Last night I attende
d yet another excellent Oregon Entrepreneur’s Network (OEN) PubTalk, the topic being the Future of Oregon’s Video Game Industry.
Speakers included Nick Lambert of Mountain Machine Studios, Yori Kvitchko of SleepNinja Games, Paul Culp of SuperGenius Studio, and Brian Jamison of Jumpdrive Studios.
The talk had particular relevance to me as I am co-founder of a video game company (G2GEnterprises) with a game in development (I could tell you about it but then I’d have to kill you). Suffice to say that the game several speakers said they would be playing in 5 to 10 years described the game we are building.
The takeaway’s? There is (and will be) no killer app, killer game, or killer technology that will wreck all that has gone before. Despite annual hysteria over the new, new thing and predictions of doom from whatever new tech is coming, new developments will continue to slide into place,
co-existing with and advancing all that has gone before.
Virtual reality is the new, new thing, with barriers to widespread implementation dropping constantly. It’s never been easier to apply VR to preexisting games and tech, and will continue to get easier and more widespread.
And VR currently gives most people motion sickness.
That, and Oregon – and Portland in particular – are poised to be a hub for game design and development. With its immense pool of creative talent, low-ish cost of living, high quality of life, and close proximity to the West Coast computer, technology, and media industries, it is the right place at the right time.
But Oregon needs a far more robust tax and development incentive program to lure more projects and companies to the Silicon Forest.
Ok – those last two comments are mine.