HOUGHTON COUNTY, Mich. (WLUC) – The U.P. is home to many different kinds of industries.
However, one Houghton County business aims to bring job growth in the video game field.
“Why not build something here and provide those opportunities for people that love the U.P.?” Michigan Tech University Alumnus and Ishpeming native Matthew Spencer said.
When not assisting Michigan Tech students with how to create video games, Spencer is busy making his own games. After working for Microsoft, Spencer established Yooper Game Studios, a U.P. based video game business. He says over the past year, he’s assembled a team of 10, made up of both Yoopers and online members across the Midwest. This includes art director Joshua Huffman.
“Some people say, ‘That’s a FromSoftware game,’” Huffman said. “Maybe, someday, somebody will say, ‘That’s a Yooper Game Studio game.’”
Currently, the team is working on the finishing touches of ‘Exodus of Descent,’ an online multiplayer fantasy game. Spencer says if someone wants to work on video games, you have to move away. However, he wants to change that.
“My philosophy is that we have a bunch of talent right here in the U.P.,” Spencer continued. “We’ve got a bunch of talent here, local. Let’s get the conversation moving away from, ‘I’ve gotta go to this coastal tech hub like Seattle or California’ to make this happen.”
Spencer says because so many games are made to be digitally available, game development and publishing can happen almost anywhere. However, Spencer says he wants the business to remain in the U.P. long-term as it continues to grow.
“What we’d like is to have a full animation studio for motion capture, produce the sounds and the music for the games,” Spencer added. “A little bit of escapism with a little bit of flavoring of the U.P. in there.”
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