Michigan Film Office director: 'I really want video gamers here,' but marketing resources lacking

By Sven Gustafson
October 21, 2009, 1:56PM

Could Michigan become a new hub of video-game development?

The state can offer video game developers the same refundable tax credits and other incentives it has successfully used to lure millions of dollars worth of film and television production. And Michigan now boasts seven colleges that offer courses and degrees in computer and video game design, programming and art, The Detroit News reports in a Wednesday story.

Yet the homegrown field so far remains small, and to date no company has successfully applied for the incentives, said Janet Lockwood, director of the Michigan Film Office.

"So far only the hired help, the contract people, have applied," she said. "And they've not been able to talk the owners of the actual game... (into applying). And those are the people that must apply under the law.

"I really want gamers here."

Michigan has a handful of video game developers, including Reactor Zero in Ann Arbor and Plymouth's Stardock, which is undergoing a $900,000 expansion and has plans to hire 53 workers. And Los Angeles-based Epicenter Studios plans to open a new Detroit-area studio and hire 20 gamers in the coming months, first reported here.

But the big gamer hubs remain located in California, Montreal and Seattle.

"Most of our kids do not go into games, most of our kids go into more traditional areas and part of the reason is that most of our kids prefer to stay in the state," Bruce Maxim, of the University of Michigan-Dearborn's Computer and Information Department, which has a game design track, told the News. "The people who have gone into the video game industry have gone out of state."

Lockwood said she's putting together plans to advertise Michigan's incentives in video game trade magazines and exhibit at key trade shows. But limited funds prevent the Film Office from hiring a dedicated video game industry staffer.

"We're trying to attract these folks using limited state funds, but I think they simply don't know," Lockwood said. "We have to get it out to them."