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Fast Company

Toronto's strategic emergence as a capital of esports

The most popular course at Toronto Metropolitan University packs nearly 900 students into a downtown theater to learn the finer points of video game design. The campus-wide elective draws students from dozens of majors eager to learn how games inform their educations and vice versa. The sheer diversity of young talent in the room—a nearly 50-50 gender split—not only reflects gaming's universal appeal but also several of the strengths that have made Toronto a quiet capital of both the industry and its growing pop cultural power. Those strengths will be on display this summer during the city's inaugural Video Game Month, which doubles as a strategic declaration and coming-out party. Encompassing dozens of events ranging from developer confabs to high-stakes esports tournaments and massive outdoor gaming installations, the weeks-long celebration is expected to attract more than 50,000 attendees and 180 digital media companies. Beneath the spectacle lies the story of how Toronto is shrugging off decades of entrepreneurial brain drain to build a self-sustaining game ecosystem that differs markedly from rival hubs in Canada and the United States. 'We already have a strong industrial sector, and we're really starting to host esports—particularly large events—here in Toronto,' says Anthea Foyer, who leads the creative technology office for the city. 'This is an opportunity to bring these companies together and let gamers know about events that reflect their interests.' But a long-term leveling up also will require turning students into developers and spectators into gamer-athletes. Ready, player one? A THRIVING INDIE DEVELOPER SCENE What sets Toronto apart from other gaming industry capitals isn't just scale, but structure. While neighboring Montréal built its reputation around a handful of massive studios such as Ubisoft and Eidos, Toronto has cultivated a thriving independent developer scene comprising hundreds of small teams. Rather than cranking out yet another franchise installment, their collective output includes quirky, culturally diverse games like Venba, in which players reconstruct their immigrant mother's lost recipes. These indie titles eschew bleeding-edge hardware for a low-fi aesthetic which in turn makes them more accessible to small publishers and casual gamers alike. This approach stems partly from Toronto's talent pipeline. TMU professor Kris Alexander, who teaches its wildly popular intro course, sees game design and development, solo production, and educational institutions like his as the three pillars of the local scene. 'We have students from wildly different disciplines who want to learn how they can connect to the industry,' he explains. His students learn more than just game mechanics—biology majors study dopaminergic pathways' role in in-game monetization, for example, while law students explore intellectual property issues specific to gaming. As a result, not only do major studios such as Epic and Gameloft visit his class in search of new recruits but also TD Bank and other large local employers. If indie developers represent Toronto's creative spirit, OverActive Media embodies the city's ambitions for hosting gaming spectacles. As Canada's largest esports ownership group, the company fields teams in leagues built around blockbusters such as League of Legends, Valorant, and Call of Duty —franchises requiring millions in buy-in fees. During Video Game Month, a 7,000-seat auditorium will host the Call of Duty World Championship, complete with a $2 million prize pool. 'We look at what we're building as similar to the Toronto Maple Leafs or Montréal Canadiens,' says Neil Duffy, OverActive's chief commercial officer. 'We want to create events and experiences that not only create a flywheel effect around our teams but support the larger ecosystem—whether that's developer workshops, indie hackathons, or meet-and-greets.' IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCES FOR A GLOBAL AUDIENCE Riot Games' Valorant Toronto Masters tournament, running for three weeks during Video Game Month, exemplifies Toronto's status as a top-tier destination on the global circuit. The passionate crowds, complete with flags, costumes, and coordinated chants, represent what Duffy calls 'a new generation of fans discovering a new generation of sport.' Yet Toronto's burgeoning scene faces headwinds familiar to many Canadian entrepreneurs. The looming U.S. trade war threatens to disrupt cross-border exports and investment, while a risk-adverse business culture clashes with an industry that rewards bold innovation. Sharpening the city's competitive edge may lie in mastering the use of AI. An example is JALI Research, which produces tools for automating characters' facial expressions and lip syncing. These techniques promise to dramatically reduce production time while enabling real-time translation and greater emotional nuance—both key to producing immersive experiences for a global audience. Video Game Month is more than a celebration—it's a test of whether Toronto can transform its secret strengths into sustainable leadership. The ingredients are present: unmatched diversity, technological sophistication, and creative ambition. Success depends on overcoming traditional Canadian reticence to fully embrace its moment. 'Sometimes, people even in Toronto don't know what an economic and cultural force [this] is in our city,' Foyer says. 'This is really one of the things I want people to know about—just how strong our industry is.'