Alberta's video game industry assesses future after tax credit axed

New World Interactive’s decision to establish New World North in Calgary brought an established international game developer and new development jobs to Alberta. The studio was created following the success of Insurgency: Sandstorm, with plans to support that game and contribute to future projects while expanding its Calgary workforce. President Keith Warner also used the international Reboot Develop conference to promote Alberta as an emerging game-development region, participating alongside representatives from BioWare, Improbable, Serious Labs and Only By Midnight. This gave Calgary and Edmonton studios visibility within a conference attended by developers, publishers and investors from around the world. New World’s expansion was particularly important for Calgary, where the industry had fewer large established studios than Edmonton, and demonstrated the potential for Alberta to attract experienced developers and game companies from outside the province.