Online Quebec homemade video games celebration kicks off

The Quebec Games Celebration, which features over 200 homemade video games, will be online until Feb. 24.

Quebec is a world leader in video game development, yet the industry isn’t immune to economic uncertainty.

Currently, the province has 300 video game companies — big and small. Tech expert Kris Abel said 86 per cent of them are locally owned.

“Quebec is a powerhouse!” he says.

Christopher Chancey, the general manager of Indie Asylum, the game studio hub that organizes the Quebec Games Celebration, says it’s a $1.4 billion industry.

The Québec Games Celebration is a great showcase for 200 new offerings.

“They represent some of the biggest titles out there, Tomb Raider, for example. But they also include lots of smaller little games, games that are only developed by women, for example, or by Indigenous creators or people who have disabilities, and those games are then promoted,” adds Abel.

The games can be purchased, but are also offered for free at the event.

The celebration earns millions of dollars for participating companies. Chancey says Indie Asylum organizes it to help out the studios generate more revenue and be able to sustain themselves “while we’re figuring out what the next wave is going to look like.”

Ready for the ebb and flow of the industry, Yellow Brick Games is a smaller studio led by developers who used to work for bigger studios, like Mike Laidlaw. He says having a smaller team can make communication more personal, direct and intimate.

“Instead of working with teams of 500 or 1,000 in multiple time zones, we’re down working in a group of 50 to 60,” he says.

Based in Montreal and Quebec City, Yellow Brick Games' new release Eternal Strands is one of the games Abel is excited about.

“What I love is that the world is this gorgeous country place. We’ve seen so many games that often portrayed dark, apocalyptic worlds. But here you’ve got gorgeous rivers, you’ve got waterfalls, you’ve got beautiful forests,” he says.

Laidlaw adds players of Eternal Strands can “pick things up and fling them using magic or fling yourself or jump into the air onto the back of a dragon as it flies past a tower.”

No studio is a fortress and, since the pandemic, some studios have streamlined their operations to lower costs.

“How tragic it’s been that there’s been so many layoffs across the entertainment industry space. The gaming studios around the world have had so many layoffs that there’s a lot of incredibly talented people who are out of work,” Laidlaw says.

With tariff battles possibly looming on the horizon — it’s hard to level up when the playing field is uncertain.

“It’s a digital product for the most part that we do. So those are aren’t really taxed under the current treaties with Mexico and the United States,” Chancey says.

The game isn’t over and it’s never boring.