Economic Development

Wisconsin State Journal: Madison video game studio rapidly expands as broader sector eyes mergers

Jessica Reilly · Jan 27, 2023 ·

Lost Boys Interactive, a video game studio based in Madison, launched in 2017 with two co-founders who named their company to capture the mythos of the Lost Boys of Neverland.

The studio has now established itself as not only a large part of the Madison region’s video game enclave, but a major industry player with 350 employees in 36 U.S. states, said CEO and co-founder Shaun Nivens.

The company, which has a studio on the West Side, saw 1,255% revenue growth between 2021 and 2022 alone. It has helped gamers around the world explore new worlds, win epic battles, meet dynamic characters and embark on wild adventures by working on popular titles like “Call of Duty Online” and “Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands,” a spin-off of the “Borderlands” series.

Lost Boys Interactive has developed games across other genres, too, including sports and sandbox, or games that allow a great degree of interactivity for the player.

Last April, the studio’s growth really took off when it was acquired by Gearbox, an indie interactive entertainment developer and publisher in Texas with 1,300 employees. Gearbox is owned by Embracer Group, a Sweden-based video game and media holding company.

The deal’s financial details were not disclosed, but it came as consolidation has been an increasingly common trend in the video game industry. Embracer itself makes up about a “fifth” of the sector, Nivens said. Lost Boys Interactive’s rapid expansion also comes as the tech industry at large grapples with layoffs and other economic hurdles.

“We connected with Gearbox at a conference,” said Nivens. He said the Texas company gives Lost Boys Interactive the manpower and resources to work on more expansive projects and allows the studio to maintain full control over operations. “They were our style,” he said.

Both companies also value hiring employees that are full-time and paid a fair wage, Nivens said. That’s because it’s a frequent industry practice for video game studios to hire contractors to save money, he said. Employers are not legally obligated to offer contractors benefits like health insurance.

“We feel it makes better games,” he said, adding that Lost Boys Interactive is set to hire at least 300 more employees within the next year.

Humble beginnings

Prior to the studio’s launch, Nivens and Stefanowicz had just parted ways with their previous employer, PerBlue, a local studio that makes mobile games such as “Disney Heroes.”

It was their combined passion for art and storytelling through video games, that motivated Niven and Stefanowicz to team up and create their own enterprise, Nivens said. Stefanowicz is a former Disney studio art director, and Nivens has an extensive software engineering background.

In a “pretty precarious start,” the studio’s only investment funding ever was the $50 it borrowed to open its first checking account, Stefanowicz said with a laugh. From there, the team used their already established business ties to pick up development gigs and hire workers wherever they could.

The studio scored its first “big” gig with with PUBG, maker of battle royale title PlayerUnknown’s “Battlegrounds,” which needed an engineering team to aid in the creation of an up-and-coming video game, Nivens said. PUBG operates a studio in Madison.

It’s common for several companies to have a hand in developing one video game, he explained. Lost Boys Interactive has until now mainly functioned then as a co-development studio to fill staffing gaps for clients.

Video game design is a complex and expensive process involving computer programmers, software engineers, graphic artists, animators, workers who play video games to test for glitches and more, he said.

Nivens said the studio — with Gearbox’s support — intends to act on a longtime goal: Develop internal video game ideas and projects.

A new norm?

Consolidation is likely becoming the norm for the video game industry, explained Madison Region Economic Partnership enterprise development director Craig Kettleson, who has researched the sector extensively.

Microsoft attempted its largest-ever acquisition of California-based game developer Activision Blizzard (parent company of Madison-area studio Raven Software) in early 2022, which was challenged last December by the Federal Trade Commission. That deal is worth almost $70 billion.

The FTC said in a December statement that the Activision deal could enable Microsoft “to suppress competitors to its Xbox gaming consoles and its rapidly growing subscription content and cloud-gaming business.”

Kettleson said he’s in favor of that deal, adding that it could theoretically bring more money and workers into the region, as well as elevate Madison as a destination for new game development studios. Nivens agreed with Kettleson’s sentiments in a separate interview.

“I think its good for the industry,” Nivens said. “When large corporations like that are spending large amount of money to consolidate, that raises all boats. The bigger and more studios you have, the more likely you are to create offshoots, forge new paths and create crazier (video) game ideas that the mainstream wouldn’t invest in.”

Microsoft already has ties to the area through Bethesda, a game-development studio that owns a location in the city. The tech giant bought Bethesda in 2020 for $7.5 billion.

Purchases of video games soared during the pandemic, so much so that analytics company Newzoo forecasted that in 2020 the sector would grow to $217.9 billion by this year.

Lockdowns lift

Newzoo has since released numbers showing that the video games market saw a slight decline in 2022 compared to 2021 — from $193 billion to $184 billion.

That was mainly because people spent less on mobile games in 2022 as “the world opened again after two years of lockdowns, and people’s disposable income became increasingly strained by inflation,” Newzoo said.

And Microsoft’s highly anticipated purchase of Activision comes not only with scrutiny by various government agencies, but as the overall tech industry faces layoffs. Microsoft announced it would layoff 10,000 employees, including some workers at Bethesda.

Article originally published on madison.com

Building Patient Care Career Pathways in the Madison Region

Jessica Reilly · Dec 9, 2022 ·

Pathways Wisconsin is a statewide effort to deliver high-quality career-oriented programming in high schools that reflects the needs of prospective employers in their communities.

Focused at the regional level, the program is tailored to the specific needs of each of the nine regions. MadREP has taken an active role in Pathways Wisconsin since its inception, adding four pathways (Patient Care, Digital Tech, Advanced Manufacturing and Construction). We expect to add a fifth agricultural pathway this year.

High Demand for Healthcare Talent

Studies have showed for some time now that by 2020, the United States would be facing shortages in almost all health careers, not limited to physicians and nurses. One of the biggest factors driving the staffing gap is the aging of the U.S. population. Demand for care among Baby Boomers is expected to continue to swell in the coming years just as providers are retiring. And while the unemployment rate for health care workers is at historic lows, the sector is forecast to add the most jobs (2.3 million) of any industry through 2024, according to the BLS. (Source: Closing the Healthcare Talent Gap, Roy Maurer, 10/23/2017)

Industry Subsectors

Each patient care industry subsector offers career opportunities for a range of educational skill levels and salaries.

Direct Care ($19,370 – $166,000)
Therapeutic Services Diagnostic Services Direct Care Nursing ($19,370 – $223,370)
Behavioral Health ($19,370 – $116,620)
Diagnostic Services ($19,370 – $93,530)

Career Pathways in High School

The pathway must include a sequence of courses, including at least two career and technical education courses and two of the following components: a career and technical student organization, work-based learning, college credit opportunities, and an industry recognized credential.

Get involved!

Businesses in our Region have highlighted talent development as a top concern for several years and it has only increased since the onset of the pandemic. If your business would like to take an active role in cultivating your next generation of talent, fill out this brief intake form to get started.

Cap Times: See where rural broadband is (and isn’t) available in Wisconsin

Jessica Reilly · Dec 8, 2022 ·

Source: The Cap Times

As federal regulators prepare to publish a new map showing where broadband internet is and isn’t available across the U.S., Madison-area internet advocates are urging residents to check the draft themselves.

Unveiled in November, the “pre-production draft” of the Federal Communications Commission map is the most detailed and current federal map of internet accessibility, according to an announcement issued last week by the Madison Region Economic Partnership (MadREP). The eight-county economic development group is now encouraging residents to enter their addresses in the online interactive map and notify the FCC if the internet in their area doesn’t match what’s shown on the map.

“If it does not, we have a brief window to challenge that finding,” said Gene Dalhoff, vice president of talent and education at MadREP. “If areas are incorrectly finalized as having access they do not, it will jeopardize the Madison Region’s ability to access federal support for broad infrastructure.”

That federal support includes a share of the more than $42 billion that was set aside for internet expansion under the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. Corrections to the map must be submitted by Jan. 13, 2023, before those dollars are allocated.

This isn’t the first time MadREP has sought to mobilize the public to gather information about internet access in the region. Last year, the group released its own internet speed test for Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Green, Iowa, Jefferson, Rock, and Sauk counties. The test is designed to provide data that the agency and its partners can use to seek improvements to internet infrastructure where they’re needed most

Much of rural America — and some urban and suburban areas — doesn’t have internet fast and reliable enough to meet the federal definition of broadband, which requires download speeds of 25 megabits per second and upload speeds of 3 megabits per second.

For years it’s been hard to say just how big the problem is, since the prior Federal Communications Commission maps that are typically used to assess coverage were based on data by U.S. Census Bureau tract, a geographic unit that can include as many as 8,000 people. A single tract can include homes with fast internet through a cable or fiber connection, as well as homes still connecting to the internet with a dial-up modem.

“If you have one address in a census block that has tremendous broadband, they’re going to apply those results to the entire census block. So this creates very, very misleading maps,” Dalhoff said last year.

If governments or service providers consult those flawed maps to determine where to develop new broadband infrastructure, Dalhoff said, “it could be that 99% of the people are kind of left out in the cold.” In Wisconsin, the Public Service Commission estimates that around 800,000 people, or 14% of the state’s population, don’t have the infrastructure needed for broadband — twice the figure the prior FCC maps suggested.

The new maps will offer a more detailed and current view, showing the fixed and mobile broadband options available at individual addresses, as reported by internet service providers.

“As we often say, access to broadband is vital for economic success,” said MadREP president and CEO Jason Fields. “Now is another opportunity for Wisconsinites to contribute to a broadband solution.”

Article originally published on captimes.com.

WCLO: 12/5/22…Info on Broadband

Jessica Reilly · Dec 5, 2022 ·

MadREP’s Vice President of Talent and Education, Gene Dalhoff, joins WCLO with details on the group’s efforts to collect accurate data on underserved areas in both urban and rural communities in our Region for the last year. Gene announces an opportunity for Wisconsinites to contribute to a broadband solution.

Wondering about next steps? First, check your speed with MadREP’s speed test and compare it to the national map.

Broadband Update: FCC Accepting Correction Challenges for New National Broadband Map

Jessica Reilly · Nov 29, 2022 ·

On Friday, November 18th the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) unveiled the “pre-production draft” of the new national broadband map. This new map is the most detailed and current federal map of where broadband is and is not accessible throughout the country.

What information is included on the map?
The map displays address-level availability and data (as self-reported by internet service providers) for fixed and mobile broadband as well as data aggregated to larger areas – e.g., state, county, census place, and congressional district. Data can be examined by exploring the map’s digital interface or by searching by state or address. The map also displays coverage data by provider.

How does this affect you and your community?
In cases where the draft broadband map indicates broadband speeds that are not actually being observed at specific locations, it is important to challenge the results being presented on the map. Failure to do so could jeopardize a community’s ability to secure a portion of the more than $42 Billion set aside for broadband expansion under the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. Simply put, if the speeds indicated on the map are incorrect for a location and you want to improve local broadband access, it is very important to challenge the results.

How to submit a challenge/ correction:
The FCC is seeking help to improve the data on the map by asking communities and individuals to submit a challenge or request a correction. These are 3 types of challenges: availability challenges, mobile availability challenges, and location challenges. More information on the challenge process can be found on the, How to Use the FCC’s National Broadband Map help page.

How does this affect you and your community?
In cases where the draft broadband map indicates broadband speeds that are not being observed at specific locations, it is important to challenge the results being presented on the map. Failure to do so could jeopardize a community’s ability to secure a portion of the more than $42 billion set aside for broadband expansion under the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program.

Due Date
To ensure valid challenges are incorporated into the map before federal funding allocations are made, the public are encouraged to submit challenges by January 13, 2023.

Source: Public Service Commission of Wisconsin