ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT WINNIPEG INC. | COMPANY PROFILE
COMPLEX GAMES INC.
“Winnipeg is the perfect place to start a digital media business like ours.
We’ve got a highly skilled and productive workforce that loves to be
challenged, we’ve got tremendously competitive operating costs, and we
benefit from unusually strong buy-in within academic, government and
business circles. Provincial government programs have also helped us stay
competitive as a small fish in a very big pond.”
~Noah Decter-Jackson, Founder & CEO
VITAL STATISTICS
VITAL STATISTICS
Business Focus
Digital media (mobile game
development)
Corporate Leadership
Noah Decter-Jackson, Founder & CEO
Market
Global
Number of Employees
45+ in Winnipeg
Year Founded
2002
Ownership
Private
Corporate Headquarters
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Contact Information
204.997.4260
310-136 Market Ave.
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R3B 0P4 CANADA
Links
Website
Facebook
Twitter
A
ll over the world, it’s been a recurring scenario for almost 40 years now: kids are transfixed in front
of a screen—be it a television set, a computer monitor or a phone—with their parents telling them
to stop playing silly games and to do something productive. Beginning in 1977 with the release of
the wildly popular Atari 2600, the video game craze has evolved from mythically embarrassing rip-offs that
took mere weeks to produce (Atari’s E.T. adaptation took about 30 days to create and about five minutes to
flop) to today’s uber-complex games that can take months or even years to perfect.
Seeing the writing on the wall well before the current video game explosion that’s radically redefining
the entertainment paradigm, two optimistic Winnipeggers decided to get into the game shortly after the
dawning of the new millennium. Together with countless multitudes of armchair competitors, Noah DecterJackson and Adrian Cheater withstood the initial incredulity of their parents and decided to throw their hats
into the proverbial ring in 2002. Via the ever-popular ‘friends and family’ financing plan that numbered about
30 worldwide volunteers at the time, Complex Games was born.
Struggling at first to find a viable business model, Complex Games found solid footing within a few years
and would eventually become a successful graduate of local incubator The Eureka Project. Today, Complex
Games has evolved into one of Winnipeg’s fastest-growing digital media companies. The firm specializes
in mobile game development, with a particular expertise in free-to-play game design and monetization.
With a well-earned reputation for excellence and over a decade spent creating top-selling, award-winning
mobile games for some of the world’s most renowned brands (e.g., Nickelodeon, Hasbro and Disney),
Complex Games has become a local trailblazer helping to pave the way for other industry innovators
operating throughout the city.
From breakout favourites like Battle Bears and Battle Bears -1 to one of its most recent smash hits, Drop
Assault (part of the famous Warhammer 40,000 series), Complex Games is gaining real traction—and
serious street cred—among peers and players alike. While the company’s bread-and-butter business at the
moment largely consists of producing smash hits for more established companies, the ultimate objective
is to develop its own video games, which would yield a far bigger slice of the pie with respect to revenues
and royalties. But that’s not to say the current model isn’t effective; far from it. These days, Complex Games
is still busy partnering with some of the most respected names in gaming.
Given its snowballing status within the industry, prospects look so bright for this Winnipeg-based firm that
it recently decided to expand its physical footprint, relocating to downtown Winnipeg’s historic Exchange
District into a space 25 per cent larger than its previous home. The decision to move resulted from several
key factors, including its growing, highly skilled workforce and the chance to better address space and
functionality issues.
To optimize the steady growth occurring within Winnipeg’s digital media cluster at Complex Games and
elsewhere, a unified commitment by public-sector and industry stakeholders has evolved that is aimed
at nurturing the requisite talent pool. Provincial government incentives, for example, now include several
grants that support this vision, and employment tax credits are also offered that can help these firms thrive
on the world stage.
Part of its Grow in Winnipeg series of corporate profiles, Economic Development Winnipeg Inc. is proud to feature Complex
Games as an outstanding example of a leading local business and industry innovator.
WWW.ECONOMICDEVELOPMENTWINNIPEG.COM