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"Online gaming is a growing industry, despite one of the industry\u2019s well-known players in Zynga having come across struggles in recent times. And there isn\u2019t just one studio \u2013 but one small city \u2013 that is gearing up for business.\r\n\r\nKIXEYE has been around for over five years and have decided to open shop in Victoria, BC, Canada, and the new studio is being led by Clayton Stark, who is incredibly well-known in this city. Stark has worked for several startups, including Flock. But his most recent place of employment was the aforementioned Zynga. Stark was one of many who have left in recent months, and he\u2019s excited for the opportunity to be able to build not just a new gaming studio, but a new company culture in the small Canadian city.\r\n\r\nStark spent some time in San Francisco when Flock was purchased by Zynga, but his enthusiasm for the company eventually waned \u2013 and he wanted out.\r\n\r\n\u201CThere was a particular decline for wealth generation at Zynga, the IPO was called \u2013 what do you call it \u2013 a busted IPO,\u201D Stark explained. \u201CAnd the money that had stars in people\u2019s eyes \u2013 the stars in people\u2019s eyes went out when the value post-IPO went down so significantly.\u201D\r\n\r\nStark didn\u2019t just take that into account when he left Zynga for KIXEYE.\r\n\r\n\u201CIt was also \u2013 more for me, really - a personal choice to build something that was more in line with what excites and interests me, \u201D Stark admitted. \u201CI can\u2019t play the \u2018social-style\u2019 Zynga games for very long and stay engaged. It\u2019s just not in my personal world.\u201D\r\n\r\nWith the knowledge of what\u2019s coming up in the next year for KIXEYE, Stark gets excited.\r\n\r\n\u201CI do not struggle with the belief of the products of KIXEYE. I get excited.\u201D\r\n\r\nKIXEYE\u2019s move to Victoria was a great chance for Stark to remain in a city that he not only loves, but to remain in a city where he is admired for his achievements in the tech community. And according to Stark, finding top talent in Victoria has proven easier than having to do so in Silicon Valley.\r\n\r\n\u201CPart of the thing that makes this such a great platform is that the recruiting that has been done in San Francisco\u2026.all that has provided me with a platform that excites a lot of people,\u201D Stark replied. \u201CPeople are very excited in their overtures to me about working here \u2013 they say \u2018I know enough about this company and I want to work in this type of environment\u2019. That platform was set up for me in advance of my recruiting efforts, I have two things now: the reputation I\u2019ve built with companies here in the past and I have the really solid backing of the existing platform with KIXEYE. With those two things, it becomes very exciting very quickly.\u201D\r\n\r\nBut that\u2019s not the only benefit to building in a blossoming tech town like Victoria.\r\n\r\n\u201CIt\u2019s no secret that San Francisco is pretty much fished out,\u201D Stark continued. \u201CIt\u2019s pretty hard to get talent. There\u2019s a lot of competition. (Victoria) doesn\u2019t exactly have the level of opportunities as San Francisco, so people are less \u2013 shall I say precocious \u2013 about wanting to join a firm like KIXEYE.\u201D\r\n\r\nStark isn\u2019t just excited about what Victoria offers, he\u2019s excited about the opportunity that KIXEYE offers to Victoria.\r\n\r\n\u201CWe are growing this rock star team here. We\u2019re here to make a mark. And I\u2019m really interested in seeing other people in my hometown of Victoria have the same awakening that I\u2019ve had, that there are places\u00A0to work at like KIXEYE where there are exciting career opportunities. We are going to make a difference in the industry and we are going to have a hell of a lot of fun building stuff that we can play.\u201D\r\n\r\nVictoria is growing a rock star gaming team as well, and Stark says that isn\u2019t going unnoticed in the tech gaming community well beyond the borders of Canada.\r\n\r\n\u201CLook, Microsoft has a footprint here. Zynga has a footprint here. Kano Apps is a fantastic indie developer here,\u201D Stark replied. \u201CWhen you start to turn over rocks and recognize what the online gaming industry is like here, there are so many indie players here that are putting out really interesting content. So, as you have more and more of this tidal wave of talent producing interesting content, I can\u2019t see how it would do anything but grow.\u201D\r\n\r\nWith companies like Microsoft, Zynga and KIXEYE coming in during these early stages, I asked Stark why Victoria\u2019s tech scene \u2013 especially online gaming \u2013 is just going to keep growing.\r\n\r\n\u201CBecause the talent base is going to support it.\u201D\r\n\r\nImage Credit: thefixer (CC BY 2.0)"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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