What does Take-Two and Atari have in common barring past financial troubles? A presence in New York City.
Apparently 55 other game firms also exist in NYC but the ever popular “Big Apple” doesn’t really house that many game development companies.
Why?
Maybe because it gets cold in the winter? Nobody really knows, but things are slowly changing as more developers make their home in New York. There are also more distributors popping up in and around New York making it a bit easier for developers and publishers to work with folks in the industry to get the word out about their games and get them on the streets for consumers to play.
Really, a few major studios (Take-Two is pretty big) can help change the landscape. As larger firms arrive in New York to settle down smaller companies will follow. Over time some people will migrate away from the bigger firms to start their own small startup studios in and around the areas they, now, would be living. These big firms will help birth smaller sub-culture development studios around them and the industry in this area will grow, or so we hope.
You may also notice indy developers like Large Animal popping up in New York City. For smaller developers, it gives them the ability to attract east coast developers, area for growth and access to many facilities to build their brand. Checkout some of the smaller firms websites and click on the “about us” links and see how many are beginning the move to NYC.
For east coasters like myself, this is great news.
(Thanks, joystiq)
