New Orleans is already Hollywood South but could it become a new North American Mecca for video game development as well? Local business leaders believe so and are pushing to further expand the generally high-paying industry’s presence.
“Ten years ago we didn’t have one video game developer in Louisiana,” said Louisiana Economic Development’s Ben Fleig. “We’ve got six (now).”
Fleig noted the video game industry is at nearly 200 billion in yearly sales, which is now more than Hollywood sees every year.
While a number of local developers are making waves, like InXile, local leaders believe the cultural opportunities and generous tax incentives could lure in even more talent. Last week 40 to 50 developers from North America and Europe were hosted in New Orleans for Game Fete. Flieg said the elevator pitch is New Orleans is “high culture and low cost (of living, compared to other coastal cities).
“Factor in that the state is willing to give these companies a 25% tax credit on all of their production labor, it’s tremendous, it’s a tremendous cost savings,” said Fleig.
While many of these local developers are working on AAA titles like Fortnight, and other indie projects, Fleig said the core technology at play is increasingly common outside of traditional games. He noted companies like Shell use game technology to train workers before they head out to potentially dangerous assignments, and it’s even used in healthcare.
“The folks at Ochsner New Orleans are using the same game engine that powers 99% of mobile games for visualization of certain surgical procedures,” said Fleig.