Drexel Gets State Grant to Develop Video Games
Tetris on the side of the Cira Center. Drexel’s Entrepreneurial Game Studio is getting a state grant to help grow Pennsylvania’s digital gaming industry.
Technically Philly reports that Drexel University is one of three schools to receive state grants to help develop a video game industry in the state. Drexel will receive $200,000 for its Entrepreneurial Game Studio, which aims to serve helps students start their own game companies in Philadelphia.
Carnegie Mellon University and Harrisburg University of Science and Technology are also receiving grants. The three schools will also share an additional $150,000 for collaborative efforts, like a statewide gaming conference.
Drexel, of course, has been behind efforts the last couple of years to play the world’s biggest games of Pong and Tetris using the Cira Center as the the game screen.
“The city is becoming a great place for game design companies to put down roots,” EGS founder Frank Lee said in a press release announcing the grant. “Drexel is producing some of the best students in game art, design and development and the city has some of the best independent game developers. In working with local universities like Penn, University of the Arts and Temple, as well as local independent game studios, at EGS we’re hoping to plant the seeds from which will spring the next success story like Rovio, and turn Philadelphia into a major game industry hub in the east coast.”
Lee spoke at Philly Mag’s ThinkFest in 2013 about developing a gaming subculture in Philadelphia:
