Throughout Wisconsin, state and local authorities and private investors alike are working to bring the state up to speed in the tech industry. This blog has reported on many of the educational initiatives, entrepreneurial events and increased funding opportunities that companies have been finding over the past few months, and one of the areas where these programs have been very successful is video game design.
The city of Madison, specifically, has become a major center for this industry. Raven Software, founded in 1990, laid the groundwork for the current boom. After developing its own successful games, the company was acquired by video game giant Activision in 1997, and has contributed to the most recent games in the Call of Duty series. Former Raven employees founded Human Head Studios in 2000, becoming a leading independent developer.
Madison is also home to Filament Games, an award-winning developer of educational games which sponsors the University of Wisconsin-Madison's annual Games, Learning & Society Conference along with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The University of Wisconsin System now offers game design courses at its Madison, Milwaukee, Stout and Whitewater campuses.
The rise of mobile gaming has been a major factor in allowing smaller developers to compete in a crowded marketplace. Now, the industry is expanding beyond Wisconsin's capital, with Milwaukee's Guild Software helping to pave the way. The Wisconsin Technology Council has taken note and announced plans to promote a "growing video-game development cluster."
Professional IT consultants can help Wisconsin's companies grow in step with the state's tech industry. From programming to website hosting, MC Services provides specialized solutions to aid in the technological development of businesses throughout Wisconsin and surrounding states.
