The Political Game: Can you create a gaming city?

by Dennis McCauley { Nov 3rd 2006 at 11:47AM }

Each week Dennis McCauley contributes The Political Game, a column on the collision of politics and video games:

At the vgXpo in Philly last weekend I was asked to serve on a panel discussing how to make Philadelphia into a video game Mecca. Tough question. Among life's imponderables, that's right up there.

At first blush it seems like a mega-long shot. Sandwiched between New York and Washington, Philly has a long-standing municipal inferiority complex. And even though it's the nation's fourth largest metropolitan area (behind NYC, Los Angeles and Chicago), this Rodney Dangerfield of a town seemingly gets no respect.

Although Philly area people are avid gamers, from a game development standpoint, there isn't a whole lot happening in or around the City of Brotherly Love. A suburban company, eGames, cranks out some nice casual fare for the PC crowd. Majesco, more familiar to console and handheld fans, is headquartered in New Jersey, closer to New York than Philly, truth be told. Maybe the most happening thing in town right now is Newgrounds.com, the Flash portal operated by Tom Fulp, who also designed the indie hit Alien Hominid.

It's not like Philly couldn't be a hot gaming town. Under Mayor John Street, the municipal government is just about to roll out a citywide wireless Internet service. How cool is that? You'd expect that kind of large-scale geek chic in San Francisco, Seattle or Austin, but Philadelphia?

And, of course, Comcast -- fat pipes and all -- is headquartered in Philly. As we move fully into the online game era, it seems like that connection could be leveraged somehow to create gaming partnerships. Although, to be honest, the giant cable provider never could figure out how to make G4TV work as a stand-alone video game network. Then again, nobody else could, either.

If the politicians really want to attract game development dollars to the city, there are some steps that can be taken. Tax breaks would help, although these would need to be enacted at the state level, since the Philadelphia city government is perpetually broke. We've already seen incentives for game developers passed by legislatures in Louisiana, Georgia and Wisconsin, to name a few.

It would also be nice if one of Philadelphia's major universities stepped up with a killer academic program in the gaming arts. There are a lot of good schools in this town -- the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel, Temple and St. Joe's, to name a few. Too many of those grads leave town when they get their diplomas, the much-lamented "brain-drain." Philly's best and brightest techies are being lured to places with sunnier climes and more satisfying opportunities.

Across the state, in Pittsburgh, Carnegie-Mellon has a great game-oriented academic program, which has in turned spawned some promising start-ups nearby. How good is CMU? A couple of years back no less a gaming deity than Will Wright told me how impressed he was with the Carnegie-Mellon program.

There is, of course, something of a chicken and egg dilemma here. Do the game companies come first and then receive city support? Or does the city roll out the red carpet on the theory "if you offer incentives, they will come?" Like most cities, Philly goes all-out to attract and support Hollywood production companies. Why not do the same for video game developers? After, all, the movie people leave town after the shoot is done. Game developers will put down roots, hire local employees and pay taxes.

Sounds like a no-brainer to me.

Dennis McCauley is Editor of GamePolitics.com and writes about games for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Opinions expressed in The Political Game are his own. Reach him at

Tags: Alien Hominid, AlienHominid, Comcast, G4TV, Newgrounds, Philadelphia, Politics, The Political Game, ThePoliticalGame, vgXpo

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Mickey @ Nov 3rd 2006 12:13PM

I live in Philly and I created a duck hunt clone in Flash 4 about 6 years ago.

Gaming is alive and well.

IslandLife @ Nov 3rd 2006 12:30PM

University of the Arts FTW!!
Ohhh how I miss Philly. *sigh*

Levi @ Nov 3rd 2006 1:12PM

Don't you mean Filthadelphia?

\never been to Philly
\\a friend of mine went to college in Philly
\\\He would always call the town that

Judd @ Nov 3rd 2006 1:16PM

It's interesting that this is posted because Philadelphia just had a big video game convention. http://www.vgxpo.com/
Nevertheless, I live in New Jersey and I wish the video game industry gave a little east coast love. I went to the Digital Life event in NYC last year, but it sucked. E3, (old http://www.joystiq.com/2006/07/31/new-e3-gets-a-new-name-e3-media-festival/
or new http://www.joystiq.com/2006/11/02/gamepro-expo-succeeds-e3/) is in LA. PAX is in Washington state, and although some companies do have branches in New York, most video game headquarters in the U.S. are in California.

Homer @ Nov 3rd 2006 1:34PM

I'm from Philadelphia (born and raised) and I find that the 'Rodney Dangerfield' complex is alive and well here. Its true that it is hard to garner respect when sports teams are mired in what appears is going to be a 25 year championship drought and the city and state politics are embroiled in scandals and pay-to-play shenanigans, but it's a city with personality and wit. I saw many small-time gaming tournaments come to Philly because it was a hub in the state of PA and it offered many illicit methods of entertainment to the underaged. As good a reason as any, in my opinion, but nothing with which to stake a claim.

I seem to recall University of Pennsylvania's world-renowned Wharton Business program created its own Managerial Economics and Game Theory course within its business management degree, buts more of a way to make young minds interested in business ethics. It's reminicient of the 'Ebonics' classes offered in California in the early and mid 90's.

It's also true that Philly is finally going to roll out some lash-up of a wireless Metro network but its been so intertwined in ridiculous payola and the constant threat of Comcast somehow torpedoing the entire endeavor.

I hate to sound like a hater, but take it from me, Philly will never be on the map as some kind of gamer-haven. It could be a small bastion of gaming, 'cause all us nerds like cheesesteaks, but I don't think it will hit the big time. Maybe someone will create a Second Life Philly. Maybe then the virtual Eagles could win the virtual Super Bowl.

Go Birds!

Vesty @ Nov 3rd 2006 2:10PM

I'm from Pittsburgh and hometown pride and rivalry makes me want to say screw Philly, bring gaming to Pittsburgh. But even if Philly became the east coast's gaming hub I'll be happy. If I go into the game industry the one downfall is the seemingly inevitable far move from family and friends out to the west coast. Being able to stay close would be awesome.

mykie @ Nov 3rd 2006 2:12PM

I don't understand why Seattle wouldn't be a candidate for Gaming Mecca, since Microsoft AND Nintendo are just over the lake in Redmond, Sega's Gameworks first opened up here, Kotaku's Eliza Gauger resides here, and we were just recently named the Number 1 gaming city ( http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=11160 ).

If there's anywhere in the US that's a gaming Mecca, it's gotta be Seattle.

Almack64 @ Nov 3rd 2006 2:17PM

I'm Pittsburgh born/raised but my mom was from Philly so I spent a lot of time "across the mountains" I really do like Philly it has much character. But it is very true that it suffers from that complex. For being so large you would think it would get more respect but it doesn't. Sometimes it seems Pittsburgh gets more national press than Philly does and that's sort of strange with Philly being the 4th largest.

rip @ Nov 3rd 2006 2:21PM

Won't happen. The sclerotic culture prevents innovation in Philly. By that I mean real old money blue bloods (NOT the nouveau riche like in NYC) control that city. Which is fine if your interested in "respected" fields, like banking, finance, medicine, and insurance. They do well in Philly.

The kind of fresh thinkers that are required for an industry like video gaming don't want to be in Philly. They'd get stifled/sneered at there.

btw, I grew up there. And I love cheesesteaks and the Eagles. Oh, and soft pretzels. You'd think you'd be able to get a good pretzel outside of Philly...

Jonny @ Nov 3rd 2006 2:45PM

Philly's the sixth biggest city. Behind NYC, L.A., Chi-town, Houston, and Phoenix.

Anyway, interesting article. I live in Philly and attend Temple University.

Johnny @ Nov 3rd 2006 2:49PM

Drexel University in the HOUSE!!!!!

By the way, did Mayor John Street make "maddenholidy" an official city holiday?!? Thats dedication bitches!

Psaakyrn @ Nov 3rd 2006 3:18PM

Another candidate for gamerdom could be Singapore. Yes, we're not there yet, but neither is most other places anyway, and we've the infrastructure (e.g. broadband is the norm) the managability (being a small country has it's advantages), and the clout (the asian game convention is being hosted here next year).

crono141 @ Nov 3rd 2006 3:27PM

Wait, doesn't this column usually talk about JT and his latest stupid crap?

Did he get indicted for contempt of court? I heard he blew up at the judge during the hearing. What's the fallout?

rocko @ Nov 3rd 2006 3:38PM

hey, living in cherry hill over here, which all in all, is for the people who work in Philly but don't want to live there. And yea, I amazingly agree with what you said, even though the vgXpo was all the way in the valley forge convention center (just freakin' put in the philadelphia convention center!!) and nobody wants to schlep all the way up there. And to add more with the "Rodney Dangerfield" complex my home away from home (but not that far away), the philadelphia car show, which happens around 2 weeks after the Detroit Auto Show, so we always end up getting the "crap" end of the deal. In fact, the only amazing car that was actually at Detroit in the same year was the Corvette C6, and that was 2 years ago.

But there is a small start-up here in Voorhees (actually less than a mile from my house) called The Garr Group. Basically they're advertising "consultants" for mostly video game companies. Remember that Loews-Warcraft 3 promotion? They did that. That Pokemon toy in the cereal box thing? They did that too. I think they were in Forbes 100 best new companies or richest companies. Anyway the place has only been open for about 5 or 8 years, and already is like a multi-million dollar company, with the CEO (a woman) making about a couple million a year. And wouldn't you be suprised that this whole organization was tucked away in my back yard, in a 300 sq. ft office all these times? There's only about 10 employees for the whole company!! It's crazy!!

just my ten cents

Joshua Karstendick @ Nov 3rd 2006 4:01PM

I am a student at Drexel University studying mathematics and computer science, and I know that the CS and Digital Media departments are trying to get together to work on a video game development major. Currently, they have a special topics course each term. It's not easy, however, working across departments and colleges.

Homer @ Nov 3rd 2006 4:42PM

Just to add on to what I said above, Philadelphia has THE WORST taxes this side of the Mississippi. From income and school taxes to car insurance, you really get gouged in Philly. Also, public transportation blows.

striderhayasa @ Nov 3rd 2006 5:14PM

Philly sucks as a gaming town. It just like most things in popluar culture in Philly, the place has the potential to be great but chooses to underachieve. Gamery and Hobbies was a gaming mecca, but it's gone. There was a time when there were six different arcades in a 5 block radius in Center City. All gone.

Philly sucks for games. thank goodness for online

striderhayasa @ Nov 3rd 2006 5:39PM

@ island life

UArts over here - animation major -97
---------------------------

Philly sucks. It pisses me off because so much could happen here but like RIP said...too much old money. Short sighted douches that can't see the value of a multi-billion dollar industry that is trying to reach all levels of society. That what pisses me off more than anything else. Philly will half-ass their attempts to enter new markets and cater to the young professionals of tomorrow. Taxes are one hell of a joke here. Seeing my paycheck after taxes makes me want to beat the shit out of someone. The ONLY reason I'm still here is because a job offer in another state is not guaranteed. Otherwise, I'd be out of Philly faster than you can say damn and I grew up here.

Cheesesteaks kill, the eagles are trash (Andy Reid is selling snake oil), AI should have been traded, and it IS filthy. Septa is a bigger crook than the local mob and they're legal. I just saw a teenage girl give a guy some oral love in Liberty Place in broad daylight on a workday. This was two days ago. That's life in Philly.

God help the people that have more to Philly to go to school or work. God help us all.

WamBam @ Nov 3rd 2006 6:03PM

Philly is still the fourth largest metro area but not fourth largest city.

There are no arcades in Philly. Remember the two on Chestnut Street downtown? You could smoke in them and they never cared whether you were supposed to be in school or not. One of them was run buy a guy that looked like Mario.

There are only two independent game stores I can think of downtown. One is that korean place on Chesnut and another one on south that sells airbrushed shirts.

Homer @ Nov 3rd 2006 9:06PM

Your comments: Last time I was in Philly proper (a year ago) I went to visit my
favorite arcade on UPenn campus. I forget the name but to my
recollection it was there with some really kickass cabinets. As far
as I know no one uses that as a hub and would rather go to the middle
of New Jersey. I know that NEC7 will be at a hotel in South Philly
([http://www.soulcalibur.com/forums/showthread.php?s=0b4990e19a525ce1b83ec498280b14bd&threadid=31032 check it out here]) But thats all I know of.

njm @ Nov 3rd 2006 11:03PM

I Born and raised in Philadelphia but had to move to the West Coast to land a job in the industry. I want to move back th Philadelphia but there are no devs there. I would love to see Philly roll out the red carpet for devs/publishers. It can be done, lets make it happen.

Jythie @ Nov 3rd 2006 11:37PM

@22

Well, there are _some_ game companies in philly, just not the most exciting stuff I am afraid.

I know Merit Games is usually looking for people.

mkt @ Nov 4th 2006 3:11AM

I've lived in Philly for 7 years now, and I'm one of two people I knew from Penn who stayed in this city, but I still love it here. Not so sure how likely this whole "gaming mecca" thing is, though. I know that independent game store on Chestnut that was there for a while closed down a few months ago. But to the guy who said there were no arcades in Philly, that other guy who mentioned the one on Penn's campus was right, there's one on Spruce just past 40th. I think it's called Spruce Street Pinball.

And to the guy who complained about Philly's taxes, try living on Long Island, which is where I grew up. Or NYC for that matter.