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(Photo by Terence S. Jones)
Atlanta’s video game development industry is booming, and lawmakers recently passed a bill to renew tax credits for video game companies there.
According to Marketplace, eight years ago there were only six such companies, but now there are more than 70.
A strong anchor institution plays a role — as does the city’s retention of new graduates. Asante Bradford, who promotes video game development for Georgia, told Marketplace that he believes the rapid growth could be due to the high number of gaming conventions in Atlanta and the talent coming out of Savannah College of Art & Design and Georgia Tech.
“Georgia’s low cost of living has been very effective in recruiting experienced game developers, and then you combine that with really, really strong entry-level talent out of our universities and technical colleges,” Todd Harris, chief operating officer at Hi-Rez Studios, told Marketplace.
According to the City of Atlanta, the metropolitan area is ranked 12th in the nation for tech startups.
