State Hires First Digital Entertainment Guru

ATLANTA, May 2, 2007 – The Georgia Film, Video and Music Office, a division of the Georgia Department of Economic Development, is leading the way in the thriving and powerful video game development industry in Georgia. In April, Asante Bradford was hired as a Digital Entertainment Liaison to focus on business development and identifying opportunities to encourage the continued growth of the video game development industry in Georgia.

Asante Bradford will work to increase the state's level of industry promotion and support, create business to business and educational institution relationships, oversee industry specific advertising and marketing initiatives, and attract video game development companies to Georgia. He will encourage the industry to utilize the Georgia Entertainment Industry Investment Act, which grants a base tax credit to qualified productions.

Bradford was the founder of a game center entertainment arcade that provided gaming, training, and Web access on state-of-the-art equipment in a LAN environment. He was also responsible for establishing educational programming, game licensing and acquisition as well as planning video game tournaments in the southeast for companies such as EA Sports, Red Octane and Microsoft. A native of Los Angeles, California, Bradford received his Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing from the University of San Francisco. Additionally, he is the founder of the Independent Black Film Festival (IBFF) in Atlanta.

'Georgia has become one of the world's leaders in the video game industry,' said Georgia Film, Video & Music director Bill Thompson. 'Asante will be a great asset to our team and Georgia's video game development industry.'

Georgia is home to more than 50 video game developers and development companies including Turner GameTap, Kaneva, Inc., Hi-Rez Studios, Blue Heat Games and StudioCom. According to the Georgia Game Developers Association (GGDA), more than 2,000 Georgians are employed in some form of video game development. GGDA is the professional organization for video game developers in Georgia and has more than 150 members.

Georgia is excelling in the industry, having recently received accolades in a variety of trade publications. In a recent poll by Game Developer magazine, Georgia was ranked number four in the nation in compensation levels for video game developers. In addition, Sperling's BestPlaces recently announced that Atlanta is number three in the nation for volume of video game playing activity behind Seattle and Minneapolis-St. Paul. On March 7, Iceland's CCP Games announced its plans to hire 100 additional employees within the next two years in Atlanta; Shanghai, China; and Reykjavik, Iceland with offices in each location.

Georgia's college students are also contributing to the success of the industry. More than 2,000 are taking game development classes or are involved in full video game development curriculums. Electronic Arts, the world's largest video game developer, headquartered in California, recently partnered with the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD) to set up a 'skunk works' research and development operation in Savannah. Participating students work in a highly secure video game development facility provided by SCAD.

The Film, Video & Music Office is responsible for promoting Georgia as an entertainment industry destination by increasing the awareness of Georgia's multimedia business opportunities, resources and infrastructure through the building of relationships with prospective global clients. Since the inception of the office in 1973, more than 550 major motion pictures and television movies have filmed on location in the state. As a result, more than $4.6 billion has been generated for the state's economy. In 2006, 291 productions including movies, TV series, commercials, music videos and video game projects accounted for an economic impact of $448.3 million in Georgia.

For more information, visit www.georgia.org or call (404) 962-4075