Canadian video game industry is game indeed

Perhaps playing all those video games as a kid was not a waste of time after all—at least for those who turned their long hours of gaming into a career. Indeed, the video game industry is the world’s fastest-growing media industry. Here in Canada, the number of video game design firms more than doubled from 2013 to 2022, with most of that growth due to small firms with fewer than five employees.

Revenue in the video game industry more than tripled in a decade

The number of video game firms in Canada more than doubled in a decade, rising from 775 in 2013 to 1,628 in 2022. This increase was driven by Canadian-owned firms, firms primarily engaged in video game design (as opposed to video game publishing) and small firms with fewer than five employees.

Revenue in the video game industry rose from $2 billion to $7 billion from 2013 to 2022.

Just under 60,000 people were working in the video game industry in 2022, more than double (116.2%) the number of employees a decade earlier.

Ontario (638) was home to the most video game firms in 2022, followed by British Columbia (426) and Quebec (338).

Proudly Canadian

Almost all video game firms operating in Canada in 2022 were Canadian owned (97.4%).

That being said, in 2022, foreign firms—which are typically relatively larger businesses with 20 or more employees—generated more revenue than Canadian firms ($4 billion versus $3 billion).

There were 42 foreign-owned video game firms operating in Canada in 2022.

Most video game firms in Canada are small

Just over three in four (77.5%) video game firms in 2022 were smaller firms with fewer than five employees. There are a few reasons why video game production may increasingly occur on a smaller scale.

Given that video game development requires relatively little capital, employees of established Canadian firms have often left to form their own studios.

Smaller studios may also have a larger role in the industry as the presence of mobile and downloadable games increases.

Moreover, the video game industry’s barriers to entry have been lowered, as the availability of publicly available game engines, asset packs and drag-and-drop technology has allowed developers with less technical expertise to enter the market.

Girl power growing: One in four employees in the video game industry is a woman

The share of women employed in the video game industry increased from 17.8% in 2013 to 24.5% in 2021, while the share paid to women increased from 14.4% to 20.0%. In other words, women’s employment share grew more rapidly than women’s compensation share.

This is an expected result as employees new to an industry would generally occupy entry-level positions with lower salaries. It is therefore possible that women’s compensation share will rise as these new employees move into mid- and senior-level positions.

Video game firms less likely to exit the market than firms in other sectors

Every year, new businesses open (entry rates) while others close shop (exit rates).

Relative to all private employer firms, entry rates for video game firms were higher from 2014 to 2018 but lower from 2019 to 2021.

However, from 2014 to 2021, exit rates for video game firms were much lower than those for all other private employer firms, indicating that studio closures in the Canadian video games industry are relatively rare.

Further reading

For more information on the Canadian video game industry, check out the full report, “A profile of the video game industry in the Canadian provinces”.

To learn more

The Canadian Business Counts release data twice annually on the number of businesses across industries in Canada, including video game publishers and video game design and development services.

Those two industries are also included in the Annual Survey of Service Industries: Software Development and Computer Services.

Video game sales data are available in the monthly and quarterly retail data, by type of product.