Codename Entertainment is a video game company that believes strongly in the power of community. We have a worldwide community of players who are passionate about our games. Every day we engage with our players, discussing their experiences and how we can improve our games. We have worked with our players several times to raise money for various charities. For example, during our Extra Life campaign we committed to play video games for 24 hours straight while live streaming the experience. We were able to raise over $6,000 for BC Children’s Hospital, making Codename Entertainment one of the BC Children’s Hospital’s top five Extra Life teams. Additionally, we have sold items in our games and donated our proceeds to anti-bully activities, providing facilities for the homeless, World Wildlife Fund and most recently for the Canadian Red Cross to provide humanitarian assistance in response to the Nepal earthquake.

Codename has also come together with the other video game studios in Victoria to reach out to local high school students. Working with our school districts, we want to be able to channel their students’ passion for video games into a possible career. This starts with Student Day at a Victoria gaming convention called GottaCon.

Approximately 400 students attend a panel discussion with industry experts to learn what it is like to work in the video game industry. Then students can participate in the Video Game Work Experience Program. Selected students get a chance to spend four days embedded in a local video game studio. Students have a chance to see what it is really like to make a video game. They get the chance to shadow various job roles. Additionally, by the time the average student has graduated from high school, they will have played over 10,000 hours of video games. This means that students are experts at playing games and when they come into a studio for a work experience program, then can offer advice from the perspective of an expert. This means that students can have a much more rewarding experience than the typical work experience. While students will need more skills than just the ability to play video games, the journey to working in the video game industry starts with a passion for games. And with over 5,000 jobs in the video game industry just in BC, we think that students’ passion for video games can turn into a great career here in BC.