The provincial government recently made permanent a tax credit targeting the region’s video game sector, which employs roughly 20,000 people in British Columbia and adds more than $1 billion to the province’s gross domestic product each year, according to CreativeBC.
Businesses can claim the credit on salaries and wages paid during development of interactive digital media, which include video games, educational software, and simulators.
In addition to the tax credit being permanent, the rate is increasing to 25% from 17.5%.
“We want to keep growing our tech sector to create even more opportunity for British Columbians,” Premier David Eby stated earlier this month. “This tax credit will help game developers hire, attract new investment and keep building some of the best games in the world.”
Vancouver’s Quiver Games is eager to capitalize on the timing of this regional industry boost.
In 2024, eight teams completed Quiver’s Game Developers Guild pilot program. The 2025 edition expanded the program, featuring a cohort of 60 developers who produced 10 viable game prototypes over six weeks at Quiver’s Guild.
Those 10 prototypes were showcased at a recent event, the Games Link Conference held at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre on July 19.
The Games Link Conference represented Vancouver’s first business-to-business gaming event, featuring speakers from major local industry players.
The event was a capstone to the Guild program, which fills a key void in BC’s gaming sector, according to David Boguslavsky, President of Quiver Games.
Boguslavsky believes his company has “identified a critical gap in Vancouver’s gaming ecosystem.”
Quiver wants to “develop better developers” by addressing a “learning gap” between university clubs and game industry employment.
This gap, the startup posits, is due to a lack of practical skill-building and collaboration on long-term game projects that impede the development of a job-ready portfolio.
In response, Quiver is creating programs and spaces where aspiring developers can gather and long-term development teams to gain practical experience, according to Boguslavsky.
“Developers had incredible technical skills but lacked systematic access to business mentorship, team formation, and the operational knowledge needed to get games to market,” he says. “We built the infrastructure Vancouver was missing.”
The Guild program’s method combines technical development with business fundamentals, from technical mentorship and design to pitch assistance and market validation.
“If we want to build more world-class studios,” says Quiver director of business development Ihor Posphishnyi, “we need to provide independent developers with more opportunities.”
“BC’s tax credit provides the financial incentive, but you still need talented teams who understand both the creative and business sides,” added Boguslavsky. “We’re creating that talent pipeline.”
Moving forward, the Games Link Conference will become an annual flagship event within Quiver’s calendar.
Quiver Games was established in 2023.
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