Thanks very much, Dennis.
It's a privilege to be here today and to be part of the interview and feedback process, so thanks very much for that.
Also, I'm quite pleased to see that the video game development industry—and the digital technology industry overall, the entertainment industry—is recognized as part of our Canadian heritage. It's definitely part of our culture.
I'll talk about the macro level for a second.
Last year, in 2011, globally the industry generated over $55 billion in revenue. That is games sales, hardware sales, and all the peripheral services. That is a very serious number.
On a more micro level, here in British Columbia we have fallen off from being the number one video game development hub in the country. We are now hanging on tenuously to second place. Our friends, nos amis in Quebec, are now in the number one place, thanks very much to their tax credit program.
Certain of the provinces have reacted by implementing these tax credit programs and have created a very uneven competitive space. There has actually been an exodus of very well-qualified people from British Columbia, unfortunately, to other geographies to seek jobs, so at BC Interactive, working in conjunction with our friends at DigiBC and with the good help of people such as Dennis and the Centre for Digital Media, we're striving to hold our position now, to regain our position as number one, and also to cultivate the industry globally. BC Interactive represents the video game industry here in B.C. We're working to unify and then to “evangelize” our position.
Currently in the video game development industry here there are approximately 4,000 people. That number, unfortunately, is diminishing. Again, we need to take constructive steps to halt that from happening.
On a more constructive level, we feel that there is ample opportunity. I like to portray it as a perfect storm scenario. B.C. currently has all of the necessary ingredients not only to regenerate and to grow our hub back to its former status but also to remain a competitive force globally. We do deal with people all over the world. At Slant Six Games we've dealt with publishers in Asia, the U.S., Germany, and beyond, and that is the nature of our industry. It's a wonderful thing that in Canada we get to provide our services to those people.
If we could, we would like to see some constructive steps toward ironing out the uneven competitive environment in place now that has some provinces offering 40% in tax credits. We recently campaigned successfully for the implementation of a digital tax credit. Unfortunately, it's 17.5%, and it hasn't served to help us protect our workforce and to stop the erosion.
We would very much like to see the implementation of a federal digital tax credit. That would be extremely helpful and might take some of the pressure off provinces to try to implement ad hoc programs, if you will. I say that with all due respect.
It's more than ad hoc; Quebec has become number one in less than four years, and the contribution of our industry to the GDP in that province is absolutely staggering. At 4,000 people here in B.C., our GDP contribution to the province is well in excess of $500 million annually.
I was a little bit chagrined to see the Jenkins report and the adoption of some of the recommendations from it whereby the SR and ED program was rolled back. I understand that some of the assets related to that will be going towards IRAP and perhaps some venture capital programs, but please understand that our people don't participate in those programs. We would perhaps need to see the SR and ED program get a bit more proactive that way.
My peer, Mr. Talbot, alluded to easing up some of the immigration policies, shortening the time for application and bringing good talent in, and perhaps offering a tax holiday to attract certain people from other geographies and other territories to our good country. We would also like to see prioritizing of training and education extend to the digital realm and video game design, art, audio, etc. Many great disciplines are involved in the typical evolution of a video game these days.
When you're looking at regulations for the CRTC, how about a more robust set of rules for our broadband? Games are very much going digital and online. That, in fact, is the new generation, so anything that could bolster that change would be very much appreciated.
On the timing of the LMO for people immigrating in, if we could do anything constructive to reduce that, it would be great.
I think our time is close to drawing to an end, so again, thanks very much for allowing us to be a part of this. We welcome any questions whatsoever, and beyond today's event we remain very much available to you.
Thank you.