The most popular video games in Canada aren’t shooters like Fortnite, open-world games like Grand Theft Auto, or sports simulations like NHL 26. They’re puzzle games like Wordle, Jeopardy! and Tetris. The trend comes as no surprise to developers.

A study published by the Entertainment Software Association of Canada (ESAC) in October 2025 shows that the most popular video games with Canadian players aged 16 and up are puzzle games like Tetris, Sudoku and Wordle.

According to the report, Power of Play, 59 percent of respondents reported that puzzle games was the genre they’d “played most regularly in the last year,” compared to 39 percent who said the same for action games and 30 percent for games of skill and chance. (Respondents were presented with a list of game categories and asked to select all genres they play regularly, which is why the total adds up to more than 100 percent.)

Puzzle games comprise a large range of sub-genres, including matching games (Candy Crush, Tetris), brainteasers and word games (Sudoku, Wordle), physics-based games (Angry Birds), educational games (ABCmouse), and trivia games (Jeopardy!).

A Needed Break

The trend doesn’t surprise Lukas Steinman, co-creator of the puzzle game A Little to the Left and co-founder of the Nova Scotia game studio Max Inferno Games. Steinman says this type of game serves as a counterpoint to players’ frenetic media landscapes and busy schedules.

“Puzzles allow us to slow down, focus on a single task at hand, and feel that pang of pride and success when a solution is found,” he says.

Mark Rogers, co-creator of the online word game Canuckle, which offers a free, daily, typically Canadian word for players to guess (similar to The New York Times’ Wordle), agrees. “Players crave something they can finish quickly — a single, intentional task instead of an endless scroll,” he says.

More than 230 million games of Canuckle have been played since it launched in February 2022, with approximately 50,000 players — mostly Canadian — playing it every day. For Rogers, daily word games like Canuckle have largely become “part of modern, digital self-care.”

Mobile Devices Behind Puzzle Games’ Popularity

Puzzle games also owe their popularity to mobile devices, according to Jason Kapalka, founder of the B.C.-based studio Blue Wizard Digital.

“Mobile devices are more suited to puzzle games than they are to, for example, first-person shooter games,” he says. Kapalka also co-founded the PopCap Games studio back in 2000 and has experienced this transition firsthand over the years as PopCap released games like Bejeweled and Plants vs. Zombies across various platforms.

The market also follows demographic changes, and gamers are getting older.

“Now we see players who are entering retirement, who are looking for games to play. People who enter retirement at this stage don't want Twitch-based games, shooting games, competitive games. They want stimulating games, social games, games they can play with their family,” says Carina Kom, co-founder of the independent studio Simply Sweet Games, whose first release, the word-puzzle game Criss Cross Castle, launched recently.

The genre’s popularity with women is also significant. “More than half of all gamers are women, and 75 percent of the players playing puzzle games are women,” says Tina Merry, CEO of Simply Sweet Games.

The Appeal for Small Studios

Puzzle games often represent an attractive option for independent studios. “They're relatively easy to make…and often don't have the same sort of art/audio requirements. They also have very low technical requirements most of the time, which means that they are able to be played by even low-spec devices, and would reach a wider audience than traditional video games can,” said Steinman.

Steinman’s game, A Little to the Left, has sold 2.5 million copies, and its downloadable content has been purchased 1.5 million times. According to Steinman, the game has made “a good return on investment.”

“Puzzle games punch way above their weight,” says Rogers. “A small creative idea, executed well, can connect people around the world.”

What’s more, puzzle games have room for innovation. New games are emerging like Slayaway Camp 2, which blends puzzles with horror, and markets itself on Steam as the “most violentest” puzzle game of all time.

Even if they are easier to design, developing a game is still a challenge.

“We went into this genre because we thought it would be easy, and we were wrong,” says Merry. “We were so wrong. Anytime you make a new game or any new IP with a new team and new technology, that is going to be hard.”

That doesn’t mean puzzle games aren’t a good opportunity; the market is evaluated at $30 billion (U.S.) worldwide, according to data compiled by Simply Sweet Games.

“All you need is to find a small portion of the market that is looking for what you have to offer,” says Merry.

The post The golden age of puzzle games appeared first on Canada Media Fund.

The launch of ROG Xbox Ally, expected October 16, may give handheld gaming PCs a boost, but experts don’t expect demand for the minicomputer to explode anytime soon. 

The ROG Xbox Ally is the closest thing yet to a portable Xbox console.  

The device is the latest handheld gaming PC since the first of its type, Valve’s Steam Deck, was launched in 2022. It’s actually a tiny Windows 11 computer you can carry around to play PC games. 

Improved processor, more user-friendly

The ROG Xbox Ally and the more powerful ROG Xbox Ally X are updated versions of the Asus ROG Ally and ROG Ally X, launched in 2023 and 2024, respectively. 

Many features, including processors, have been improved, and the devices are more user-friendly. The new controller feels like a real Xbox and, because the weight has been distributed more evenly, it feels lighter in your hands. 

The device’s Windows 11 interface has been modified to be reminiscent of the Xbox Series consoles. Not only will users get direct access to PC games from the Xbox store, they can also install software from other app stores, including Steam and Epic Games, easily navigating their way using the familiar Windows 11 interface.  

One thing to note, despite having “Xbox” in the name, the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X are not compatible with games exclusive to the Xbox One or Xbox Series consoles. However, you can control any Xbox remotely with the device or play Xbox games in the cloud. 

Popular, but only with a small crowd

While those who love handheld gaming PCs are devoted, their numbers are small. The International Data Corporation (IDC) estimated in February that less than six million handheld units had been sold between 2022 and 2024, for all brands, worldwide. 

For perspective, last year IDC estimated that 65 million gaming PCs would be sold worldwide in 2025. The percentage of players using handheld gaming PCs compared to the total number of conventional gaming PC players is minuscule. 

According to information from Montreal-based Behaviour Interactive, less than one percent of gamers playing Dead by Daylight on Steam are doing so on a portable Steam Deck. The vast majority play on a computer or laptop. 

Other games are faring slightly better. 

“About 4.5 percent of the hours played on our games on Steam this year were played on Steam Deck, a percentage that’s stable since last year,” says Rodrigue Duperron, director of marketing and publishing at Montreal’s Thunder Lotus, the studio behind Spiritfarer, which is available on Steam, and 33 Immortals, which is not. 

Spiritfarer is especially well-suited to handheld gaming PCs since the game doesn’t need a ton of power, and its slower pace is easily handled by the console’s built-in controls. 

Thunder Lotus is the exception that proves the rule, according to Lewis Ward, author of the IDC report on handheld gaming PCs. “I suppose some studios could see a higher penetration, but it’s less than one percent,” he says. 

Ward doesn’t anticipate the upgraded ROG Xbox Ally will do anything to shake up the marketplace, certainly not in the short term. The latest forecast predicts that no more than three million handheld gaming PCs will be sold globally in 2026, all brands included. 

“I don’t do a ’27, ’28, ’29 forecast for this, for the very good reason that the numbers are fluctuating all over the place in terms of shipment numbers that we can see,” he says.  

If new handhelds with more powerful processors are introduced, the situation could change. 

Games are easily adapted

While gamers who opt for handheld PCs may not be large in numbers, they still want games they can play. 

“I think there’s a player persona of gamers who are in transit or who travel, and want to bring their gaming library with them. I also hear about people who get them as a curiosity and it ends up becoming their primary gaming platform,” says Scott Christian, director of Toronto-based Hilltop Studios, the creator of Lil’ Guardsman. “I sort of fall into this camp. I bought a Deck to playtest as we developed the new game. Since I bought it, I haven’t touched my Xbox.”  

For Christian, it’s essential that Lil’ Guardsman is compatible with the Steam Deck. 

Both Steam and Xbox are carefully analyzing games in their stores to see how they perform on handheld gaming PCs. 

Valve, Steam’s developer, classifies a game as verified when it’s compatible with the Steam Deck controller, display and operating system. The experience should also be seamless, meaning no compatibility warnings, you must be able to launch it using the controller, and all text should be legible.  

In many cases, developers don’t have to do anything to become verified.  

“Our games didn’t require any major adaptations to better support handhelds, aside from some extra attention to readability on portable screens,” Duperron confirms in an email. “We had taken this into account for our releases on Nintendo Switch and, in particular, for smartphones long before Steam Deck came along.” 

Xbox recently launched the Xbox Handheld Compatibility Program to analyze how games will perform on handheld gaming PCs. Games are evaluated automatically, without developers needing to submit them. 

In August, Microsoft published five key guidelines for developers to ensure their games are compatible, with tips on how to comply: games must work by default without gamers having to change settings, iconography must be appropriate for handheld gaming PCs, inputting text must be straightforward on the devices, the interface must be legible from a distance of 12 inches, and the game must be compatible with the device’s resolution. 

“The excitement from our developer community has far exceeded our expectations,” says Xbox senior technical program manager Casey Bates. “The work that developers do for this will work for every handheld. It’s going to benefit the entire ecosystem.”  

The post Xbox and the future of handheld gaming PCs  appeared first on Canada Media Fund.

Looking for a way to connect with kids who may not have phones or consume conventional media? For more and more youth content creators, the Roblox video-game platform is the place to be. 

My Carrots Simulator is a game so simple that even very young kids can play. Sitting on small tractors, players collect giant carrots then sell them in the village to upgrade their vehicles, unlock new gardens, or change their appearance. For 200 carrots they can control Mittens or Pants, the main characters from Mittens & Pants, the CBC show aimed at preschoolers, for which the game was built. 

“How do you let kids know your show exists? It’s not easy,” says Windy Isle Entertainment president and executive producer Phil McCordic. “But we saw an opportunity to make a game for Mittens & Pants on Roblox.”  

• Read more: Rethinking TV for teens
• Read more: Mittens & Pants makes live-action TV magic with real animals

McCordic had a hunch that after playing My Carrots Simulator, kids would want to watch the series on YouTube, CBC, CBC Gem or Tou.tv. 

My Carrots Simulator is one of millions of virtual worlds on Roblox. The U.S. platform gets over 110 million visits per day, mainly from children on computers, consoles and smartphones. Players who are at least 13 years old can create their own games or experiences, play those created by others, and switch between worlds by chatting with their friends. 

“Roblox is like YouTube for video games,” McCordic says.  

With the help of external partners, Windy Isle Entertainment created the game from scratch. Development took eight months and cost $40,000, not including updates. In its first year and a half, the game was played more than 120,000 times. 

A short-run Roblox campaign 

This past spring, CBC Gem’s tween series Macy Murdoch took a different approach to Roblox. When it launched its second season, Shaftesbury, the show’s production company, partnered with an existing Roblox game, Teamwork Puzzles 2. 

For a five-week period, all of the game’s visuals were based on images from Macy Murdoch — puzzles to complete a mission and video content shot exclusively for the campaign.  

During those five weeks, the Macy Murdoch version of the game was played for 49,000 hours, and millions of players came into contact with the brand. 

For Shaftesbury senior strategic consultant Jay Bennett, results like that wouldn’t have been possible with an experience built from the ground up. Certainly not in the short term.  

“I still think it was the best way to do it,” he says. “It’s like a collaboration on YouTube. You could start a YouTube channel from zero, but it will take 12, 18 or 24 months of putting out regular content to get the same result.” 

While Shaftesbury won’t disclose the campaign’s exact budget, it was significant.  

“It wasn’t a small undertaking. It took a six-month development cycle,” Bennett says. However, the studio gets to keep what was developed for the game, which could simplify producing similar experiences for upcoming seasons. 

Participating in a universe near you 

Studios with smaller budgets, or without the expertise to develop a Roblox experience on their own, can partner with existing developers. For example, youth content promoter Epic Storyworlds designed the Roblox experience Fracterra as an online destination for games and activities where different youth content brands can coexist.  

“We created Fracterra to make it easier for TV and film producers to reach younger audiences,” says Steve Couture, Epic Storyworlds’ co-founder. 

Fracterra is a place where players can help the ostrich father from the Cracké series (from Canadian animation studio Squeeze) find his children, lost somewhere in the Fracterra world, while enjoying other brands along the way, including Epic Storyworlds’ own Bubble’s Hotel.  

Epic Storyworlds offers producers looking to establish a presence on Fracterra packages starting at $20,000. The company can also develop standalone games. 

Roblox is a platform in its own right  

In some cases, Roblox can be more than just a gateway. 

The game Total Roblox Drama, inspired by Fresh TV’s teen series Total Drama Island, has been played more than 670 million times. Fresh TV sees Roblox as a platform in its own right, not just a way to attract young eyeballs to YouTube or television productions. 

“The series itself is showcasing a TV game show, so gaming is in the DNA of Total Drama Island, which helps,” says Tom McGillis, Fresh TV president and the game’s co-creator. 

To be successful, update often  

No matter which model you choose, launching a Roblox experience is just the beginning for developers.  

“YouTube is a great analogy,” says Shaftesbury’s Bennett. “If you just left a channel static, it dies.”  

Many developers add content to their games on a regular basis, and some temporarily change their appearance to reflect holidays like Halloween or Christmas. “If you don’t update your game, it won’t get suggested nearly as often,” says Windy Isle’s McCordic. 

McCordic says 18 months of My Carrot Simulator updates cost about $30,000. Couture estimates the cost of developing a larger experience at $200,000, with annual maintenance clocking in at around $70,000.  

Regardless of the cost, the creators we spoke with are convinced of Roblox's appeal. 

“For anyone trying to have a conversation with a younger demo right now, it’s almost like talking about social media or YouTube 10 years ago,” Bennett says. “You should be in Roblox. It’s a fascinating and a powerful storytelling platform.” 

The post Roblox: Where Canadian creators come to play  appeared first on Canada Media Fund.

Rooster really is a dream project. 

That’s how Sasha Boersma, the co-founder of Toronto’s Sticky Brain Studios, describes the birth of their newest videogame. 

“One of our team members, Connie Choi, was out with friends and family for Chinese New Year and came home and took a nap. She had this dream about a rooster hanging out with other zodiac animals,” says Boersma.  

“So, she brought it to me and Ted Brunt, my business partner, and said ‘I want to make this game, can you help make it happen?’ We were like, yes, there's something cool here.” 

• Read more: How a Racially Diverse Team Was the Key to My Best Work

With CMF funding, the studio used that kernel of an idea to create a narrative puzzle adventure game.  

“It’s a heartfelt game that celebrates ancient Chinese culture,” explains Boersma. “It starts with the Chinese zodiac animals having a New Year's party, but Rooster's not being a great guest. The other animals have enough of his behavior, so Dragon sends Rooster back in time to learn how to be a more thoughtful and caring Rooster. There are 12 levels in the game, including a cooking level, hidden object level, and a paper crafting level.”

Rooster is also a dream project thanks to the team that created it.  

“We’re probably one of the most diverse game studios in Canada,” says Boersma. “It’s gender parity owned, 50-50 between me and Ted Brunt. The production team is mostly women, and the company is led by people with disabilities like myself. Nearly half of our team have various disabilities. Many have various 2SLGBTQIA+ identities and the creative leads of Rooster are a mix of East Asian diaspora identities, which is also what makes the story and the game authentic.” 

Boersma identifies as autistic, and when she isn’t leading Sticky Brain Studios you can find her active as a board member to the Disability Screen Office (DSO). Her commitment to a diverse workplace doesn’t end with simply hiring but continues through her style of leadership. 

“Ted and I really believe in supporting the people who work with us. And so nearly everyone on Rooster is new to their role and their capacity in some way. We just felt that with the industry being as precarious as it is, it's important to us to ensure that our team comes out of the game with new skills and knowledge that they can take with them wherever they go in their career.” 

Rooster represents a huge step forward for Sticky Brain Studios, which is a small outfit with big ambitions. 

“When we went to the Game Developers Conference this year to do an industry launch, a few Chinese publishers were just stunned to see this game was made in Canada. They were like, ‘I'm sorry, made in Canada, but this is a Chinese game!’ It’s one of the opportunities we have in Canada in the cultural space. We are such a diverse country, if we can get more of these stories and experiences out there, it opens up international opportunities.”   

The post Creators Who Inspire: Meet Sasha Boersma  appeared first on Canada Media Fund.

Nintendo’s new console, launching June 5, may have enough pros for many Canadian video game studios, including independents, to make the switch. But some studios will wait on sales data before investing time and money. 

Nintendo’s newest console, Switch 2, has very big shoes to fill. 

“Switch is, by far, the best-selling console of the last generation. Having games available for Switch gives you a huge amount of players in one shot,” says Christopher Chancey, CEO of Montreal-based ManaVoid Entertainment and co-founder of the Indie Asylum incubator. 

More than 152-million Nintendo Switch consoles have been sold since the system was launched in 2017, making it Nintendo’s most popular console to date and twice as popular as Sony’s PS5. More than 1.3-billion games have been sold on the Switch console, another milestone for Nintendo. 

According to data from the Media Technology Monitor, 20 percent of Canadian adults, and 38 percent of Canadians between the ages of two and 17 who use gaming consoles, have a Switch. 

It’s a golden opportunity for studios with compatible games. “We get about 40 percent of our sales on Switch,” says Jean-François Major, CEO of Montreal’s Tribute Games. 

But because the original Switch was considerably less powerful than other consoles, there were limited games that could work with it. “Some of our games are too big for the Switch,” explains Chancey. 

The situation should change with the launch of Switch 2 on June 5. 

Ten times the power

Nintendo has not yet confirmed all of the technical specs but the Nvidia chip at the core of Switch 2 will be 10 times more powerful than the original version’s chip. That means games will look better and, more importantly, titles that were too complex for the Switch console will be a breeze for Switch 2.  

“Even with simple games you’re always optimizing them. So it’s annoying and time-consuming. The Switch 2 will simplify this process,” Chancey says. 

“Nintendo has also added features to Switch 2, like being able to use the controller as a mouse, providing developers with more options,” says Corinne Darche, Canada Media Fund’s foresight and innovation analyst. 

Toronto-based Titan1Studios is still waiting on access to the Switch 2 development kit, but CEO Rathan Moorthy says the project they’re working on would be perfect for the console’s new features. “It could absolutely utilize some of the mechanics,” he says. 

Chancey says being able to use the controller as a mouse will open the door to new genres that are difficult to develop on a console, like Sim City’s city-builder management simulators. Developers planning to release a game exclusively on PC may now be tempted to develop it for Switch 2 as well. 

Playing it safe in an uncertain economy

Some studios, like Tribute Games, intend to take advantage of Switch 2 as soon as possible.  

“We need to sell about 5,000 copies to make a version for Switch profitable. So, for us, it pays off big time,” says Major. “Since the additional cost for Switch 2 is minimal we’re definitely going ahead with it.” Their next game, MARVEL Cosmic Invasion, will be launched on Switch 2 later this year. 

For many studios with compatible games, and whose target audience mirrors Nintendo’s more family-oriented games, it’s an opportunity they’re ready to jump on. “As soon as we’re able to get access to a Switch SDK [Software Development Kit],” Moorthy says. “Since we’re making a game for kids, it’s a no-brainer.” 

Of course, the situation is not the same for every game or every studio.  

“The last two years, 2023 and 2024, were devastating for the video game industry,” says Darche. “While there’s hope that Switch 2 will breathe new life into the industry, studios are no longer willing to take risks like they did before.” 

In our challenging economic climate, a console’s price is also a concern. Switch 2 will sell for $629 in Canada. Launch price for the original Switch was $399, with later versions available for $259. “Pre-orders indicate that the fan base is still out there, but will the general public be willing to pay,” asks Darche.  

Developers remember the tepid Nintendo Wii U launch in 2012, a bitter disappointment after the success of the Wii. 

Nintendo plans to sell 15-million Switch 2 consoles in the first year. DFC Intelligence, a research and consulting firm for the video game sector, anticipates sales of 100-million units by 2029. In a May 15 report, DFC stated the Nintendo Switch 2 “is arguably the most important product launch in video game history.” That’s the kind of news struggling game studios can use. 

Still, Chancey has no intention of altering his game plan. He hopes his studio will reap the new console’s advantages, but without direct support from Nintendo the transition is too risky. “We’re not sure how many games we’ll do. It’s a wait-and-see approach for now,” he says. 

Switch 2 does give studios a reason to be optimistic. But in a market that has been hammered by closures and layoffs, being cautious is understandable too. 

The post Is Nintendo’s Switch 2 a safe enough bet to get all studios on board?  appeared first on Canada Media Fund.

Currently based in Vancouver, Canada, Deborah Chantson is the Writer/Narrative Designer on Rooster and the newest unannounced title at Sticky Brain Studios. Her career in games and television spans over 17 years, specializing in preschool and educational projects. She was also a Community Manager for 9 years. Deb has written for several games in development, blogs for Sony PlayStation, and several featured blogs on GameDeveloper.com. She is a Writers Guild of Canada member and a Certified Accessible Player Experiences® Practitioner. She identifies as Canadian-South African-Chinese-American.  

In this chronicle, she shares her personal experience and insights on the importance of a racially diverse team to the quality of her work and overall working environment.

LITERALLY A DREAM COME TRUE

When Sasha Boersma, co-executive producer of Toronto-based Sticky Brain Studios, asked me if I wanted to work on Rooster, she said that it was the fastest positive response she’d ever received. Rooster is a beautiful point-and-click narrative adventure video game based on the animals of the Chinese zodiac. 

It's literally a dream come true for concept creator and art director Connie Choi, who dreamt of the zodiac animals in a racing game and woke up to sketch out images. She expresses herself through pictures; I express myself through words. As the first two creative leads on this project, it has been an amazing collaboration. I often feel like we give wings to each other’s ideas. 

PROVIDING A RUNWAY FOR THE BEST WORK

While the team was originally the four of us – Sticky Brain co-founders Sasha (Boersma) and Ted Brunt, Connie, and me, our successful funding from the CMF and Ontario Creates for prototyping allowed us to grow our team to six, with E. Joan Lee coming on board as animation director, and Gabriela Kim Passos as technical director. I was thrilled to be getting my first real break as a writer and narrative designer on a game I could be so thoroughly involved in from start to finish. It was also an incredible life and career change to be able to leverage my Chinese culture and heritage in a marketable, viable product. 

While we worked on the Rooster prototype part-time in addition to our regular jobs, our team of six included four women and non-binary people, and two white disabled persons. I already felt comfortable with Sasha and Ted, having worked well with them at the start of my career – and so well that the team won a then-Gemini award for our project. But for this project, and under their own company direction and management, it was a refreshing experience to be a racialized person in the majority.  

I spent so much of my career in the minority or being the sole person of colour on a team, whether in television or games. But on Rooster, the combination of being a creative lead, on a majority racialized diverse team, and with a culturally-based project, was the trifecta I had never thought of. Finally getting the psychologically and emotionally safe environment I didn’t know I needed as badly until now allowed me to do my best work.  

Being able to convey my personal vulnerabilities and emotional experiences in an interactive art form requires a very supportive environment. I believe it is impossible to express oneself fully while expecting pushback and second-guessing creative decisions or input in general. With racialized individuals, there’s a certain level of instant ease with one another – something I feel more strongly as I age and become more confident in who I am. It was validating to read about the on-set experience for the team behind Afro Canada, where the shorthand of lived experience made a huge difference. 

With Rooster, I feel as though I’ve been able to be myself. In media interviews, I’ve said that with this team, 95% of my jokes land the way they’re supposed to, and that is primarily because I don’t have to explain the context before landing the punchline. And I love that this is a group of people who will collectively share in both my joys and sorrows – from signing my book deal and cheering elatedly, to hugging me tightly for the deaths in my family. 

BUILDING THE TEAM

When given the opportunity for growth, racially diverse teams will effectively expand themselves. Racialized people who are happy in their work environments can confidently refer friends and former colleagues, which is how we got our UI artist, junior developer, and contract illustrator. 

As a professor at Centennial College in Toronto, Sasha strongly believes in mentorship and training through job placements. As such, Sticky Brain has hired and retained employees through Centennial job placements, as well as the Black Youth Action Plan, and Sheridan College co-op programs. 

When looking for artists and co-op students, a description of Rooster was a part of the job posting, drawing applicants who loved what we were making, and enjoyed creating art in an East Asian style. While an art test was the final part of the interview, Sticky Brain has made it a policy to pay an honorarium for such tests, and not to include any assets that would be used in the game without official employment. I really love this policy, because too often, I’ve spent ages on writing tests which go nowhere, or stopped the process altogether when realizing it was a ploy for free labour. 

When our team was at its peak, including co-op students and contractors, Sticky Brain Studios was 70% racialized, 76% female/gender-marginalized, 30% disabled, and 30% queer. Most of our team is also intersectionally marginalized, meaning that they belong to two or more marginalized groups. 

ONCE PAST THE DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSIVITY & ACCESSIBILITY INITIATIVES

Having experienced the gratification of knowing that I brought my absolute best work to the collaborative table, my hope is that all racialized and Indigenous creatives get a chance to feel that exhilaration. Finding the joy and support that frees and fuels the most creative and innovative ideas becomes possible when we listen more to the fresh and unheard stories that racialized and Indigenous people have to offer. Rooster is a proudly Canadian-made product that is gaining traction in the game development space, catching the attention of multiple Chinese publishers, and players of all backgrounds in the global market. 

DIVERSE TEAMS MAKE MORE MONEY

Reaching Global Audiences

According to Forbes, companies with greater diversity are 70% more likely to capture more markets. Having several diasporic East Asian team members also provided insight into reaching out to their communities in such countries as Brazil, Korea, and the United States, and greater incentive to localize in languages outside of the “standard” EFIGS (English, French, Italian, German, Spanish). Being a team of predominantly native English speakers, we also knew how to bridge the knowledge gap, shaping our game with the perspective of cultural enlightenment in fun ways.  

And while we didn’t quite know how Rooster would resonate with people in China, the cultural core of the game is meeting its mark in the loveliest way. 

We’ve seen positive feedback from multiple Chinese publishers, who complimented Rooster’s Chinese brush painting-inspired art style and were dazzled by its cultural authenticity. Moreover, they were delightfully surprised that it was largely created by Canadians of East Asian heritage.

Video games are a forward-facing experience that requires an investment of interactivity, as opposed to the passive experience of reading a book or watching a movie. When made available through a platform like Steam, the marketplace is open 24/7 around the world. 

Inclusive Accessibility Also Makes Money

Making accessible games is a part of the Sticky Brain philosophy of being as inclusive as possible, but it’s important to note that individuals with disabilities comprise approximately 20% of the nearly 3 billion gamers worldwide, according to AbleGamers, a US-based charity that advocates for gamers with disabilities. 

Some of the things we’ve implemented have a “curb cut effect,” meaning that they’re beneficial to players with and without disabilities, improving the general game experience.  

For example, a feature to enlarge font sizes helps players of all ages who may be struggling with reading smaller print while also helping grandparents read to children. Text-to-speech options allow screen readers to be used by players who are blind or have low vision but will also be helpful to people who prefer to have text read to them. Visual cues are there not only for those who are deaf but also for additional player feedback so that there’s an added layer of understanding success or failure. 

Overall, having a racially diverse team that includes people with disabilities, who identify as LGBTQ2S+ and as gender marginalized, and of all different ages, allows an internal vetting where people get to advocate for themselves as players. This ensures that we serve a variety of demographics and their needs. 

Diverse Teams Build Better Products

Bringing a variety of people together means that the culmination of lived experiences is widely varied as opposed to groups with many similarities. On our Rooster team, we have such a wide spectrum of interests in books, hobbies, and video games, that we can draw references from many different titles for gameplay mechanic examples, or confidently decide that something is new and innovative. 

Having internal representation also leads to better character building if based on real people, or at the very least, people of those cultures being able to vet the authenticity of traits, behaviours, and language. In the case of screen media and video games, the end-user experience is improved because the storylines can be more nuanced and meaningful. Authenticity improves relatability and provides deeper resonance for a longer-lasting impression.  

SUPPORTING A DIVERSE TEAM

Build a racially diverse team

Having been the sole racialized person on many otherwise all-Caucasian teams, there’s often a default pressure to represent and defend all racialized people everywhere from the beginning of time, attuned to all cultural sensitivities. Yet sole racialized people frequently face an internal debate over whether to risk one’s social standing as “The Complainer” when having to police outdated or offensive language and/or content. I’ve also had experiences where the few East Asians in a majority Caucasian group are confused for one another despite markedly different features (e.g. glasses, varying accents, lengths of hair). It’s frustrating and frankly, dehumanizing. 

When the team is racially diverse, this takes away the pressure to represent everyone else when people can represent themselves; it reduces or even eliminates (micro)aggressions; and creates a safe space recognizing individuals for who they are.  

When hiring, it’s important to take internal referrals seriously, because they reflect established professional relationships and an existing level of trust. There’s also faster team cohesion when colleagues can trust each other more quickly.  

Ensure everyone is being heard

During our first marketing meeting for Rooster, co-executive producer Sasha Boersma pointedly asked me, “Is there anything you wanted to add? Anything you’ve previously suggested where a former company ignored you?” This gave me the floor and patience to think about what I had to say, while also recognizing my expertise on the subject – nine years as a former community manager in the video game space who also dealt heavily with marketing and launch campaigns. 

When leading teams, individuals should be conscious of the importance of acknowledging and validating team members, making sure that everyone gets a chance to speak when they want to. Many racialized people have been inadvertently trained to expect being shut down or purposely ignored, that they are now too afraid, or too tired, to volunteer any ideas. 

Everyone keeps learning

This heading is two-pronged – one, in that diverse teams keep people learning with inclusive language becoming second nature (e.g. they/them pronouns) and continuously evolving, but also that team members learn about each other in terms of cultures. Over the course of this project, our team has learnt more about disability accommodations and better usage of terms, thanks to Sasha, who is on the Board of the Disability Screen Office.  

Secondly, marginalized people benefit from company-sponsored training. Training is an investment in people as well as the end product. For example, six of us are Certified Accessible Player Experiences® Practitioners, and four of us are media trained, which has helped us market our game in media interviews, at convention booths, and in speaking engagements. Mentorship is a big part of the company ethos, whether mentoring internally or finding external help, it’s an ecosystem that keeps paying forward. 

Make accommodations beneficial to everyone

A number of our Rooster team members are intersectionally-marginalized, meaning that they belong to two or more marginalized groups. Our remote-first workplace, as well as flexible hours, helps both disabled team members (e.g. managing chronic pain) and myself as a mother of two children, working in a different time zone. I’m still able to fulfill my responsibilities as the Writer/Narrative Designer without needing to uproot my family from British Columbia. But I do appreciate that we try for larger gatherings when I am in Toronto.  

At the end of the day, all people just need to feel respected both for who they are as individuals, and the skills and talents they bring to a job. I’ve had the pleasure of being part of a team that allows me to be my most authentic self. There’s a freedom in safely bringing my best ideas that I know were never meant for some other teams. The Rooster team has developed an incredibly supportive, collaborative environment where I’ve been able to focus and flourish. That is a feeling I want other racialized and Indigenous creatives to experience too. 

The post How a Racially Diverse Team Was the Key to My Best Work   appeared first on Canada Media Fund.

Highlights from the Canadian video games sector report

What is the state of inclusion in video game production? And what are the opportunities to be found in a more diverse Canadian industry?

Looking at current trends and challenges, as well as the mutually-reinforcing ecosystem that encompasses relationships between industry workers, games content, and players, the Inclusive Games report by Nordicity makes an undeniable business case for more equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI).

The key arguments that make EDI so worthwhile as an economic undertaking for the sector are threefold:

●       The large amount of “money left on the table” due to exclusion;

●       The untapped value of labour retention, games content, and audience development;

●       And the financial and cultural benefits of differentiating — pushing through the noise in an oversaturated market.

If the Canadian industry was to expand audiences in both export and emergent markets, and reverse the costs of employee turnover, it could generate an estimated CA$635 million in potential revenue.

The first argument is an economic imperative — that more inclusivity would mean bigger growth potential, market share, and audiences, which aren’t currently being embraced.

While the Canadian video game market generates an aggregate CA$4.3 billion (ESAC, 2021), and the American market grossed US$185 billion 2023, there is room to grow.

Here’s how.

Potential value opportunity: players

The first opportunity in a mutually-reinforcing ecosystem of industry, content, and audience growth is the spending power of underrepresented groups. Ample market science suggests that consumers will spend money on brands that are relevant to their identities.

Inviting people with different cultural backgrounds and identities into the video game workforce, and collaborating with them to create more diverse content is a direct avenue to selling more video games — it’s how to tap into new communities and their spending power.

Just take the “pink dollar” value of LGBTQ2S+ audiences, who are cultural tastemakers and an economic force worth an estimated US$1 trillion in the U.S. alone. Or women: who control US$3.1 trillion in worldwide spending, with 92% making purchasing recommendations to others. Or Black American consumers, who have US$1.3 trillion in purchasing power. Recent studies also find that consumer buying power in the U.S. is “more diverse than ever.”

Looking forward, it’s predicted that more than half of American gamers under 30 will be members of racialized communities within the next 10 years. And there is every reason to believe the same is true in Canada.

Canadian-made games can also transcend borders, with potential to reach these gamers both in the states and worldwide.

Despite this opportunity, however, national companies have long been competing in the same space for limited market share, ignoring the revenue potential of creating inclusive games that would reach and activate players beyond.

Ultimately, the industry has room to expand its reach.

A 2021 U.K. study, for instance, found that up to 47% of players in Britain and the U.S. avoided playing a game because they felt it wasn’t “made for them.” Had Canadian companies worked to reach these diverse audiences, it’s estimated they could have increased their 2021 revenues by an additional CA$420 million.

New player bases are also emerging in markets such as Latin America (LATAM) and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) — regions that are seeing year-over-year increases in gamers (6% and 11% respectively from 2022 to 2023). Additional revenue potential exists in these places, where Canada has a lower market penetration — in LATAM and MENA, it’s worth an estimated CA$50 million.

And these figures are only going to grow with time.

Potential value opportunity: content

Despite many trends pointing to a more-diversified audience, games continue to be geared towards white, cis-men in terms of narrative, character representation, and game-play style.

Additionally, a culture of toxicity, incivility, and harassment deters marginalized groups, particularly women and racialized people, from participating in gaming spaces. And few mainstream games feature diversity.

Data shows race- and gender-based representation in games skews heavily white (54%) and male (79%) in terms of protagonists and secondary characters. Studies also found that non-white, male characters are often reduced to harmful stereotypes.

It is imperative that any efforts at making content inclusive not be tokenistic or performative: meaningful engagement with marginalized communities within the workforce and game-development process is essential to successfully portraying more diverse identities.

Conscious intention to foster inclusion creates unique storytelling opportunities that cut through the noise of an increasingly cluttered content landscape.

So what makes a video game inclusive?

●       The (marginalized) character’s place in the story, role in the narrative, and the way their identity is represented;

●       What kinds of stories are being told, and narratives that resonate;

●       Portraying characters and their experiences in authentic ways that connect with people who share that character’s identity.

How can you make an inclusive game?

●       Employ members of under-represented communities to strengthen your video game company and products, and appropriately consult them from day one;

●       Make games inclusive and diverse by design, developing this ethos on your team from the ground up. Marginalized producers must be part of this process.

And don’t forget disability

Accessibility by design is another essential element in EDI, which means industry leaders must consider the needs of people with disabilities from the beginning of game development. Considering a broad spectrum of accessibility needs from the start will make features more intuitive and ingrained.

Including people with disabilities on a development team builds accessibility into the product from the bottom up, helping to standardize it, and ultimately making the final product more playable.

Here’s how industry leaders can change this:

●       Include accessibility features that customize text, subtitles, speech, and auditory prompts; automate aspects of the storyline, offer options for high-contrast visuals, extra-large text legibility, navigation assistance, etc.

●       Provide different options and configurations in game engines, software design, and hardware features for players who may not be able to play games in their standard form;

●       Consult with accessibility design leads from day one, so features are not a post-production add-on, but inherent to the design process;

●       Remember that accessible design leads to a better experience for ALL players and their preferences — not just those with disabilities.

All told, lack of representation deters players from marginalized communities to engage with video game content which, in turn, translates into lost revenue and engagement.

Creating diverse games can also help companies to build a loyal customer base, and hold their interest in the long-term. One U.K. survey found audiences would be more likely to buy games from companies that take an active stance on social issues, and they feel that the games themselves represent a company’s values.

This untapped audience of potential gamers is a missed opportunity in an increasingly-diverse global market, where people are eager to invest in content that resonates.

Potential value opportunity: workforce

A current gap in the talent pipeline and its proximity to underrepresented communities is one notable reason why more inclusive content has yet to materialize. A snapshot of current industry demographics clearly demonstrates that the Canadian workforce lacks diversity.

Most notably:

●       56% of companies have yet to develop an EDI program;

●       85% of the workforce is white; only 41% of women work directly on games;

●       Marginalized groups make up the majority of entry-level and administrative roles, and Women of Colour have the lowest representation across all role types.

Creating a more inclusive games industry starts with a more diverse workforce. Creating one may seem like a daunting undertaking, as it requires foundational and structural changes to current practices, however industry leaders can address it with a few essential starting points:

1. The traditional pipeline to entry: Rethinking recruitment, and restructuring the hiring process to address systemic barriers to entry. Developing thoughtful onboarding processes. Embracing non-traditional and alternative pipelines for talent such as game jams, coding bootcamps, game-writing programs, pre-accelerators, impact funds, and co-operative workspaces.
2. Worker retention and turnover: Addressing the sustainability of ‘crunch culture’ and long hours. Nipping insensitive work environments, alienation, and exclusion in the bud with better support systems and safety nets for marginalized workers.
3. Workplace standards: Tackling the “echo chamber effect” that occurs when workers are hired for (discriminatory ideas of) culture fit rather than diversity in skill or perspective. Embracing EDI practices that ensure everyone with skill, passion, and desire to create games can do so. And making accessibility, inclusion, and accommodations more universal and built in from the ground up.
4. Diversity in leadership: Because real change starts at the top, the importance of leading by example cannot be understated. It also demonstrates to potential workers that these issues are not only prioritized, but practiced within the company.
5. A culture of work-life balance, autonomy, agency, and inclusion: Studies show shortened work weeks have little-to-no impact on productivity, and improve staff stress levels. These values also create trust and are valued by those with diverse needs and responsibilities. Adopting remote work opens up possibilities for disabled and global team members, creating a more diverse pool of workers. Giving staff agency by inviting opinions and feedback throughout the production process creates products that are diverse by design. And involving marginalized communities in the planning and decision-making processes of games creation is non-negotiable.

Ultimately, the potential benefits of having a more diverse, healthy, and happy workforce are significant. Tapping into new demographics can help solve the ongoing industry labour shortage, while EDI practices help retain workers once they arrive.

Furthermore, improving work environments from the inside out increases employee satisfaction across the board — and will save your company money.

Reviewing the business case

Inclusive practices — namely expanding audiences in emerging and export markets, and optimizing workforce efficiencies — would create significant opportunities for games companies in Canada to unlock higher earnings.

There are also additional cost savings related to reducing video game employee turnover, which can be achieved by developing an inclusive work culture and adopting best EDI practices, which are outlined above.

To conclude, the “money left on the table” can be summarized thusly,

Developing more inclusive video games, and creating a more diverse industry is not just “the right thing” for Canadian companies to do — it is the financially intelligent thing to do.

To the tune of CA$634 million in additional revenue and cost savings per year. 

The post A (Business) Case for Inclusion appeared first on Canada Media Fund.

What are you telling the world when you name your videogame studio Cococucumber?

“It says we aren’t your typical game studio,” answers the company's co-founder, Vanessa Chia. “It represents us, and says we are fun and engaging, and that we aren’t taking ourselves too seriously.” 

That’s the thinking that drives the studio’s slate of games, especially the recently released Ravenlok, the third entry in their acclaimed Voxel trilogy. 

“The game is named after the character Ravenlok, a young girl who is always looking to escape into these other worlds. She gets pulled into a mirror and into a fantastical world where she goes on a journey to help overcome great evil and corruption,” explains Chia, who served as the game’s writer and director. “It follows the structure of the hero’s journey, and we also drew a lot from Alice in Wonderland, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and classic fairy tales.”

All three games in the trilogy—Riverbond, Echo Generation, and Ravenlok—were made possible thanks to CMF funding. 

“The CMF has supported us both in terms of funding, but also in terms of opportunities that they have unlocked for us,” says Chia.  

“As an indie game studio, we face many challenges. We work with original intellectual property—that is a struggle—and without the CMF it would be impossible for us to do this. The CMF’s support has also enabled us to get distribution partners such as Xbox on board. And since we are self-publishing the game, it is like a seal of approval for the quality we’re able to achieve.”

Chia grew up in Malaysia, studied in the United Kingdom, and eventually made the move to Toronto, where she worked in film and television before co-founding Cococucumber with Martin Gauvreau.   

Ravenlok casts a young girl as the game’s lead protagonist, which Chia says is still somewhat rare in the video game industry. But as Ravenlok’s writer, she points out that “what is rarer is to have young female protagonists written by female writers. In fact, our company at the moment is more women than men. We built the team around the idea that making games should be equal, and we should give a voice to people who may not have an opportunity to have a voice in this industry.” 

That commitment to equity and inclusion is paying off.   

“We attracted half a million players in the six weeks that followed the game's launch,” proudly says Chia. “It’s been very well rated by players globally and we’re really happy to see such a strong response from fans. Ravenlok is by far our most popular game.”  

The post Creators Who Inspire: Meet Vanessa Chia appeared first on Canada Media Fund.

The devastating impact of COVID-19 on the audiovisual production industry in Canada and around the world was one for the books. And even with Canadian Heritage’s January 2023 $100 million infusion to Telefilm Canada over two years, the industry has no choice but to continue innovating to achieve the improved financial resilience and performance it needs. This is where virtual production may play a strategic role. Growing demand for this new tool is actually a direct result of the pandemic. Manitoba has just been added to the list of regions where virtual production studios are available in urban centres. Indeed, New Media Manitoba (NMM) opened a studio and training centre earlier this year and is already providing training to key players in the industry.

So, what is virtual production? It’s a way of creating immersive virtual universes by combining high-end computing power with Epic Games’ Unreal Engine. Epic deployed the revenue stream from its monster FortNite video game to develop an engine that provides filmmakers with the same tools the interactive industry uses. As Epic says, “We make the engine. You make it Unreal.”

With Unreal Engine you can create virtual universes that interact with a studio camera in real time. An elaborate system of sensors in the studio’s ceiling connects the camera shooting a scene to a virtual Unreal Engine camera that brings the scene to life right before your eyes. The selected virtual universe is projected on a volume wall. “Our volume wall is 24 by 12 feet (7.3m by 3.6m) and features 144 images, each with four panels,” said  NMM StudioLab xR project manager Jonathan Lê.

Unlike a green screen, for example, the volume wall allows crews to see scenes in real time as they’re being created. “Of course, even though the volume wall has many advantages, green screens will still be used,” Lê said. “But there’s no question the new tool makes it easier for actors to look in the right direction during their scene while the technical team can provide better studio and stage lighting. It’s a question of investing time in pre-production instead of post-production.”

StudioLab xR is the first Unreal-accredited training studio in Canada, and only the fourth studio of its kind in the country. The genesis of the project goes back to 2022, but international conflicts and pandemic-related disruptions to the supply chain hampered the process and delayed its launch date. Thanks to some $3.5 million in federal and provincial funding, NMM was at long last able to open StudioLab xR in early 2024. Since then leading industry organizations, including On Screen Manitoba, IATSE 856, ICG 699, ACTRA, and DGC-Manitoba, have partnered with NMM in offering training sessions.

“We invited trainers from Fish Flight Entertainment, a Vancouver-based studio with proven Unreal experience, to support our local training team in their work with Manitoba industry members,” said NMM executive director Louie Ghiz. “We set up five teams of five members each led by an experienced director. We tasked each team with creating a scene using Unreal Engine on a one-day shoot, with trainers on hand to respond to their specific needs and to point out the possibilities,” he said.

Franco-Manitoban director Danielle Sturk participated in the first training session. She was keen because of the creative potential she saw in Unreal Engine. “I’m very interested in the idea of doing an animation project entirely in Manitoba,” she said. Sturk created a live-action scene during the training session and already intends to book the studio to explore the possibilities for one of her projects in development.

“I wanted to see what we were able to do here without hiring a studio in another province, how long it takes to make changes using Unreal software in real time, and how long actors have to wait between takes,” Sturk said. “With this information, I can compare using Unreal against a conventional animation project, and put a budget together I can present to broadcasters. I’m hoping it will be more cost efficient as well as giving me an additional creative tool to work with.”

Whether the live-action scene lived up to her expectations is another matter. “I don’t think it’s quite there yet in terms of realism. While I think it works well for science fiction, it still isn’t foolproof in real-life situations from my point of view,” said Sturk. Nevertheless, she’s confident that the technology will be developed rapidly to get there.

StudioLab xR is in full growth mode and expects to receive additional funding from donors and the industry. Management is looking to increase the initial budget to $4 million or $5 million. “The training we received from the industry and Fish Flight Entertainment staff really prepared us well for our first production,” said Lê.

They’ll also be busy for the rest of the year developing a calendar of training courses, audiovisual productions, and arranging corporate use for engineering and architectural firms. StudioLab xR has already been commissioned to provide training in Saskatchewan, Ontario, and British Columbia, with commitments that will allow for making reinvestments in their local infrastructure.

And what about an AI connection? Jonathan Lê is upbeat. “I think AI will speed up the filmmaking process and make certain things easier to do. But I don’t think it will replace the need for real humans in the directing process. As well as having confidence in the human factor, I also believe that copyright issues with AI-generated images are going to become increasingly more problematic in models like these,” he said.

The post Manitoba Gets Unreal Virtual Production Tool appeared first on Canada Media Fund.

Following their first documentary film, shot inside the Grand Theft Auto videogame (Marlowe Drive, 2017), Ekiem Barbier and his team went back for more with Knit’s Island (2023), set inside the DayZ survivalist game. The French filmmaker spoke about his approach during a panel discussion on “The Documentary in the Digital Age” held last November as part of the Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM).

Ekiem Barbier first became interested in the documentary genre as a student at the Montpellier Fine Arts school. “I soon realized that whenever you watch a documentary, there’s an unwritten rule that says you must agree that everything you see is real. But I didn’t agree because for me it’s all like fiction,” he said. “I don’t really see any difference between documentary and fiction. I’ve always wondered why we have this thing in our brains that makes us believe that what we see in a documentary is more real than fiction.”

Not surprisingly, Barbier and fellow directors, Quentin L’helgoualc’h and Guilhem Causse, took that concept to the limits by filming in a location completely outside the real world. “The original idea was to make the most unreal documentary possible in a place most people agree is not real at all,” he said. Online videogames had quickly become mainstream. So, without missing a beat the directorial triumvirate picked the world of Grand Theft Auto as the location for their first documentary. For his second production, Barbier gave the nod to the online multiplayer-focused sandbox game DayZ set in a post-apocalyptic world.

“Anyone playing this game must eat, drink, stay warm, and never get sick, There’s no storyline. The only goal is to survive,” said Barbier. “There are no cars or motorcycles like in Grand Theft Auto. You can walk for hours without meeting a single soul and it takes two hours just to get from one village to another. When you meet anyone, it’s a big deal. And you want to make the most of it. So, to me the film is also all about encounters.”

The body is a camera

The DayZ production team created three player profiles, two acting as documentary journalists and a third as a camera technician. “The images in the film are from the point of view of the camera technician’s avatar, which was also the director of photography on location. In this case the camera is a body, one that breathes, eats, and can get sick,” Barbier said. “As long as the avatar breathes or has the sniffles, the frame moves.” It’s easy to see the intrinsic subjectivity of the documentary medium itself in such a context.

In spite of all this, the French team remained fixated on the idea of creating a classic, linear documentary. Because as far as Barbier is concerned, it’s what you decide to show and not to show that defines cinema. “For me, cinema must have a framework. In a sense, virtual reality on its own can never be cinema,” he said. To this end, the production team did everything they could to treat the project like a real documentary. They asked for permission to film in the game, just as they would have done for any real physical location and asked for consent from the players to use their image, even though as avatars their anonymity was secure.

“We decided to experiment by meeting virtual people and pretending they were real. And to treat virtual space as real space," said Barbier. “It is actually part of reality after all since it does exist somewhere. Even if it’s only a fantasy or a figment of the imagination, it’s very real in that sense. It says something about the people that incorporate it. I think if we posed such questions in the real world, some people might be too uncomfortable to answer.”

The very real paradox of virtual worlds

Paradoxically, the documentary manages to lift the lid on a portion of reality where we ultimately meet everyone in the film literally offscreen. At one point, a mother disconnects from the platform when she hears her baby crying in another room. During the opening scene survivalist mercenaries rave about the pleasure they get in capturing, torturing, and killing people.

“There’s definitely something very strange about being in a virtual community,” Barbier said. “You’re alone…but with other people. You have the impression that you can live out your fantasies – like being violent – when it’s just you in front of the screen. Virtual worlds present this huge paradox. They’re supposed us bring us together, but in a way it’s the very opposite. They keep us apart, isolating us. You might think they’re creating a sense of community when it’s a feeling of alienation they’re building. Minds come together in tiny groups on networks that feed off shared opinions.”

Know thyself

In a way Knit’s Island is a behavioural study of virtual communities reminiscent of the work of early 20th-century anthropologists. During the RIDM panel discussion, moderator Samara Grace Chadwick (executive director of The Flaherty) drew a parallel between Barbier’s approach and the one that documentary filmmakers took in filming an Inuit community in Nanook of the North (1922), over a hundred years ago.

“Not much has changed since then,” Barbier said. “When I first saw Nanook of the North, I thought it said more about the people making the documentary than about the subjects being filmed. I guess that just goes with the territory when you’re an anthropologist. You think you’re studying one thing when you’re actually studying yourself.”

Barbier himself seems ambivalent about how we use technology. “I catch myself sometimes reaching for my phone and I don’t even know why. A part of me is doing the gesture but I also feel there’s something about it that wasn’t my idea. Sometimes I’d like to just get away. I wonder whether our interest in the virtual comes from within or is it being imposed on us? I don’t know. I really don’t have the answer.”

The post Knit’s Island: what You See Is Not Necessarily What You Get When Filming a Real Documentary in an Unreal World appeared first on Canada Media Fund.

Four years after allegations of “toxic” corporate culture in the video game industry, a new sectoral study demonstrates that the problem has not been entirely resolved. Women in gaming continue to experience more harassment and feel less heard than their male colleagues. How can studios be more welcoming to all?

We brought this question to researcher Gabrielle Trépanier-Jobin, author of the study Diversité, équité et inclusion dans l’industrie du jeu vidéo québécoise, and Angela Mejia, cofounder of independent studio Clever Plays, who recently underwent HR training to improve her HR practices. 

To begin, the picture painted by the report (based on a summer 2021 survey of 1532 Quebec studio employees), is far from catastrophic. Let’s take two examples. On the issue of belonging, 66% of men responded “completely,” compared to 62% of their female colleagues. Next, 50% of women said they got the credit they deserved, compared to 48% of males. Taking sample size into account, the researcher concluded these percentages represent similar results from one gender to the next.

“If we look only at media coverage in recent years, it gives the impression that all women working in the video game industry suffer and endure sexism and harassment,” says Gabrielle Trépanier-Jobin. “But the situation is much more nuanced.”

We must, however, recognize that harassment and lack of consideration continue to be “gendered.” For example, women say they have received sexual messages three times more frequently than men  (19% versus 6% of men), and have experienced inappropriate touching four times more frequently (17% versus 4% of men). Furthermore, the researcher reports a significant gap between people who can express themselves without judgment (54% of women versus 64% of men) and those who feel the constant need to “prove themselves” (58% of women versus 44% of men). 

Training to break isolation 

To improve this situation, Gabrielle Trépanier-Jobin reminds us that good HR practices start with training employees (on diversity and inclusion) as well as those who supervise creation and production teams.

“Managers have power and authority over employees, yet they haven’t always been trained for these positions,” the researcher notes. “Sometimes people climb the ladder because of success in their creative or technical niche. Which is perfectly fine. Nevertheless, a management role demands emotional skills, to be able to listen to their team. So it’s well worth training managers for this purpose.” 

Next, Gabrielle Trépanier-Jobin points to an aspect of her study pertaining to “solo status,” which means being the only representative of one’s gender on a team, a situation experienced by 78% of women and only 18% of men. However, solo status made 41% of women who experienced it uncomfortable, compared to 12% of men in the same situation. The percentage of women who feel they don’t belong and who can’t express themselves without judgment is “significantly” higher among those with solo status, compared to women on mixed teams. “I find this fact to be interesting, because balancing out teams at work is something studios could quickly put in place.”

Clever Plays, proactively creating safe spaces

In terms of diversity, in many respects, the independent Clever Plays studio serves as a model: it was cofounded in 2013 by a man (Mattieu Begin, formerly of Ubisoft) and a woman (Angela Mejia), its six-employee production team has achieved gender parity, and its latest video game – Operation Tango – showcases a pair of protagonists including a bearded redhead and a racialized woman.

Yet far from resting on its laurels, six months ago the studio decided to carry out an external HR exercise to improve its team practices. “The evaluation showed that the values of the founders were well understood by their employees: respect, communication, and the desire to make quality games. However, it was found that we had to work on the notion of safe space.” Stepping back, management effectively realized that senior employees took up a lot of space, and that juniors were shy to ask questions.

“Just becoming aware of the situation can greatly change the dynamic,” she says. “We want our junior employees to feel comfortable saying they are having a problem with their work. To create a safe space, we rely on positive feedback from managers and a message from leadership that makes it clear we want everybody’s input.”

Rethinking game content

Above and beyond internal management, Angela Mejia brings up another issue that could help heal the gaming industry’s work culture: video game content. For a long time, studios were at the mercy of players who defended a traditional vision of gaming, one built on graphic violence and glorification of white heroes with big biceps. Then in 2014, an online harassment campaign by these “gatekeepers” targeted women in the video game industry.

Following gamegate, large studios became aware of their responsibility to the games they were creating. Video games are an incredibly powerful cultural reference, says the Clever Plays cofounder. “I think we haven’t yet understood, as a society, all the impact that games have on people, including children.”

Which raises the question: could making video games with positive content, celebrating diversity, have a positive impact on internal studio culture? Angela Mejia believes that it could. “As an independent studio, we can’t compete with the big studios when it comes to salary, but we can stand out through the quality and subject matter of our games. We look for people who are motivated to create inclusive games,” she explains.

Rethinking game content is a good starting point to make the industry more welcoming to women, and more broadly, to all those from underrepresented communities. 

The post Women in video games: the quest for inclusive culture appeared first on Canada Media Fund.

This article, along with six other portraits of creators that inspire, was first published in the CMF 2022 Annual Report.

Christopher Chancey and his team at Montreal’s ManaVoid Entertainment wanted to create a videogame that would brighten people’s lives both on and off-screen.

They came up with an inspired, and inspiring, concept: a child must find a way to bring colour into a black and white world.

In October 2021, after three years in development, they released the RPG game Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan, which became an instant hit with players of all ages and especially those identifying as non-binary and LGBTQ+, who rarely see themselves represented in videogames.

“We showcased the game at Montreal Comiccon to see whether it would work,” says ManaVoid’s President & CEO Chancey on the line from Montreal. “A lot of people came to us and said they loved the whole recolouring thing, the rainbow as a symbol, and a lot of the LGBTQ+ community started telling us they were vibing with the game for reasons that were a bit unforeseen for us.”

“The character of Billy was non-gendered in our minds, so we decided to really lean into it and make the character non-binary,” he continues. “We consulted with different people, including Annie Pullen Sansfaçon, who has a research chair at the Université de Montréal working with trans children, to give us a sense of how gender identity works with children.”

Chancey’s team also made sure to include dyslexia-friendly fonts and one-stick control so players with mobility issues could also play.

At the heart of the game is a child and their friends who talk to the creatures who have sucked the colour out of their world. By being empathic towards the creatures, asking them questions, and helping them deal with their issues through conversations, mini games, and various challenges, colours begin to return to the world. There isn’t a moment of violence in the 30+ hours of game play.

“There aren’t a lot of non-violent role-playing games,” says Chancey. “We were inspired by an article we read that said something like 83 per cent of the games shown at 2019’s E3—one of the world’s biggest videogame events—contained violence, and we thought that was a really sad statistic. We wanted to show you could make a really high-quality videogame without leaning into violence.”

That approach caught the attention of the Canada Media Fund, which awarded Chancey and his team funding to work on the game’s prototype.

“I have to say the Canada Media Fund is pretty much the best money you can get,” he explains. “They are very hands off and really trust the developers to create their vision. And because of their strong financial backing, we were able to negotiate a deal with the publisher to keep our intellectual property. And that was all because of the Canada Media Fund, which gives you that injection of cash that is so hard to initially get for a project.”

For Chancey, it’s the player reaction from Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan that give him the greatest sense of satisfaction.

“The reaction has honestly been wild,” says Chancey. “People understand what we were trying to do. The communities that we wanted to vibe with the game did so. We wanted to rise to the challenge of making a game where we could talk about things like a non-binary character and not have it be a big deal.

“And the game is really touching,” he says proudly. “We saw some people on Twitch cry when they finished the game. We managed to really touch people with certain characters. Making someone cry is the ultimate validation for a game developer. That was awesome.”

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