Scanning the country for the cities most fit for gamers to live in and work, review site PrivacyJournal.net assessed livability, internet structure, gaming community, retail access, gaming careers and education. After analyzing 100 cities, it chose Orlando as No. 5, comfortably seated behind New York City; Raleigh, N.C.; Tampa; and Los Angeles.
According to the report, livability and internet structure are not Orlando’s strong points, as affordable housing is hard to come by, and there’s work to be done on making fiber internet more widely available. But in the other categories, Orlando was dominant, thanks to its community and educational institutions.
What some may find surprising is that San Francisco — coming in at No. 18 — didn’t rank higher, given how many games are developed from the tech hub. But those who know Orlando say it makes sense.
“In Orlando, we have this support around games, not just as an industry like San Francisco, but as a community of people that just care about games,” said Kyle Morrand, CEO of 302 Interactive, an Orlando company. “The community is largely influenced and inspired by games as a medium, and games are becoming more the norm.”
Morrand’s company is deeply invested in game development engines, tools he and his team use to create digital products for a variety of uses ranging from training to communications. His insights align with Deloitte's digital media trends, 15th edition, a report that highlights Generation Z’s preference for gaming over shows and movies.
In fact, Morrand suggests there’s a thin line between gamers and game developers, and that line may be evaporating. “With tools for game development becoming more accessible, I can see Orlando becoming a big hub for game creators in a similar way that Los Angeles is a big hub for YouTube and TikTok creators.”
The gaming industry has traditionally had high production costs. It takes six months and a team of people to make a game, said Morrand, but he suspects that with the introduction of AI, making games will become more like creating content and less like developing products.
“It could be that you can almost make a game the same way YouTubers make YouTube videos. It could be that in the way you see creator houses on the West Coast, where content creators live together and make content together, gamers live in gamer houses and make games together. I can see that happening in Orlando.”
The industry is already pointing in that direction. In July of 2021, Roblox announced the Game Fund, a program to give developers funding and support for Roblox experiences.
Earlier this year in its State of Unreal address, Epic Games announced it would distribute 40% of Fortnite’s net revenue to eligible creators who publish games in Fortnite. Epic launched a dedicated Fortnite creator portal at create.fortnite.com, where creators can enroll in the program.
The gaming economy’s shift-in-progress is a backdrop where Orlando can step forward and shine, said Morrand — and that’s the context in which PrivacyJournal.net's “Best Cities for Gamers” list comes into focus.
CEO David Adelson of Innovate Orlando, a local nonprofit that markets the region's technological innovations, concurred: “Orlando has an electric community where retail access fuels creativity, education becomes a shared adventure and where every game developer is a step toward shaping not just virtual worlds, but also the future of jobs and innovation in our ecosystem and within the MetaCenter.”
See a map below showing the other best cities.
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