E3 was an annual trade event for the video game industry organized and presented by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). It was held principally in Los Angeles from 1995 to 2019, with its final iteration held virtually in 2021. The event hosted developers, publishers, hardware manufacturers, and other industry professionals who used the occasion to introduce and advertise upcoming games, hardware, and merchandise to the press. During its existence, E3 was the world's largest and most prestigious annual gaming expo.
The video game industry is the tertiary and quaternary sectors of the entertainment industry that specialize in the development, marketing, distribution, monetization, and consumer feedback of video games. The industry encompasses dozens of job disciplines and thousands of jobs worldwide.
The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is an annual conference for video game developers. The event includes an expo, networking events, and awards shows like the Game Developers Choice Awards and Independent Games Festival, and a variety of tutorials, lectures, and roundtables by industry professionals on game-related topics covering programming, design, audio, production, business and management, and visual arts.
The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) is a nonprofit professional association whose stated mission is to "support and empower game developers around the world in achieving fulfilling and sustainable careers."
A trade show, also known as trade fair, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products and services, meet with industry partners and customers, study activities of competitors, and examine recent market trends and opportunities.
Anime Evolution is the general name for a number of anime conventions held in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was organized by AE Convention Corp. until 2010 and by the Vancouver Anime Convention Society since 2012. It was traditionally held in August until 2012 before moving to June and then later July. The event was an annual three-day convention, and over time added two single day events, Harumatsuri and Akimatsuri. The summer event, called AE Summer, was shortened to a single day event in 2017. The 2019 Anime Evolution event: Harumatsuri saw a return to a multi-day format and a Burnaby venue.
Fan Expo Canada is an annual speculative fiction fan convention held in Toronto, Ontario. It was founded as the Canadian National Comic Book Expo in 1995 by Hobby Star Marketing Inc. It includes distinctly branded sections, including GX and SFX, and formerly CNAnime. It is a four-day event typically held the weekend before Labour Day during the summer at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC).
PAX is a series of gaming culture festivals involving tabletop, arcade, and video gaming. PAX is held annually in Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia, and Melbourne. Previously, it was also held in San Antonio.
Vancouver's economy is one of the most vibrant in Canada. The British Columbian city is Canada's official gateway to the Pacific Rim, a major port, and the main western terminus of transcontinental highway and rail routes. Vancouver has successfully transitioned from a predominantly resource-based economy to a diverse knowledge-based one, and in recent years has been the fastest growing economy in Canada. According to the Conference Board of Canada, in 2017 Vancouver's GDP was CA$137 billion, with a GDP growth rate of 4.5%, meaning that Vancouver represents approximately 7.5% of Canada's overall economy. Major economic sectors include trade, film and TV, technology, tourism, natural resources, and construction.
Donald Allan Mattrick is a Canadian businessman who co-founded Distinctive Software (DSI) in 1982 in Vancouver at age 17, while graduating from high school and attending Simon Fraser University where he studied business and managerial economics. DSI became the largest independent game developer in North America and was then acquired by Electronic Arts in 1991 who renamed it to EA Vancouver and later EA Canada. Mattrick worked at EA Canada for 15 years as the president of Worldwide Studios. In 2007, he joined Microsoft as the president of the Interactive Entertainment Business, famous for developing Kinect for Xbox 360. From 2013 to 2015, he then became the CEO of publicly trading social gaming company Zynga.
The International Academic Conference on the Future of Game Design and Technology, also known as FuturePlay, is an international academic conference that focuses on the future of video game design and technology. The most recent conference under that title was held in 2010.
Otakuthon is a Canadian anime convention promoting Japanese animation (anime), Japanese graphic novels (manga), related gaming and Japanese pop-culture. It is held annually for 3 days in downtown Montreal during a weekend in August. It is a non-profit, fan-run anime convention that was initiated by Concordia University's anime club, named Otaku Anime of Concordia University. The name "Otakuthon" is a portmanteau of the Japanese word "otaku" and "marathon". Otakuthon strives to be a bilingual event, having programming, the masquerade and the program book in both official languages. The first edition of Otakuthon was held in 2006 in mid-June, but later moved to early-mid August / late July from 2007 onward. The most recent edition, Otakuthon 2024, was held on August 2-4, 2024 at the Palais des congrès de Montréal.
The Montreal International Games Summit (MIGS), also known as Le Sommet International du jeu de Montréal (SIJM), is a conference on video games. The first summit was held in 2004 and it usually takes place in November at Le Palais des Congrès de Montreal in Canada. Its mission is to expand the exposure of the video game community in Quebec, and to improve the Quebec video game industry. MIGS is currently the leading professional gaming summit of the East Coast. The overall aim of MIGS is to promote, train, network, and hire potential developers in the gaming industry. Professionals attending the summit partake in lectures and presentations largely oriented around how to improve specific aspects of the industry, such as art, VFX, and design. Currently, MIGS has partnered with many of the leading electronic and game development companies in Canada, including Ubisoft and Warner Bros. Games. The Montreal International Gaming Summit is networked similarly to the Electronic Entertainment Expo, using the same application to facilitate interaction between industry players and associates. In 2008 MIGS became an event that was open to the public. 2013 marked the tenth annual Montreal International Gaming Summit.
GCA Games Convention Asia is a major video game exhibition in the Asia-Pacific region. It consists of a public exhibition and a conference where the various players in the video game industry network and interact with each other, while showcasing their latest products and services to the public. Games Convention Asia serves as an entryway for companies trying to enter the Asian interactive entertainment market.
Game Design Expo is an annual event in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for video game industry professionals and enthusiasts, hosted by Vancouver Film School's Game Design program. The inaugural event in 2007 was the first of its kind in Vancouver. Game Design Expo has presented such industry speakers as Ron Gilbert and Eric Zimmerman, and designers and producers from companies like Bungie, Activision, Electronic Arts, BioWare, and Mythic Entertainment.
Canada's video game industry consists of approximately 32,300 employees across 937 companies. In 2021, the industry generated an estimated US$3.4 billion in revenue, having grown by 20% since 2019. Video game development is beginning to rival the film and television production industry as a major contributor to the Canadian economy. The industry this year in 2023 projects to make in U.S. Dollars about 5.77 Billon Dollars.
VRTO was founded in 2015 by Keram Malicki-Sánchez as a Meetup group dedicated to virtual reality in Toronto. In June 2016, VRTO launched the VRTO Virtual & Augmented Reality World Conference & Expo, a professional event focused on exploring arts, culture, and science through immersive technologies.
Richard Ludlow is an American video game audio director, sound designer, music producer, and voice director, best known for his work on Disney Infinity, King's Quest, Ring of Elysium and Arena of Valor. He is the founder and co-owner of Hexany Audio. Ludlow was named on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list of 2019 under the Games category.
Enthusiast Gaming Holdings Inc. is a Canadian digital media company specializing in video game journalism. Founded in 2014 by entrepreneur Menashe Kestenbaum, the company owned the websites Destructoid and Escapist Magazine from 2014 to September 2022, as well the gaming convention Enthusiast Gaming Live Expo (EGLX). The company went public on the TSX Venture Exchange in October 2018. In January 2020, the company's listing moved to the Toronto Stock Exchange. The company was also trading on the Nasdaq from April 2021 to October 2023. Enthusiast Gaming owns a number of websites and runs an annual convention in Toronto.
