Baton Rouge and the Gaming Industry: A Report

By Sergio "Socvazius" Prado

Baton Rouge, Lousiana. As a push to complement its existing strength in the movie industry and bolster economic development, the former French military post is moving to make itself one of the biggest centers for the video game industry in the United States. To publicize these moves, I was invited to fly down to the city to interview a cadre of very important people: the Mayor-President - Melvin "Kip" Holden - executives of the three video game companies already present in the city, a Professor of Louisiana State University, and a representative of the city's animation festival.

The city does appear to be dead-set on making sure that it becomes a major player in the video game industry. First and foremost, it is providing a 20% tax credit to any company that moves to or starts at Baton Rouge. Moreover, the mayor is spearheading attempts to secure investment capital from across the world. Next, it is in the process of establishing substantial infrastructure to support the growing industry. It is not only implementing substantial computer science education in its high schools, but it is also establishing the study of interactive entertainment in its universities. The Red Stick Animation Festival - already successful in the area of movie and television animation - is supplementing this development through providing a degree of public exposure.

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These initiatives have clearly made some progress; as previously mentioned, there are already three companies which enjoy the benefits of operating in Baton Rouge. Nerjyzed Entertainment - a company previously based in Dallas, Texas - found the benefits lucrative enough to relocate. Nerjyzed was followed by Resurgent Interactive - previously Tesseraction Games - a company known for its title Enigma: Rising Tide. Finally, Yatec Games - a casual games developer - came to the scene with its foundation in 2006.

While I was at the press event, I tried to put myself in the shoes of a video game company executive that is considering the possibility of moving from - for example - Los Angeles to Baton Rouge. There are clearly benefits; the 20% tax credit is fairly huge, and finances are made easier through the substantially lower cost of living (I have lived in Los Angeles...and the cost is pretty obscene). There also would be available investment capital, which would be important. Looking purely from the point of view of a company's finances, the move would make sense.

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However, the biggest issue that I would have is the possible difficulty of staffing the company. There is work to develop skilled employees through the Louisiana school system, but there is a serious risk of brain drain. The vast majority of people who plan to go into the gaming industry have character traits that would cause them to prefer life in urban, young California or Boston over Baton Rouge. I am, interestingly enough, a good case study for this issue. I'm a person who would work at a gaming company (cause...you know, I have) and am in the typical age bracket for someone in the gaming industry. To be perfectly frank, a really convincing case would have to be made before I'd leave California or Boston. At this point in my life, I feel like I need the excitement of a massive city. There is appeal in the great weather of the south and, as Jacqueline Beauchamp, the CEO of Nerjyzed Entertainment, says, the "Southern Belles" are definitely a nice draw. The low cost of living and hospitable Southern culture is also nice. However, those factors wouldn't be enough for me and I'm skeptical of whether it would be enough for others like me.

As a result of these problems, I haven't placed my bets on Baton Rouge yet. It has a very real shot of being a player in the industry due to its determined efforts, but the potential for staff shortages may discourage substantial colonization by the biggest and most influential companies. Time will tell, and I will certainly keep my eye on how things go.