Canada comfortably ranks among the world’s top 10 largest gaming markets. Given that its neighbors to the south are the biggest, there’s a lot of cross-border cooperation that helps inject life into the Canadian gaming scene.
That’s not to undersell Canada’s contribution to the broader gaming world; plenty of innovations have emerged in Canada. Today, this article will look at their most significant contributions, which continue to shape the broader international gaming market.
Modern-Day casino gaming legislation
Some analysts and experts in the casino industry believe that the current Canadian iGaming legislation is one of the most watertight and comprehensive in the world.
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While legislators in the UK might boast the most significant contribution to the current gaming world, Canada’s recent changes in 2022 have meant they’ve updated the best parts of the UK legislation with some of the modern techniques and ways people play.
By combining these features, they have turned the country into one of the most well-rounded casino betting legislative landscapes anywhere on the planet. While many operators in Canada offer their live casino gaming platform across many different countries, they still need to adhere to modern-day legislation if they operate in Canada. The devolvement of the powers to each province operates on a similar model in the US, where gambling is legislated primarily by the state but overseen at a central governmental level.
Sustainability
As Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investments continue growing, the onus to create environmentally friendly products is more crucial than ever. Canada has made this a central focus of budding industries within the country. Balancing sustainability in gaming can be challenging as the industry uses a lot of electricity. Given the strength and output of high-end processing units, game designers aren’t keen on potentially compromising the quality of game design.
However, Canadian gaming pioneers aim to become more sustainable on various levels. This includes using recycled materials to build consoles and game accessories. Major game developers, like Blue, put sustainability at the foundation of their business model.
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It’s a slow burner, and not all countries are entirely on board with sustainability in gaming. However, as ESG investments grow and the importance of environmentally friendly gaming continues to expand in popularity, sustainability takes greater precedence, and Canada is one of the world leaders in this approach.
A growing eSports presence
As one of the strongest areas of gaming, countries are battling to become hubs for professional video gaming tournaments. With over $60 million in prizes at this year’s eSports World Cup, and multiple teams competing at the highest level of elite professional video gaming, Canada is looking to get in on the action.
The 7,000-seat purpose-built eSports arena, which will be built in Toronto and set to open in 2025, could become the hub for eSports tournaments in North America. Not only will this help the sector expand in Canada, but it will also help encourage people to travel and stay in Toronto. This will also, inevitably, help the global gaming market, and it could become the most important Canadian contribution to gaming this decade.
Emphasis On indie, grassroots gaming
Despite the multi-billion-dollar industry continuing to grow in Canada and internationally, even over the last few years during an economic slump, many countries still offer little incentive or programs to help smaller game design companies grow.
It’s vital that smaller indie games can challenge the more prominent household names with a much larger market share. Canadian games like Celeste have proven that there’s a solid, global market for smaller game ideas. With government programs like the Canadian Media Fund helping to get these companies on their feet, Canada has gone against the grain, providing direct funding to these companies looking to put Canadian gaming on the map.
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While this hasn’t been rolled out in other top gaming markets, those in the industry are hopeful that it’s an attitude that will change, as it will inevitably assist the growth of global gaming in the medium to long term.
Every country in the top 10 biggest gaming markets has made a solid contribution to gaming and continues to shape the industry globally. Canada’s contribution to indie gaming and sustainable mainstream gaming production could be the two most important contributions over the next decade.
Canadian gaming platforms and design companies have already pioneered and become world leaders in both fields. However, as environmentally friendly investments and ideas become more pivotal in society, don’t be surprised to see more countries and companies reshaping their approach to follow Canada’s lead.
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