The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is a flagship event in the gaming industry, bringing together world renowned speakers along with publishers, game developers and investors from around the globe.
With around 61% of Canadians or twenty-three million people actively gaming in 2020, the eSports industry in Canada is steadily maturing. In 2021, industry revenues reached over $1.1 billion globally, with a year-over-year increase of 26.7%. Each year, it contributes around CAD $4.5 billion to the country’s GDP.
Canada Invests in Gaming Companies
Global companies such as Sony and Nintendo have invested in Canadian studios, development takes off across the country. As the world’s biggest form or entertainment the game industry drives innovation across sectors of development, art, design, cloud, AI/ML and almost every facet of the technology landscape.
“Canada and its provinces have consistently invested in the studios and people that service the gaming industry and create entertainment experiences, says Ryan Valley, Global Gaming Lead at TEKsystems Global Services. “That industry participation has spurred a number of great home grown companies as well as attracted the largest industry players for the last two decades.”
The Canadian Trade Commissioner Service (TCS) is once again leveraging this opportunity, and supporting Canadian gaming companies to accelerate their international business expansion in the video games industry, by working to connect them with international buyers and opportunities.
At The Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2022, the TCS hosted a delegation of 80 Canadian companies and facilitated 580 business meetings with 23 qualified international buyers recruited specifically by our network to be matched with Canadian talent.
This year, the TCS is offering the following business program:
- Business matchmaking: free accounts for Canadian gaming companies on MeetToMatch, the preferred business-to-business (B2B) meeting platform coinciding with GDC.
- Meeting rooms available exclusively for Canadian gaming companies to conduct their meetings during the week-long event.
- Canadian Gaming Profile Book, which will be shared with international buyers.
- Trade Commissioners located on-site to support Canadian participants.
Activities organized by the Trade Commission Services
- Gain insights and market intelligence
- Increase visibility of your product or service
- Meet key commercial entities, industry players, and potential buyers, investors and/or partners
- Participate in networking events
- Participate in pre-organized business to business meetings
- Receive on-the-ground assistance from the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service
The Game Developers Conference (GDC) brings the game development community together to exchange ideas, solve problems, and shape the future of the industry across five days of education, inspiration, and networking. Attendees include programmers, artists, producers, game designers, audio professionals, and business leaders. Some key features of GDC include:
- The market-defining conference has a comprehensive selection of lectures, panels, and roundtable discussions.
- The GDC Expo showcases the latest game development tools and services from leading technology companies such as Amazon, Epic, Google, Intel, Nvidia, Oculus, and Sony.
- Dedicated community spaces where GDC attendees can take a break from all of the learning to relax and meet new people in themed areas for playable indie games, retro games, alternative controllers, and more.
GDC hosts two awards ceremonies recognizing the creativity, artistry, and technical genius of the finest developers and games:
- The Game Developers Choice Awards is the leading peer-based video game awards show celebrating the industry’s top games and developers.
- The Independent Games Festival honors the most innovative and exemplary projects in indie game development.
GDC also hosts semi-annual installments of the GDC Masterclass program, which is comprised of day-long or multi-day, small-group virtual workshops that deliver in-depth, hands-on training around some of the most important challenges facing game developers today.
