclusion by Statistics Canada is that studio closures in the Canadian video games industry are “relatively rare.”
Sadly, as we’ve seen in recent years, that metric appears to be changing. Sure, multiple companies have set up new studios in the region, including People Can Fly and Avalanche Studios, but despite the growth many workers have been caught in layoffs and studio closures.
In 2023, Ubisoft Montreal laid off staff amidst larger company reductions, affecting the Quebec branch as well. The following year, Sumo Group cut 15 percent of staff across Canada, Poland, and other regions. Then, after almost 20 years, Canadian studio Hothead Games shut down after filing for bankruptcy. Meanwhile, Sumo Group-owned outsourcing studio Atomhawk closed its Canadian branch two weeks ago, after eight years in operation.
But it’s not all doom and gloom. In June, developer Ubisoft Halifax filed to unionize with media union CWA Canada. This followed the launch of an industry-wide union in March, called the United Videogame Workers-CWA, which was formed by workers across Canada and the United States, as well as efforts by Quebec game workers with Canadian trade union CSN in May of 2024, with the goal of helping workers establish unions at major studios in the region.