Event Shines Spotlight on York Region's Surprisingly Robust Gaming Scene

Techvibes.com
Nov. 6, 2014
By Marc Saltzman

Greater Toronto Area’s York Region is home to more than 4,000 information and communication technology (ICT) companies. Just north of Toronto, this concentrated tech community includes municipalities such as Markham, Vaughan, Richmond Hill, Aurora, and Newmarket, among others.

While the region is recognized as a thriving tech hub, less is known about its emerging gaming scene.

This is where Gaming: First Contact comes in.

On November 13, from 4pm to 7pm, York Region, The Remington Group’s Downtown Markham, and the City of Markham are hosting an informal networking event to bring awareness to the growing interactive entertainment and digital media cluster in the region.

Yours truly, a York Region resident, will have the honour of emceeing the event. I will also serve as moderator for our esteemed panel.

Speaking of which, the following is just a small sampling of the local talent showing of their wares at the event:

• AMD: Leading manufacturer of central processing units (CPUs) and graphics processing units (GPUs) that power many of today’s computers and game consoles.
  
  
• Sulon Technologies: Virtual Reality (VR) platform developer, whose “Cortex” VR headset is garnering quite the buzz in the VR world.
  
  
• Clipwire Games: Leading developer of mobile and social games, including Redshift (Android), Critter Conquest (iOS, Facebook), Wild West Town (Facebook), and Hot Slots (Facebook).
  
  
• Game Pill: Very successful mobile, PC, and VR game developer, including many licensed products for AAA brands owned by Disney, Marvel, and Nickelodeon.
  
  
• Game Hive: With more than 100 million game downloads to date, Game Hive’s Kick the Boss titles are some of the most popular on the Apple App Store, Google Play, Windows Store, and Amazon App Store.
  
  The panel will focus on the hotbed of talent in the region, the state of the gaming industry, employment and partnership opportunities, and more. Click here to watch trailers and other videos tied to the esteemed gaming companies in attendance.
  
  Many other game-related software, hardware, and services companies will also be in the crowd at this inaugural event, to be held at the Five Lamps Chophouse & Tavern on Main Street in historic Unionville, making this event worthwhile for established and emerging developers alike.