Virtual Frontiers: A Study on Alberta's Interactive Digital Media Industry

Interactive digital media (IDM) is becoming a vibrant part of Alberta’s economic fabric.

This study offers an in-depth look at Alberta’s IDM industry, including its labour market impacts and needs, its economic potential, and the broader Albertan economic context.

Representing 177 studios, IDM in Alberta is characterized by five core sub-industries: video games, animation, visual effects and post-production, extended reality (XR), digital models and digital twins. These studios increasingly play a key role in Alberta’s economy and labour market. When paired with the province’s natural sectoral strengths like energy and healthcare, IDM offers novel innovation opportunities beyond entertainment.

Video games are the dominant IDM subindustry in Alberta, making up more than 55% of all studios. With a broad range of applications across sectors, including education, healthcare, and natural resources, XR is the next largest subindustry, representing over 20% of all studios. Animation, visual effects, and post-production each represent just under 10%, and digital models and digital twins comprise the remaining 5%.

Alberta’s IDM industry primarily engages in product-based work, which may insulate it from macroeconomic shifts.

While the industry is dominated by small studios (employing 50 people or less), nearly half engage primarily in product-based work. This means they develop intellectual property (IP) in-house and leverage it to produce products or services. In comparison, the IDM industry in British Columbia (B.C.) sees most studios operating according to a service model through which they develop tailored solutions for external clients. Both business models have benefits and drawbacks. However, the robust presence of product-based work in Alberta may offer a degree of insulation from macroeconomic shifts that can impact the external demands for services and content. That said, approximately 85% of studios cater to clients outside Alberta; clients are primarily located in B.C., Ontario, the United States, and China.

By 2030, Alberta’s IDM industry could contribute up to $169M to the province’s GDP.

ICTC estimates that approximately 4,500 to 5,200 people are employed in Alberta’s IDM industry. Most of Alberta’s IDM employment is located in the province’s two main hubs of economic activity: Calgary and Edmonton.

While small compared to the overall digital economy—which employed more than 250,000 Albertans in March 2024—IDM employment has consistently outpaced employment growth across the overall economy, averaging 4.8% annually from 2006 to 2024, compared to 1.5%. IDM employment is expected to continue to outpace that of the general economy in the coming years: in fact, ICTC forecasts that by 2030, Alberta’s IDM industry could add as many as 3,500 new jobs. If this job growth is realized, Alberta will net an additional $106M to $169M in GDP.

Mid- to senior-level talent is in high demand.

When it comes to hiring, mid to senior-level talent is in high demand. Studios frequently seek talent with a robust base of technical skills and workplace experience that allows them to onboard teams and projects quickly and rapidly produce value. 

Examples of in-demand roles include technical roles like gameplay programmers, artificial intelligence (AI) programmers, and engine operators; artistic and creative roles like technical artists, animators, and riggers; and design roles like narrative designers, level designers, and user experience (UX) designers.

While junior-level talent is less sought after—with many employers pointing to gaps in training, including for both technical skills and workplace skills—most companies engaged in this study noted being heavily involved in the entry-level talent world; three-quarters of studios engage with co-op students and interns, and many end up retaining them for full-time work. 

Alberta’s IDM talent crunch may be due to a lack of critical technical skills and work experience.

Across the board, employers expressed a belief that Alberta’s IDM talent crunch is primarily quality-based; that is, the volume of talent may be sufficient, but many lack critical technical skills and the desired work experience needed to succeed in their roles and help studios scale. For junior-level talent especially, employers expressed a significant demand for greater post-secondary alignment with industry needs.  

Alberta studios offer competitive wages compared to Toronto, Vancouver, and Montréal.

Despite the relatively small size of the industry in Calgary and Edmonton compared to larger clusters like Toronto, Vancouver, and Montréal, a scan of salaries for key technical, artistic, and design roles across these jurisdictions suggests that Alberta studios punch above their weight and often offer competitive wages.

Fostering a robust ecosystem is key to the future of Alberta’s IDM industry.

Beyond talent and skills, other considerations key to the future of IDM in Alberta include scale, competition, and investment attraction. 

Building a robust ecosystem that helps IDM companies scale and compete is important, as are structures that enable and incentivize homegrown ecosystem development and investment attraction. The former includes access to capital, funding, and other supports like networks, facilities and equipment, and commercialization and marketing services, while the latter includes taxation incentives, including tax credits. Taxation incentives, combined with a robust labour market, could be essential to putting Alberta on par with other major IDM hubs nationwide.

Alberta’s IDM industry is dynamic and continually evolving. Offering novel employment opportunities that blend technology and art, IDM supports sectors including energy, education, healthcare, and more; its contributions are often tailor-made. With a focus on targeted and strategic interventions, including those that enable labour attraction, labour retention, and skill development, Alberta is poised to leave its mark on the world of IDM.