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Insight to Drive Your Business – Digital Extremes: Opportunities and Business Models in the Video Game Industry
November 29, 2012 @ 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm
$25 – $35About the Session: Michael Schmalz, President of Digital Extremes, will be sharing his views on opportunities in the burgeoning video game industry in Canada and will explain the various types of business models that are being used in this exciting market.
Registration: http://www.digitalextremes.eventbrite.com
Cost: $25 Members ($35 Non-Members) $20 Students
Tentative Agenda
5:30 – 6:15 Registration / Dinner
6:15 – 6:30 Opening Remarks
6:30 -7:30 Keynote Presentation
Hosted By:
About Our Speaker:
Michael Schmalz
President, Digital Extremes Ltd.
Michael Schmalz is the president of Digital Extremes Ltd., a London, Ontario based company software developer for Xbox360, Playstation3 and PC. Digital Extremes is a pioneer in the videogame industry having worked on some of industries most popular first person action franchises including BioShock and Unreal. Michael has been responsible for various business development activities including working with government and other game industry leaders to develop programs to help promote the video game industry and helping the company manage its growth and internal transformation to a “next-gen” company. For the years 2009-2011, Digital Extremes was named as one of the top 10 companies to work for in Canada by the National Post and one of Canada’s top employers for young people by Maclean’s Magazine.
Michael is also one of the founders of DIGLondon, an annual videogame conference in London, Ontario focused on connecting post-secondary school students interested game develop careers with videogame professionals. He is also a co-founder of the Achimota Centre for Children with Autism, a charitable organization that provides specialized treatment for autistic children. Michael has a MA in media studies and a MESc in engineering science from the University of Western Ontario and an MBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University. He is a Certified Management Accountant, a Chartered Director and a Licensed Professional Engineer. He is a member of the Game Developers Association of Ontario, the Independent Game Developers Association and is a Director for Interactive Ontario.
About Digital Extremes
Founded in 1993 by James Schmalz, Digital Extremes Ltd. proudly ranks as one of the world’s top development studios in the interactive entertainment industry
Headquartered in London Ontario, Canada’s 10th largest city, Digital Extremes got its foothold early on in the game industry during the shareware craze of the early 90s. Epic Pinball was a ten month project written entirely in assembly language by Schmalz that went on to become one of the most successful shareware games ever made, trailing only behind such industry greats as Duke3D, Doom and Wolfenstein 3D. Sequels such as Silverball and Extreme Pinball were released shortly thereafter and together they helped fund the creation of what would become one of the industry’s blockbuster franchises, Epic Games’ Unreal®.
Beginning in 1994, Digital Extremes partnered with Epic Games (at that time, its shareware publisher) and co-created Unreal and its counterpart Unreal Tournament. Both games set new standards for first-person action games and broke new ground in online multiplayer gaming. Tremendously rich graphics, fine-tuned gameplay, frenetic action and high quality production value are descriptions that have become synonymous with any Unreal branded game. To date, the award-winning Unreal franchise, including Unreal, Unreal Tournament and Unreal Championship has sold more than 12 million units worldwide across the PC, PlayStation®2, Xbox™ and Dreamcast™ platforms.
Beginning in 1994, Digital Extremes partnered with Epic Games (at that time, its shareware publisher) and co-created Unreal and its counterpart Unreal Tournament. Both games set new standards for first-person action games and broke new ground in online multiplayer gaming. Tremendously rich graphics, fine-tuned gameplay, frenetic action and high quality production value are descriptions that have become synonymous with any Unreal branded game. To date, the award-winning Unreal franchise, including Unreal, Unreal Tournament and Unreal Championship has sold more than 12 million units worldwide across the PC, PlayStation®2, Xbox™ and Dreamcast™ platforms.
Digital Extremes completed development on its original IP for the current generation of consoles, Dark Sector®, which shipped to stores in 2008, using its proprietary next-gen technology, the Evolution Engine™. Following its success, the studio expanded to two teams to allow for simultaneous development on separate projects, along with licensing the Evolution Engine as a complete middleware solution to game developers worldwide.
Digital Extremes completed work on the Multiplayer component of 2K Games’ blockbuster, Bioshock® 2 as well as the PC version of THQ hit, Homefront™. The company also recently ventured into the mobile world with the release of Retro Pinball for Apple’s iOS platform, a throwback to the company’s roots. Most recently, the studio launched the highly anticipated sequel, The Darkness® II. Currently, Digital Extremes has two projects in development. Star Trek®, a ground-breaking co-op action game that will accompany the 2013 movie, for PS3, Xbox360, and PC; and the company’s first venture into the PC Free-to-Play market with WARFRAME, a sci-fi based third-person shooter. Visit www.warframe.com to register for the Closed Beta!
Digital Extremes completed work on the Multiplayer component of 2K Games’ blockbuster, Bioshock® 2 as well as the PC version of THQ hit, Homefront™. The company also recently ventured into the mobile world with the release of Retro Pinball for Apple’s iOS platform, a throwback to the company’s roots. Most recently, the studio launched the highly anticipated sequel, The Darkness® II. Currently, Digital Extremes has two projects in development. Star Trek®, a ground-breaking co-op action game that will accompany the 2013 movie, for PS3, Xbox360, and PC; and the company’s first venture into the PC Free-to-Play market with WARFRAME, a sci-fi based third-person shooter. Visit www.warframe.com to register for the Closed Beta!
