The Geography of Clusters : The Case of the Video Games Clusters in Montreal and in Los Angeles

Abstract EN

The aim of our research was to examine how clusters appear and develop in the video game sector.

We thus did a comparative study of the video games cluster in Montreal and Los Angeles.

This paper shows that concentration of human creativity in arts and in technology is a significant economic localization factor, but cross-fertilization of sectors and public policy also contributes to the understanding of the emergence of clusters in certain urban regions.

Thus, political and industrial factors offer an explanation as to why clusters emerge and how they evolve, going beyond the purely geographic or economic factors.

In LA as in Montreal, the cross-fertilization with film is important.

However, in Montreal, it is the public policy contributing to financing jobs in the Multimedia City and the French language that brought Ubisoft to the city; this contributed to make the city well known in the field, creating a “brand” for the city and thus fuelling the cluster development.