While the number of jobs in the United States has been shrinking for most of the year, information released in Game Developer Research's 3rd annual Game Developer Census shows that the development end of the North American games industry is bucking the trend. In both the US and Canada, the number of jobs with game developers and publishers has increased.
The United States experienced a growth of around four hundred jobs. Nothing to get excited over, especially when the report attributes the growth to new studios opening up in response to the many closures we experienced this year. But Canada has seen an increase of more than thirty percent over 2008, with a workforce numbering over 12,000 employees. Neat!
When I think about this info, I can't help but wonder how different things would be if we were in a thriving economy. Hard to say, but at least we can be comforted that at least our hobby of choice is still experiencing some form of growth when the news would like you to believe everything is crumbling around you.
Conrad Zimmerman is Destructoid's News Editor and home to the busiest mustache in the gaming press. An amateur historian and pop culture fanatic, Conrad possesses a nearly limitless wealth of videogame factoids and a passion for the power of games to teach, inspire and entertain. He enjoys reading, writing and turning things which should be fun into work.
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Contest:
3:00 AM on 12.22.2009
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You and everyone else. I live in a rural area where jobs are scarce and it's been incredibly difficult especially because the town is not a very rich one. The lines between who has money and who doesn't have gotten extremely deep in the last year or so.