22 BCBUSINESS SEPTEMBER 2017
How is running a video game
company different from sell-
ing enterprise software?
At PureEdge we would do two
software releases a year. Here
we push updates to our games
every week. So I wanted to be
in a world where we could focus
on our players and iterate really
quickly on the feedback from
players. And that seemed to
me like the best model that you
could really scale and grow. So I
thought, "Hey, this thing I love,
gaming, now can •t within the
things I'm looking for in a busi-
ness model."
Your studio partners with
Victoria School District on an
internship program that lets
students work in different
aspects of the company. Why
do you do that?
For years I worked in enter-
prise software, and any time
I talked to someone in high
school about, "You know, tech's
actually a great place to work,"
they're like, "What do you do?"
"Oh, well, really complicated
electronic form software."
And they're like, "Oh, please
don't talk to me anymore." But
when you talk to them about
video games, you can hold their
interest.
In terms of the growth in the
B.C. tech sector, unquestion-
ably we have labour shortages
projected for the future. So in
my mind, that's where video
games have a key role. Maybe
only 5,000 work in video
games out of over 100,000
people in tech, but it's the gate-
way to the rest of those jobs.
How is the Victoria tech
community different from
Vancouver?
In Vancouver, you've got
DigiBC, you've got LifeSciences
BC, you've got BC Tech, and
you've got other satellite
groups as well. Whereas in
Victoria, we've got VIATEC,
and it was very intentional to
have an embrace-all philosophy
so we could keep
VIATEC as
the central point of the tech
industry. One thing we were
able to do a few years ago was
to buy a building where we
now have incubation space for
startup companies as well as
a space that is used by all sorts
of organizations. It's a space
that the whole community
can get behind. One of the
things that I'm really proud
about is that the community
has not fractured.
What's with the kilt?
A few years ago I bought these
cool boots that lace up on the
side. I wanted something that
allowed people to see my boots,
and my wife suggested a kilt.
I tried it, and it was incredibly
comfortable. Other than when
I'm playing paintball, I pretty
much always wear a kilt.
ABOUT CODENAME
ENTERTAINMENT'S
CRUSADERS OF THE
LOST IDOLS
Launched in 2015,
this fantasy strategy
game challenges
players to assemble
a party of Crusaders
to defeat monsters,
collect unique
gear and complete
quests. Players
unlock new heroes
and determine the
best combination for
maximum power.
TOP 1% of games
by current player
count on online
platform Steam
Among the most
played games out of
more than
115,000
on Kongregate.com
More than
28 MIL-
LION
unique plays
SOURCES:
STEAMPOWERED.COM,
KONGREGATE.COM
