Saddle Up, Alberta: NAGIS to Indie Rodeo, games scene keeps growing (ft. CGDA & Edmonton Screen)

Good Game Edmonton's Q2 2026 GG Alberta Roundup is here, presented with Digital Alberta. Cory Sellar sits down with Brett Miller from the Calgary Game Developers Association and Ronnie Villanueva from Edmonton Screen and Digital Alberta to cover April through June, and it might be the industry's biggest quarter yet in this province.

Edmonton

NAGIS wrapped its first year at the Edmonton Expo Centre in June, running alongside GameCon Canada. Short for the North American Games Industry Summit, NAGIS is built for studios, publishers, and investors doing business, a different crowd than GameCon Canada's consumer floor next door. It sold out. Close to 60 studios made it onto the show floor, and 96 percent of attendees said they'd recommend it. One studio told Good Game Edmonton they got more wishlist traffic at NAGIS than they did at PAX, in year one. CGMagazine called it "a strong first step toward something bigger," writing that if the summit keeps growing, it "has a real shot at becoming a destination for developers, similar to MIGS or GDC." MobileSyrup made a related point, noting there are "very few prominent consumer gaming events in Canada," which is exactly the gap NAGIS and GameCon Canada are now filling. If you want the build-up, we previewed NAGIS on the show back in May, before the summit had even opened its doors.

Three Edmonton veterans of Mass Effect and Dragon Age launched their own studio this quarter. Kaelin Lavallée, Kris Schoneberg, and Francis Lacuna are calling it Studio Reset, backed by a $250,000 prototyping grant from the Canada Media Fund for their debut project, a neon-noir mystery. "We want to build original worlds with focus, intention, and a team that can stay close to the work, the creative vision, and the players we are making it for," Lavallée said. ‍

Casey Hudson's Edmonton studio landed some serious backing too. Arcanaut Studios is one of the first bets from GreaterThan Group, a new venture fund built on $100 million from former NetEase executive Simon Zhu. The roughly 30-person team is building Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic, a spiritual successor to Knights of the Old Republic. Hudson says it'll ship before 2030.

Edmonton Screen's 2025 numbers back up the growth story: 68 active video game studios, about 500 jobs, more than $24 million in production value, and over 70 percent of original IP owned right here.

There's more from Edmonton this quarter too. Artificial Agency made its first acquisition and named Greg Canessa as its new COO. NorQuest College ended its esports program, citing reorganization. vrCAVE, who joined us on a previous episode, opened Cyberscape, its 10th VR escape room. And Inflexion Games shipped a free overhaul of Conan Exiles for Funcom.

Calgary

Calgary's got its own headline: the Calgary Game Developers Association is launching Indie Rodeo, a new two-day conference at Platform Calgary on September 11 and 12. Day one is business, day two is craft, and your pass also gets you into the Calgary leg of Alberta Game Jam, which follows right after.

The rest of Calgary's quarter was busy too. The Alberta Esports Championship brought out more than 400 junior high and high school students to Bow Valley College. Arcade Jam 2026 challenged teams to build original arcade games, with AI-generated assets banned from entries. And CGMagazine's indie game awards from GameCon Canada went mostly to Alberta studios, with Lucid Rain Studios' Inferius taking Best Game, a mash-up of card battling and Amnesia-style horror the outlet called "twisted, dark and deeply enjoyable."

Alberta-wide

Zoom out to the whole province, and the biggest story is funding. The Canada Media Fund grew its interactive digital media budget by $15 million this year, up to $57 million total, and Alberta studios captured $4.8 million of that pool in 2025, third-best in the country behind Quebec and Ontario. Digital Alberta has been pushing for that increase through its advocacy work, and says the real target is $100 million for long-term competitiveness.

A couple more Alberta-wide notes: the province's regulated iGaming market went live July 13th, making Alberta the second province after Ontario to open online gambling to private operators that included esports. And Dealroom's 2026 Global Tech Ecosystem Index ranked Edmonton 18th in North America for Rising Stars, with gaming among its top sectors, and Calgary right behind at ninth.

The Alberta Scholastic Esports League posted its first annual report too: over 500 students across 10-plus events, with member schools sweeping the Spring National Open. We had ASEL's Shadi Hanna on the show last year if you want the full story on how the league runs.

What's Next

Indie Rodeo hits Calgary September 11 and 12, Alberta Game Jam follows right after, and NAGIS is already planning bigger for 2027, growing the indie developer floor from roughly 60 booths to 250-plus and adding a new hardware and technology showcase zone. Alberta's game industry isn't slowing down.

Got a trailer dropping, funding news, or something happening in the Alberta scene we should know about? We want to hear about it. Follow Good Game Edmonton on Instagram and LinkedIn, browse the Ecosystem Directory for the studios and organizations behind these stories, and check back at goodgameyeg.ca for new episodes and updates.

You can also catch the full conversation on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.


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NAGIS: What Year One Looks Like