A new association has formed in Nova Scotia to advance the interests of the burgeoning video game industry.

The Nova Scotia Game Developers Association formally announced its launch earlier this month, promising to promote and advance the growing industry within the province.

“We were all working on various initiatives and coming together makes us stronger players within the industry,” said President Kirsten Tomilson in an interview last week. “Our aim is to promote and advocate digital game developers, and I think it’s important that we value inclusion.”

According to the Entertainment Software Association of Canada , 18 videogame development studios across the province employ about 350 people, making it the fourth-largest provincial game development industry in Canada.  These range from local companies of one or two people or development offices of international companies, like Frontier Developments of the U.K. People within the industry say gaming companies form an excellent incubation system because developers who work on games learn a broad range of talents needed in virtually all other digital segments.  

The association, which now has 30 members, will serve as a rallying point for this industry and focus on a few concerns that are of particular concern.

First, Tomilson said it wants to develop relationships with post-secondary institutions and government to ensure the young people coming into the industry are prepared for its requirements. That means that curriculum must be pertinent to demands of the current trends in gaming. Tomilson explained that the technology and demands of consumers change each year, and the industry, government and schools must keep abreast of all developments.

Second, the association intends to take an active role in advocating a permanent digital media tax credit.

“In order to accelerate the growth and make it a sustainable industry, we have to focus on the tax credit,” said Tomilson.

The digital media credit is an incentive for companies active in neither film (which are eligible for the Nova Scotia film tax credit) nor in software development (which can apply to the federal government’s scientific research and experimental development program), but somewhere between the two segments.

It gives companies a credit worth 50 percent of the Nova Scotia labour used in a project, or 25 percent of the total cost of a project, whichever is lower. There is a larger credit for companies employing people outside the Halifax area. The problem is that recently it has been renewed on a year-by-year basis, rather than being a permanent incentive, which makes it difficult for companies to plan and take on large projects.

As well as Tomilson, who is President of ‎Fourth Monkey Media of Lunenburg, the executive of the association includes Vice-President  David Walsh of Frontier and Treasurer Willie Stephenson   of Silverback Productions of Halifax.