Wireless games company sets up in Atlantic Technology Centre

Magnet Games Marketing Inc., a company that creates text-messaging-based marketing campaigns and electronic games, is relocating to Charlottetown PE where it’s moving into the Atlantic Technology Centre (ATC), run by Technology PEI (TechPEI) "I was very impressed with how quickly they moved and responded to our needs," says Stan Davidson, president of Magnet. "Game development building is perfectly suited to their needs." TechPEI is the government of Prince Edward Island’s lead agency in the development, adoption and use of information technologies in business and community in the province. While Magnet Games currently only employs 10 people, it plans to rapidly expand this number in the near future with qualified PEI locals. Davidson says the company would interview everyone who approaches it and, "work with the government to look for people who have left PEI and want to come back and work." He adds that anyone from outside of the island who wants to work for the company would have to relocate there. The company is headquartered near Dundee, Scotland, and its marketing and sales division will stay in Toronto. Magnet Games plans to launch a web site, which will be marketed worldwide, where people can download full 3D video games for a daily or monthly fee. While Davidson says that there were no plans to search out other vendors for the games, he did say that if a particular game became popular and the company was approached about a console game, it would be interested in signing a deal. The web site was delayed while Magnet Games’ spin off company Magnet Mobile Media Inc.’s site was produced, since the wireless site could go up a lot faster as the Magnet Games site is more content-rich, and it takes six months to two years to release a console or web game. Magnet Mobile is an interactive development and marketing company that primarily focuses on emerging wireless technologies. Magnet Games is the first new media company to join the ATC, but 21 other companies have also moved into the Centre. Tenants include information technology (IT), communications, film and television companies, and even the Department of Veterans Affairs Canada. Ann Thurlow, communications director for Technology PEI, says that things are going very well in terms or attracting businesses to the ATC, and that the building is almost full of permanent tenants. She credits this to word of mouth. "People never think of Charlottetown as an IT hub," says Thurlow. "It took a while for businesses to realize (the ATC) is as amazing as we said it was, and we have all the things we said we did. Now it’s a big infrastructure." Now that the ATC is nearly full, Thurlow says that the next push is to rent out certain facilities, such as boardrooms equipped with video conferencing, to local businesses on the island. "We also have three smaller tech centres in rural P.E.I., which all have video conferencing, so we’d like to get those in use too." Asked how she felt all of the companies joining the ATC would benefit people in Charlottetown and P.E.I. in general, she responds, "I live downtown, and the more interesting, innovative companies we have, the more interesting and innovative Charlottetown is."

Wireless games company sets up in Atlantic Technology Centre

Broadcast | April 2, 2004

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