Last week I had the honor of sitting on a panel discussion at the Future Center that focused on Cleveland’s gaming industry. My fellow panelists included:
-David Moss, Director of the Future Center;
-Dan Carl, Director of the Northeast Ohio Gaming Initiative;
-Rich Weiss, Assistant Director of Ingenuity
-Barbara Olney, Interim Marketing Director of Red {an orchestra}
(There was also a professor from the Cleveland Insitute of Art who had a fantastic scope on curriculum and trends in gaming - but, alas, I have forgotten his name.)
The entire evening offered outstanding dialogue on the “overlooked” but growing gaming industry in Cleveland. There are, however, a number of planets that are beginning to align that makes me think that something profound is about to happen. After the panel discussion a few interesting nuggests occured that should be noted:
-Bounty Technology, a Cleveland, OH-based tech company, just released GameGaurdian 1.0. GameGaurdian is slick tool that battles cheating in the massive online gaming systems (“MOGS”). Just another example of a Cleveland company beginning to offer key solutions to the gaming industry.
-I had lunch Friday with a CEO of one of the fastest growing tech companies in Northeast Ohio where he pronounced his vision of brining Indian gaming companies to Cleveland. His comments were unprompted but very encouraging.
-A gaming committee that I have had working on the GameHub (a unique gaming incubator and entertainment complex) for over a year recently had a meeting with a developer for this concept. The interest is high.
-Notacon, a Cleveland, OH-based national conference, had nearly 300 individuals attend this year with a key focus on gaming and gaming technologies.
I would like to suggest the following steps to position Cleveland for its gaming explosion:
-Hold a gaming summit with the support of NorTech, NEOSA, Case Western Reserve University, the City of Cleveland to map out a master plan for this industry. The growth of gaming in Cleveland, and indeed Northeast Ohio, is just too important for us not to plan for success.
-Submit a grant application to the State of Ohio to help financially support this plan of action for the gaming industry.
-Hold a gaming tournament in the high schools in Cleveland.
I can only hope of great success in this industry for Cleveland. The great secret is that we can be a world power house in this industry if only we want to be that.
