Interactive Ontario's Ian Kelso

We're hoping to attract 200 people in the first year. Part of the event is funding through the Ontario government. There's a CAD 3 million a year fund that promotes creative clusters and it's for organisations and companies that are building events that are common good things for the industry. We got start-up funding for this conference through that fund. The kids conference has had huge interest in it from the get-go because there's been a lot of activity happening especially with broadcast and kids websites. The BBC has got one of the best kids websites in the world. There's always been that very obvious crossover between these types of platforms. We'd like to see it grow into an international conference. We'll have around 30 speakers coming internationally.

You have to drink the Kool-Aid and believe that this sector is the future and it's at an emerging stage right now and that growth is going to take you to a much better place. It's the very beginning and it's only just becoming a mainstream industry. There will be more access as technology becomes less expensive so you have to think positively about the future. Regionally there are a few places that have done that in Canada and at at federal level it's just starting to happen after years and years of that education process. The federal government has been similar to the UK government and when they come on stream with something substantial it's going to really break things open in the right ways. Nobody wants to create artificial economies.

The early stages in the games space is the most challenging. If they're going to go to a publisher with a prototype, you're investing somewhere on the scale of CAD 2-3 million on a next-generation console game up front just to get a playable demo. That's the cost of entry to even begin to sell your project at that level. How do you generate that kind of cash flow? If you're a company that has 2-4 different teams with projects in multiple stages of the development pipeline you can usually pull from projects and get the cash flow going and keep things moving - move talent around within projects.

But if you're a smaller company you need to spread equity. So companies start at the very low cost platforms like mobile, or the iPhone, where barriers to entry are low. They can create an interesting game, and then hopefully move to XBLA or PlayStation Network, then the DS. You try to work your way through and there have been companies that have done that successfully. Capybara Games is a good example of a company that has done that with Critter Crunch.

There have been some indie companies that have been tremendously successful on small platforms. Jonathan Mak with Everyday Shooter - I hear he's getting some pretty good cheques. He's got the go ahead for his second game, hired a bunch of employees and has opened up an office. The first game he did all by himself and now he's up and running. Metanet Software that did N+, they started as a two person operation with a Flash game, and brought that over onto the DS and then XBLA as a digital download game.

The market is also fickle and it can be about timing. Tax credits are great mechanism for making the market decide on what should get built and then rewarding at the completion of the project. In film they say 'never spend your own money' but a developer is usually putting in enough of their own money to take it seriously.

We've always been true believers in the talent in the region. There's always been a thriving independent scene in Ontario and a very diversified community in terms of locations too. There are some great companies in Ottawa, London Ontario, St Catherines, Toronto has been a real hub for the creative sector and the creative industries - not just games but music, film, publishing.

And the English language entertainment industry has been incredible. We've always believed that some of the interactive companies we've seen come up through the ranks - whether that's in gaming, mobile or web - there have been some really innovative and creative mixes of the technology and the artistic. Some of that has been nurtured in the small federal dollars that were there in the early years.