15 February 2023

PRESS RELEASE – From 6 to 12 of March the second edition of the Video Game Week will take place in Sherbrooke. Powered by Sherbrooke Innopole, this community initiative is aiming to support the economic development of the video game sector and creative techno-arts, which are the main IT growing channels.

This second edition will emphasize on the rapid growth of Sherbrooke video game community, including the recent coming of new studios and the launch of video game training sessions. For the occasion, the program is proposing multiple activities which are aimed at students, as well as professionals, creators and video game fans or the public.

‘’We are very pleased to see the community mobilized around the numerous existing events, and we are confident that other activities like them will take place in the coming years. We are going to be there to support them. Our objective is no less than positioning Sherbrooke among leaders of this sector and sending a strong signal on the international level, working with Montreal and Québec City.’’ – Marc-Henri Faure, director of Business Services, IT and Quantum.

Program Overview

Those who aspire to pursue a career in video games will have the opportunity to attend coffee-talk shops to learn more about the continuum of training sessions on video games which are now available in Sherbrooke. Online sessions will also be available to primary and secondary school students, and many other activities are scheduled within academic establishments.

The computer programmers and video game creators will have the opportunity to gather at a new edition of the traditional Gaming Drinks session – another initiative of Sherbrooke Innopole – during which professionals of the industry will discuss about their trade and new technologies. They will also meet up at the Game Jam Sherbrooke, a hackathon of 48 hours’ duration in which fifty participants, alone or in a team, will work on developing a recreational video game project, from its conception to programming, visual art, music, and much more.

The geek community and curious people are particularly looking forward to the comeback of “La Console qui Console” (The console that consoles), where more than 1,500 people attended to at the Centre de foires of Sherbrooke last year, and for as many online. To the menu: discussions with Sherbrooke studios, a numeric zone including video games, board games and active games, Valorant, League of Legends, Rocket League tournaments, and much more. Something for everyone, whether young or old, and all for the benefit of Leucan Estrie and CHAS (Centre Hébergement Alternatif de Sherbrooke).

During the Sherbrooke Video Game Week there will be the book launch of Plongeon Virtuel from the author Stéphane Baillargeon, which is a detective novel that takes place in the future, in Sherbrooke. This book is talking about ‘’cyberaddiction’’. Mr. Bailllargeon’s book is intended to prepare and alert the new generations to a more than ever connected future.

“The video game sector is experiencing an incredible growth over the past few years in Sherbrooke. With this special week dedicated to video games, we wish to draw people’s interest toward interesting careers with an international outlook. This will allow us to pursue our development work with new skilled people in the regional community.” Marc-Henri Faure.

For more details on Sherbrooke Video Game Week, please go on: www.sherbrooke-innopole.com/gaming.

About Sherbrooke Innopole

Sherbrooke Innopole is the paramunicipal economic development organization for the industrial and high-value-added services sector. Its mission is to accelerate the development of companies from the five key sectors – Advanced Manufacturing, Cleantech, Information Technologies, Life Sciences and Micro-Nanotechnologies – and ensure that Sherbrooke has an attractive and innovative business environment. It is mainly financed by the City of Sherbrooke through the Bureau de coordination du développement économique. 

Source: Sherbrooke Innopole