Wandering Adventure Party

#videogamesnovascotia #novascotiagamedev | Interactive Society of Nova Scotia

A Message to Our Community Hello, Many in our community have been affected by the closure of Ubisoft Halifax, either directly or through colleagues and friends. We recognize the impact this has had, and we want to acknowledge the very real human cost of this moment. These are skilled, experienced game developers who remain an important part of Nova Scotia’s game development community. As a board, our focus is on supporting that talent and helping people continue building their careers here. To put that support into action, we are: 1) Working with local industry partners to attract new and existing organizations to Nova Scotia and connect them with our absolutely phenomenal talent pool already in our province. 2) Supporting job seekers through practical initiatives, including resume and interview workshops, directly sharing open roles with our members, and creating networking opportunities that lead to meaningful connections. 3) Accelerating the development of our local game development directory so it better reflects the depth, diversity, and experience of our community and serves as a useful resource for employers looking to hire in Nova Scotia. We are all saddened by the departure of Ubisoft Halifax from the local ecosystem and recognize the investment the studio made during its time here through job creation and support for academic institutions, arts organizations, and community initiatives. At the same time, it’s important to remember that Nova Scotia had a strong game development community before Ubisoft Halifax arrived, and that community continues today. We also want to acknowledge some of the public discussion that has followed the closure, particularly around Nova Scotia’s Digital Media Tax Credit. It is important that these conversations remain balanced and consider the long-term health of the entire ecosystem. The tax credit has played a foundational role in enabling local studios to form, grow, retain talent, and reinvest locally. Framing it solely as corporate enrichment risks unintended consequences for smaller studios and future startups that rely on this stability to exist. There are many examples in Nova Scotia where the credit has been used exactly as intended to build sustainable, locally rooted companies and create long-term employment. Studios such as Gamemode One, MDAD, HB Studios, and others have successfully leveraged the credit to build viable businesses and contribute meaningfully to the province’s creative economy. Our mandate is to support the health of Nova Scotia’s game development sector as a whole. We maintain a bipartisan position on matters of unionization and politics, and we remain focused on strengthening the ecosystem and the people who work within it. Thank you for your time, Interactive Society of Nova Scotia (ISNS) - Board of Directors #videogamesnovascotia #novascotiagamedev