Dyack Clarifies Quebec Subsidy Comments

Following up on his widely reported comments on Quebec's subsidies to game developers, Silicon Knights' Denis Dyack has released a clarifying statement to Gamasutra, explaining he was targeting long-term sustainability concerns, not subsidies themselves. Dyack's comments about subsidies originally came as part of a Gamasutra studio tour of his Ontario-based developer, during which he commented: "The subsidies in Quebec are, well, insane... Essentially that's the only reason the studios are so big there. I think that our friends at the provincial government have been making some good forward progress and I think we need to make more, but I'm certainly a big believer in Ontario and I want Ontario to succeed." Following up on this story, which was picked up by a number of game news outlets, but whose subtlety was shifted significantly in the re-reporting process, Dyack contacted Gamasutra and provided the following statement: "Some headlines have been popping up around the comments I made to Gamasutra about Quebec gaming subsidies: 'Canadian dev subsidies questioned','Dyack questions long-term effects of developer subsidies', 'Dyack From Silicon Knights Says Canada Dev Subsidies 'Insane'', 'Dyack: Government Subsidies Draining Canada's Game Dev Talent'." The Silicon Knights co-founder explained: "Many of these headlines have been taken out of context. The comment of “insane” was meant to be “better than good,” i.e. insanely good. I do think that subsidies can be a good way of stimulating growth and can be very positive for both Ontario and the games industry." Dyack concluded: "I definitely do not want people believe I am against the practice of subsidies in general, because it is not true. Any criticisms of Quebec’s subsidies are regarding their long-term sustainability."