The DeanBeat: New Zealand levels up game industry amid a world of giants

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New Zealand is a small country in a remote part of the world, but that doesn’t mean it can’t make its mark on the gaming industry. After all, Finland has a similar population of 5.6 million people, and its game developers have entertained billions of people with titles like Clash of Clans and Angry Birds.

Using Finland as inspiration, countries like New Zealand want to build their own gaming ecosystems with high-paying jobs that can be done anywhere, particularly in an age of remote work. And New Zealand, which is hosting a 600-person game conference this week in Wellington, already has a lock on most things based on The Lord of the Rings — an industry unto itself.

So it seems logical New Zealand has a shot at engineering an economic miracle around games as many countries have around the world. I explored this topic of regional game development growth around the world back in 2017, and this story reminds me of two brothers who, as they told me years ago, learned to program games because it was too cold to go outside and play.

Alexey and Afanasiy Ushnisky were two twin brothers who grew up games in Siberia. Their tinkering led to game development, and they built a 800-person mobile game company that showed you could make games anywhere in the world. They moved to warmer climes in Singapore and eventually relocated their headquarters to New Zealand, where they have found the place to be quite hospitable for making games. They have 30 people in the Kiwi land and plan to build a local studio.

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