Like most of the country, employment in arts and entertainment in Northeast Ohio experienced a recession. Unlike other job sectors however, there was a 23% improvement in the region since 2009. Cuyahoga County leads the way, gaining more than 3,700 jobs — a 40 percent increase — since 2010. Playhouse Square, the improvement of professional sports and film industry to Cleveland has allowed for funds to trickle down to the other counties in the area.
While many of the national entertainment interests have their place in the region, one American industry did not play a part: the video game industry. Between 2009 and 2012, the video game industry grew four times as fast as the US economy. It added $6.2 billion based on reports from the Entertainment Software Association. Northeast Ohio only added $87,000 in that time frame.
In the past five years the increase of interest has grown substantially. Four large universities — Cuyahoga Community College, Kent State University, Cleveland Institute of Art and Case Western Reserve — and three game development organizations — Youngstown Game Developers, Cleveland Game Developers, Akron Game Developers — are leading the way in education, knowledge and community of what the the video game industry is. It’s not just a hobby, it’s a career.
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Game Got My Soul
The Players
“It’s fun networking, but it’s not fun being broke”
Kendra Corpier attended Youngstown State for computer programming for a year until she realized she it wasn’t preparing her for the job landscape of the video game industry.
“They were teaching us how to open web browsers. I needed something more advanced.”
She quickly moved to Arizona and enrolled in the Art Institute of Phoenix later earning her degree in game art and design in 2008. Corpier quickly found work in an industry that offers a median of at least $50,000 entrance level pay, according to PayScale. In 2013, she decided to return to Youngstown, where she grew up, and work in the indie market — non-corporate, self-employed individual or group video game work.
“I feel like I did everything I could do on the west coast,” Corpier said. “I wanted to try something different and meet people in a new area. I didn’t want to just be safe.”
The video game industry in Ohio at the time was solely based in the indie industry. This typically includes hobbyists (people who design games for satisfaction) and a few professionals (people with degrees who treat video game development as job).
Youngstown is a depressed city damaged by the two decade-long declination of blue-collar work. Trumbull and Mahoning County, lost over 90 percent of their manufacturing jobs since 2000. Since 2010, however, the arts and entertainment industry grew 72 percent.
Corpier saw interest in the area and developed the Youngstown Game Developers in 2014. Marketed online and through the app Meet Up, originally six people joined at its innception. It jumped to 42 the following year.
“The organization is to bring awareness and community to fellow game developers,” Corpier said. “It’s a place where we get together and work on educating and developing games. We want to build something here that I sustainable. Right now, there are just a lot of hobbyists, but I’m trying to turn this into an organization that establishes jobs.”
After four years of operating the organization and living in the Youngstown area, Corpier decided to leave and look for a job that pays her for game and art design.
“It’s fun networking, but it’s not fun being broke,” Kendra said. “I left a lot more money to come back here and be an indie developer.”
Taking over for Corpier is Alex Nitschwitz. Nitschwitz also attended Youngstown State for a year until he transferred to Otterbein University in the Columbus area for computer programming until graduation in 2017.
“There weren’t any colleges in the area that offered what I was looking for,” Nitschwitz said. “The gaming culture is different in the Columbus area; the scene there is more developed, or so I thought.”
Columbus is home to two of the largest game developer meet up groups in the state — GDex and the Columbus Ohio Game Group — as well as one of the larger indie studios in Multivarious. GDex has people from all over the state, Midwest region and even other countries attending a three day meeting.
“I honestly saw what Columbus had to offer and had no idea the connections even Youngstown had to the area,” Nitschwitz said.
Nitschwitz, who also operates his own start-up indie company Lineal Games with his cousin and friend, noticed the connections and desire from his town to do something more with gaming. Studios — like Enyx Studios, which operates in the virtual and augmented reality industry — are allowing people in the area a perspective commonly unseen.
“There are economic rebounds happening in Cleveland and Youngstown, with Youngstown being further behind in terms of how much recovery we have to do. The presence of tech companies will inspire people to go into tech, including people in the video game industry,” Nitschwitz said.
“Starting a studio is a pretty big responsibility”
If Columbus is the center of Ohio in gaming, Cleveland is the HUB for Northeast Ohio. In 2003, the Cleveland Game Developers, the original game developer organization in the region, were formed. Originally hobbyists as well, the organization developed into a meet up that educates all skill levels.
They meet every two weeks for a general meeting and also an event called “Excuse to Create,” a session of coding and practicing the development of a game. It’s a mini game jam — a sort of hack-a-thon involving game development over a 24 or 48 hour span.
It’s a way to progress the gaming community in Northeast Ohio. Jarryd Huntley, a professional game developer, a animation design educator at Lorain Community College and recent author on the craft, has been at the forefront of the industry in the region.
Major organizations and schools in Northeast Ohio offering gaming degrees. Since 2010, there has been a increase in interest and development in the realm of video game design from programmers and developers. (* these numbers are combined across the Kent State University system) (N/A relates to information not needed) (Cleveland Institute of Art is based on 2011 when it began its program)
“I make games that educate,” Huntley said. “I want people to see the game and get something from it.”
When he was in college, he majored in computer science.
“The programming side was taught, but I always wanted to learn how to make game and had to teach myself,” he said.
Like Nitschwitz and Corpier, Huntley grew up drawing games out in notebooks, imagining the process to make an actual game.
“I had no idea how game programming worked,” Huntley said, “That’s one of the things I want to help educate people on in Cleveland and around the area. It wasn’t until eight years ago when I even heard about Cleveland Game Developers.
Two-and-a-half years ago he became the organization’s lead organizer.
Over the duration of his involvement in the group, Huntley has seen organization members gain traction and start their own studios. In Columbus, just five years ago, GDex started the companionship of game designers across Ohio.
“Starting a studio is a pretty big responsibility,” Huntley said, “Many used to start small, with the friends of the family member, but as the time continues you start to see more collaboration between the different people in the area.”
There isn’t a known number of game studios in Northeast Ohio, but the necessary cycle for any community is beginning.
“There’s some that are big since the App Store and Steam is more approachable, like Handelabra,” Huntley said. “There’s studios that don’t have full-time staff but hire contractors for a short period of time.”
Huntley also has a studio that has two intern/contractors.
“Once a studio gets large, inevitably employees will break off and start their own studio,” he said. “Enough studios show talent in an area and then the right people see it and bring something.”
It’s the example I like to use — it’s like the Star Wars prequels”
In 2015, John Luteran was asked by President of the Greater Cleveland Film Commission Ivan Schwartz to help establish the video game industry. Luteran began contacting studios, organizations and school and help bring awareness there is a community out therein the region.
There were people I didn’t hear of until I start reaching out,” Luteran said, “I didn’t realize how much deeper everything got.”
The non-profit organization’s goal is to encourage jobs and economic impact through media production. Luteran, coming out of college, was asked by the organization in the early 2000s, to help build the “new” media industry in the area. After leaving, job searching and ultimately returning to GCFC in 2015, Luteran became its Director of Interactive Entertainment.
“I’ve seen studios begin after there were group meetings like a Global Game Jam or GDex,” Luteran said. “A lot of people work remotely, but I wanted to get people together so they could get the most out of their work. It’s the example I like to use — it’s like the Star Wars prequels. When George Lucas collaborated with others and had conversations with other studio people, he made movies that became American icons. When he was given complete control for the prequels, you don’t see the best decisions because he didn’t have to go through anyone.”
The industry would only grow as much as the people involved in it want to.
“The industry will reach local talent when production is improved,” Luteran said. “A lot of people are moving back. We hope to retain those who are thinking about leaving as well as attract talent from other regions.”
Turan Koptur entered the computer animation program at Kent State University in 2006. He remembers when seven or eight students were in his class. As a professor at the university in 2017, there are now 209.
“Before the courses were broader,” Koptur said, “now we are more focused. We teach 3Ds Max, Maya, even Unreal now. Unreal is what big companies use.”
Digital modelling jobs for video games didn’t exist in Ohio when Koptur graduated. Engineering, biotech and car factories were popular locations for those who wanted to stay in state or region. The amount of students leaving has showed interested to some companies.
“I was at BlizzCon this year and I was talking to people from large studios. When I said Ohio, they recognized the people on their staffs that are from here and thought we are doing something right. No company currently is leading Ohio in video game design. Hopefully there will be one soon.”
The Console
“A lot of investors don’t feel comfortable”
The indie scene in Northeast Ohio is small compared to other states and regions. The decreased cost of making mobile games has sparked an over-saturation in the market, but no prime-studios have developed yet in the area that can lead the way to the national scene and establish a stable job market.Professionals and college graduates leave to more profitable locations.
“Los Angeles, San Francisco or Seattle have that critical mass,” Dmitri Williams, Associate Professor in the Annenberg School for Communication at University of Southern California said. “More social opportunities, job opportunities and easier overall networking is going to happen for someone compared to someone in Cleveland, even if that person is more qualified.”
Networking doesn’t just mean other game programmers, but investors.
“Raising investment money is difficult,” Huntley said. “Its not just about about funds, it’s also about access to advising. When someone starts a studio, they want insurance they can get it out there.”
Luteran sees it comes to economics. The trending industry will get the most funding.
“Funding is hard if it isn’t healthcare or virtual reality,” Luteran said. “You may not see profit for years on a game. I feel investor should take a chance. There’s so much talent in the area, give them 100 grand and see what they can do.”
Venture capitalists in the area don’t look for steady growth — they expect quick returns on their investments. Few indie studios offer that. They take time to grow. Some ca be profitable in a week; others can take years to get into the black.
“A lot of investors don’t feel comfortable,” Huntley said. “This is probably the biggest problem, the investment money in the area. The issue is the video game industry still isn’t seen as a viable business. When developers want money to support their idea, they look to California or New York for investors who are more involved with entertainment technology.”
As new president of Youngstown Game Developers, Nitschwitz is turning the organization into a hub that can establish some revenue and even hire college graduates from universities in the region. He first sees the need in business education for prospective game developers while they’re in college.
“I didn’t even know colleges had places you could go that are willing to invest until later,” Nitschwitz said. “At Youngstown State, they have a office that is up for funding anything and are extremely interested in video game programming. Offices like this are on most campuses. I also recommend students take business courses to understand this stuff, so they can have knowledge of how the business works.”
The Connection
“It’s not a bad idea of Cleveland, it’s there’s no idea of Cleveland”
Between the 2011 and 2015, $81 million and over 1,200 jobs were created through 19 projects filmed in the region in a study for the Greater Cleveland Film Commission conducted by Cleveland State in 2015. $21 million was added indirectly — local advertising, hotels, transportation and accommodations.
Films added such growth in the region by taking advantage of the Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit, a incentive providing a refundable, transferable 30-percent tax credit on production cast and crew wages plus other eligible in-state spending. The name says “Motion Picture” but it also includes video games.
The minimum a production must spend is $300,000.
List of media that used the Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit up between 2011 and 2015. This chart shows the media’s cost and total tax taken out of final cost for each production. One video game production qualified, but operations seized in 2015. The two films not listed were not available.
“It’s $300,000 to insure serious productions apply,” Luteran said. “The ones that take advantage of the incentive add to the region.”
The tax incentive would encourage a large studio to come to the Northeast Ohio. It would not only need game developers, but all the people that are needed to operate a studio.
“At a studio you have programmers, artists, psychologists, audio people,” Huntley said. “A video game studio is more than programming, and I think the education of that would also help investor in the area understand what gaming is.”
At Kent State University, Koptur is adjusting the curriculum to fit the video game landscape.
“Even here we are trying collaborate more with the Digital Media program,” Koptur said. ‘We have the animation and all we need is the sound, something they have.”
“…$60,000 in San Francisco, where can that get you?”
Luteran has the philosophy if the media production improves, so will the rest of the media in the region.
“If you look at Atlanta, everything is made there,” Luteran said. “Every Marvel movie is there. When Captain America: Winter Soldier was filmed in Cleveland, everyone said they loved it. Cleveland offered Marvel everything. It’s not there’s a bad idea of Cleveland, it’s there’s no idea of Cleveland.”
Compared to other cities, Cleveland’s cost of living is cheap. It is why Luteran sees a boomerang effect in the area or why Huntley wants to stay.
“Cleveland is cheaper than Seattle,” Luteran said. “The industry is nomadic, people go where there’s a build up. If you’re making $60,000 in San Francisco, where can that get you? It seems like a good amount until you have to pay bills.
Data acquired from expatistan.com
The optimism survives around the idea connections the studios in the area have with each other.It’s something Huntley compares with Northeast Ohio’s strong music history.
“People shared their craft and the feedback they received gave us Grammy winners,” Huntley said. “The game developers have the same sorts of collaboration to get the best out of everyone.”
Huntley doesn’t think a major AAA studio coming to Cleveland would increase the region’s cost of living.
“All game developers want to grow, and I am certain games will not affect the cost of living and access to amenities. They are both here to stay, we will just showcase them.”
A major studio could take notice in the region in a year or fifty. Corpier sees at least 10 years before the local and state government can come to a deal that works out.
“It’s at least five years until one of the indie developers produces a hit that has a major impact on a global scale. I hope it’s sooner than that,” Corpier said, “but that’s what my gut is telling me.”