Capital Region Digital Gaming Cluster Stays 500 Strong
- 20 studios
- 510 workers
- Large studio employment at 476 with 25% working remotely outside NYS
- New studios: Yurisoft, MiniTuna Studios
- New office: Rushdown Studios at 19 Railroad Pl. in Saratoga Springs
ALBANY, NEW YORK – Capital Region video game studios have managed to hold the line and keep their regional workforce above the 500-mark amid major shakeups in the gaming industry, according to the Center for Economic Growth’s seventh annual Capital Region Digital Gaming Cluster survey.
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Cluster Performance
As of February 2024, the eight-county region had 510 workers at 20 digital gaming studios. That included 476 employees at eight large studios (>10 employees). Approximately 25 percent of the employees in February 2024 worked remotely outside New York State. At an additional 12 indie studios (<10 employees, solo developers, interns, freelancers, volunteers), there were 34 more workers.
According to the video game web site Kotaku, 8,100 video game layoffs were announced during the first two months of 2024. However, total large studio employment in the Capital Region was up 1.3 percent in February, compared to a year earlier. The region did lose several indie studios, such as Dang! and Queenship Games. Seven studios reported plans to hire more workers over the next 12 months. One studio, Rushdown Studios, is moving into 19 Railroad Pl. in Saratoga Springs.
“We have passionate game developers with strong roots in the Capital Region. Some years will be better than others, but game development is not going anywhere. As we build up our talent and get more support and tools from the state, it’s only going to become bigger and stronger. We picked Saratoga Springs for our office because it has one of the best small downtowns in the country. It has great places to eat and plenty of fun,” said Rushdown Studios Director and Founder Kirk Becker.
Rushdown Founders Kirk Becker and Andy Polidore in the studio’s new Saratoga Springs office
Games
Diablo IV, which received support from Blizzard Albany in Colonie, launched last June and became Blizzard Entertainment’s fastest-selling game ever, with more than $666 million sell-through within five days. The release of Diablo IV seasons 3 and 4 are expected in 2024, along with an expansion package late this year, Vessel of Hatred. Velan Studios last March released a mixed reality racer game: Hot Wheels: Rift Rally. Later this year Velan will release two titles incorporating its own intellectual property.
A mixed reality RC car for Velan Studios’ Hot Wheels: Rift Rally (left) and Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo IV expansion, Vessel of Hatred (right).
New titles from local indie studios include a fast-paced bomb diffusing game Short Fuse from the RPI startup MiniTuna Studios. Nonage, a Clifton Park solo studio, released MyWord on Nonage.net – the first game to use the its user-generated content. Nonage also released Slime Attack and is developing Make Believe, a simulation game for which users make their own rules.
Nonage’s Make Belie (left), Eco Resilience Global Games’ Lake George version of World of Plankton (center), Catapult Games’ VRPD (right)
“Our group wouldn’t be where we are without the assistance of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Tech Valley Game Space, and other programs they’re associated with. I’ve learned and received support from both organizations, but most importantly I’ve found a community that feels like home. Those friendships are what get you through the tough times that inevitably come with starting a business,” said Tess Wainwright, Yurisoft’s writer, programmer and managing member.
The RPI spinout Ironsilk Games plans to take its game Beats To Kill To from Beta to Gold Final. Aestronauts, another RPI spinout, will soon update its main title, Tempo, and then it will work on developing a new game outside that of Tempo’s arcade style. In Glens Falls, Grimbar Interactive plans to release on Steam its first major title: a multiplayer “battle-karting” game. The Eco Resilience Global Games Group in Troy last fall released on Steam The Aquatic Messenger, a VR underwater simulation game involving ancient forms of plankton. It is developing Trophic 3D, an interactive mixed reality experience that maps the food chain within a freshwater ecosystem. During the summer or fall, Yurisoft in Albany will release a demo of its first game, The Songbird Guild, which takes inspiration from a Japanese genre of feminine superheroes known as “magical girls.” In the game, being a magical girl is a regular nine-to-five job.
Figure 1MiniTuna Studios’ Short Fuse (left), Yurisoft’s The Songbird Guild (right)
STUDIO Highlights
Big large studio news from the past year and for the year ahead includes:
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Last year saw the release of Diablo IV, which became Blizzard’s fastest-selling game. Milestones for the Blizzard Albany office included the release of Diablo IV seasons 1-3. The coming 12 months will see the release of seasons 4-5 as well as a paid expansion, Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred. |
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In 2023, Velan Studios launched Hot Wheels Rift Rally, a mixed reality video game experience incorporating a physical remote-control car, track, and game software. Over the next 12 months, Velan will complete the development of two titles incorporating its own IP, with their launches projected for the end of 2024. |
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Over the last 12 months, Wolfjaw worked with multiple AAA publishers, such as Bungie, Visual Concepts and Riot Games. |
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Gaming continued to be one of Jahnel Group’s biggest sectors, accounting for nearly 12 percent of the Schenectady company’s revenues in 2023. Jahnel Group is aiming to increase its footprint in the gaming space by 50 percent. |
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To accommodate its rapid growth, this Glenville studio restructured as the Rocket Science Group. It is the parent of two smaller entities: Atomic Theory, which is focused on in-game engineering, and Terminal Velocity, which is focused on platform engineering. Rocket Science now has offices in New York State, Austin and Cardiff, Wales. |
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Rushdown Studios opened a new office space at 19 Railroad Pl in Saratoga Springs. Over the next 12 months it will add three more games to its portfolio and grow by 25 percent. |
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1st Playable Productions last year relocated within downtown Troy, moving from 297 River St. to 5 3rd St. |
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MedKit is an RPI spinout that has developed a mobile social digital therapeutic app for neurodivergent children. In the last 12 months, the studio launched an alpha version for user testing, and over the next 12 months MedKit will conduct user testing to study the app’s therapeutic and usability effectiveness. |
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Clockworks Games in Troy supported customers who use the NPC (non-player characters) Populator in the Unity Asset Store. Over the next 12 months, Clocksworks expects its number of subscribers on YouTube to exceed 1,000. |
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Over the last 12 months, Grimbar Interactive in Glens Falls secured several large contracts for assisting in the development of mobile games and 3D visualization software. Before the end of the year, Grimbar plans to release on Steam its first major title, a multiplayer “battle-karting” game. |
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Ironsilk Games is an RPI spinout that over the last 12 months created a research partnership with Carnegie Mellon, to further advances in VR accessibility. Over the next 12 months, Ironsilk expects to receive grant funding to pursue that VR accessibility research, and it plans to contract with a publisher to complete its title, Beats To Kill To, from Beta to Gold Final. The studio plans to establish a more concrete presence in downtown Troy with a public office space. |
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In the last 12 months, RPI students formed MiniTuna Studios and exhibited its first game, Short Fuse, at 1UpState, Rensselaer Games Showcase 2023, and an RPI alumni event. Over the next 12 months, MiniTuna will release Short Fuse on Steam, launch online social media marketing, and it will exhibit at GDC 2024. |
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ToothPike Games, a Niskayuna solo studio, continued development of its Steam Seer web site, a design and marketing educational tool to help improve indie developers’ strategies and plans for releasing a financially sustainable website. The Steam Seer was highlighted in a RPI GSAS blog. Over the next 12 months, ToothPike will release its next game. |
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This solo Schenectady studio over the last 12 month made major improvements to VRPD, a virtual reality de-escalation training tool for police. Over the next 12 months, Catapult Games will have community conversations in Albany and Saratoga. |
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The Troy studio headed by an RPI professor last fall released on Steam The Aquatic Messenger, a VR underwater simulation game involving ancient forms of plankton. The Eco Resilience Global Games Group is in the process of developing Trophic 3D, an interactive mixed reality experience that maps the food chain within a freshwater ecosystem.
Over the next 12 months, the studio will complete the installation of two museum exhibits. Near Lake George, the Bolton Museum will include Eco Resilience games in its The Jefferson Project installation, which will feature QR codes that lead to animated versions of 3D virtual zooplankton and plankton, in addition to our 3D Plankton Sculptures. In Burlington, the Echo Leahy Center for Lake Champlain will unveil a new live freshwater floor-to-ceiling aquarium wing that will have Eco Resilience’s World of Plankton touchpool game. Eco Resilience will also complete updates on Algae Bloom Dynamics AR mobile app for Google Play store. |
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Over the past 12 months Aestronauts has been working to develop and release additional cosmetics, gameplay, and music for its biggest title, Tempo. This new content can be expected to come out in coming months. After the upcoming Tempo update, Aestronauts plans to switch gears and focus again on the development of a new project that has a genre focus outside that of Tempo’s arcade style. |
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Nonage, a Clifton Park sol studio, released two major updates for PowerBots Builders on Steam. Nonage participated in two Steam sales and released a second web site mini-game, titled “Slime Attack.” Over the next 12 months, Nonage will redirect its development focus to its newest game, Make Believe. Nonage will relaunch a revamped online store and release a custom launcher for games and DLC purchased through the website. |
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The new Albany studio is preparing to release a demo of its first game, The Songbird Guild, in the summer or fall. Yurisoft received funding from RPI through its Level Upstate program to support the development of a prototype of the game. |
Talent Pipeline
The University at Albany’s College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity’s new informatics minor in Game Design & Development– launched in fall 2022 – helped boost total enrollment in the region. The university is now pursuing standalone bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in Game Design and Development. Whereas UAlbany’s current B.S. informatics degree with a concentration in Game Design and Development is made up of a 12-credit course specialization; the new standalone degrees would be approximately 57 credits.
RPI has seen significant growth in Game and Interactive Media Design degree awards, according to the latest data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (iPEDS). In 2022, RPI awarded 47 degrees in that field (41 B.S. and 6 M.S.) in that field, compared to 29 the previous year and 36 in 2020. In 2024, Animation Career Review ranked RPI as the 21st Top Game Design School and The Princeton Review ranked it as the 19th Top Game Design School (Graduate) and the 25th Top Game Design School (Undergrad).
Figure 2UAAlbany students at a campus playtesting event (center), RPI students at a GSAS class, a student wears a VR headset and plays The Aquatic Messenger, by Eco Resilience Games at RPI (right).
For the first time in four years, RPI’s GSAS last April hosted its Gamefest, a two-day game development showcase, symposium, and competition with prizes awarded by a panel of local industry experts. RPI-based winners included Nameless (Game Design), The Shortest Fuse (Experimental Award), Safe Space (Excellence in Visual Art), and High Zeaz (Audio).
At the secondary education level, there are now more than 100 students enrolled in local game design programs. Capital Region BOCES started its first full-time, work-based learning program with Shaker Heritage Society. Under this initiative, students completed the first prototype of an interactive educational game experience project. Capital Region BOCES also started a collaboration with CanCode Communities to provide a project management course for the second-year students as well as a four-week program regarding quality assurance and debugging best practices for first-year students.
Capital Region BOCES Game Design and Implementation
Capital Region BOCES also started extensively integrating GitHub, CodeHS, and Unity into its Game Design and Implementation programming lessons. Over the next 12 months, it will complete the first publishable build of the interactive educational game experience for the Shaker Heritage Society; and it will begin research and development of a virtual tour VR project for Career and Technical Education (CTE) classes.
Questar III recently launched a new two-year Gaming & Multimedia CTE course for high school juniors and seniors, with curriculum development and instructional support provided by Tech Valley Game Space. The CTE program’s initial cohort will be completing their second year and graduating in June.
Notes
1 CEG conducted this survey in February and March 2024 with 16 of 20 known active studios responding. When possible, for studios from which responses could not be obtained, CEG estimated their number of workers by tallying people listed on LinkedIn as currently working for them.
About the Capital Region Chamber and Center for Economic Growth:
The Center for Economic Growth (CEG) is dedicated to driving economic growth in New York’s eight-county, 1.1-million-person Capital Region. As the nonprofit regional economic development organization, we do this by attracting investment and talent; growing manufacturing and workforce capabilities, leveraging industry clusters, and developing the entrepreneurial ecosystem. We serve as a catalyst and work with partners and stakeholders to prepare the region to compete and move high-impact strategies and projects forward. An affiliate of the Capital Region Chamber, CEG is supported by investors in business, government, education, and the nonprofit sectors who are committed to sustainable economic growth and shared prosperity. For more information on CEG, visit www.ceg.org.
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