Couches, a foosball table and a bookshelf stocked with board games are squeezed to one side of the room that once served as the recreation room for the 14,000-square-foot downtown Orlando office of video game firm Iron Galaxy Studios LLC.
The room is now full of empty desks, ready for the dozens of employees hired since March 2020 who have not yet returned to the office. If all of the studio’s 100 Orlando employees return to the office, it will be completely full, co-CEO Chelsea Blasko told Orlando Business Journal. “We’re looking at other spaces, too, to start thinking about growth, expansion and more square footage.”
An uptick in video game play and sales in 2020 triggered rapid growth at Iron Galaxy, which has hired more than 100 people between its Orlando office and Chicago headquarters since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Blasko said. The company is not done growing, with nearly 20 openings and 20-25 hires a year anticipated in Orlando going forward, Blasko added.
This growth is significant for a few reasons. First off, companies like Iron Galaxy typically create high-wage jobs. Video game industry jobs pay an average annual wage of $121,459, according to a 2020 report from the Entertainment Software Association.
Plus, these job opportunities are available for local students and graduates. UCF graduates make up 40% of the firm's Orlando workforce and 25% of its total workers, Orlando General Manager Tom Carbone said. Along with making an endowment to UCF and its employees occasionally teaching as adjunct professors at UCF's renowned gaming school Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy, Iron Galaxy creates opportunities for local students by typically hiring between five and 10 graduates each year, FIEA Executive Director Ben Noel told OBJ.
The growth is also a sign Iron Galaxy’s business model helps it attract talent and avoid the worker burnout that plagues the industry. Long hours, high-stress environments and volatility are common in the sector. Kirkland, Washington-based mental health nonprofit Take This in 2019 reported only one third of game developers stay in the industry for 10 years or more.
However, Iron Galaxy's focus is not producing its own video game titles. Instead, the company provides services to other developers. This means Iron Galaxy is working on many games at a time, insulating the company from a revenue hit in case one game fails while also giving employees exposure to a variety of projects. Plus, the company promotes a 40-hour work week to leave employees with time for their lives outside of work, Blasko said.
“Anyone in leadership roles in this company has done the nights, weekends and holidays,” said Head of Studios Shekhar Dhupelia. “We’ve all been through layoffs. It’s great to be able to have some stability and focus here.”
This approach isn’t just beneficial for workers. It also helps Iron Galaxy recruit in a red-hot technology and gaming hiring market. Iron Galaxy checks many of the boxes for what the emerging gaming talent at FIEA look for, said Carbone, who has taught at the school part-time for years.
For instance, students want to work in and learn about different areas of the gaming industry. Iron Galaxy’s business model, and the fact that it allows employees to work on multiple games over the course of a few years, makes it attractive to many potential hires, Carbone said.
Iron Galaxy is just one part of Central Florida’s video game industry. For example, Electronic Arts Inc.’s Maitland studio, which will move to downtown Orlando’s Creative Village development later this year, employs more than 800 people. In addition, the Orlando Gamespace near Lake Eola hosts dozens of small businesses, including many independent game developers.
Florida’s video game industry is the fourth-largest in the U.S., according to research from the Entertainment Software Association. The industry supports 16,270 jobs in the Sunshine State, generating an economic impact of $2.7 billion.
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