
Canadian government is buying the video game industry - transburgh
http://venturebeat.com/2009/12/04/canadian-government-is-buying-the-video-game-industry/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Venturebeat+%28VentureBeat%29&utm_content=Google+Reader
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electromagnetic
This isn't exactly an uncommon practice for the Canadian government, nor for
its provincial governments. First the federal government has an incentive
because #1 it boosts revenues, #2 it boosts educated immigration (Canada, like
the US and many other countries just need to get most European immigrants into
the country and they'll find they love it in seconds) as most game firms hire
internationally, and #3 it makes good publicity. The provincial governments
are offering their own subsidies for much the same reason.

Canada has a high rate of fluent English and French speakers, which makes it
an ideal place to develop games for the international market as both languages
can easily be done 'in house'.

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gamble
My husband works for a well-known game developer with offices in Quebec.
Thanks to the subsidies, Montreal is the only city in the world where a
programmer costs less to hire than in Shanghai. As a result, they have a
virtual hiring freeze anywhere except Montreal, where they can hire as many
developers as they like.

The main drawback is that the language laws in Quebec essentially require
managers to be bilingual, which makes recruitment more difficult. (Employees
in Quebec have the right to be managed in French, if they choose)

