GameBiz Lab | The Great Games Reset: From AAA Collapse to Lean Teams, Smarter Tools, and Real Fun
GameBiz Lab is bringing education and consulting around the business side of video games. Join us for our next event!
This program helps new and aspiring video game studio owners or anyone interested in the business of video game development.
NMM is excited to have Darryl Long share all about the Great Games Reset – From AAA Collapse to Lean Teams, Smarter Tools, and Real Fun during Manitoba’s Tech Week!
In this session, we will cover:
1. State of the video game industry
2. Industry shifts & trends (+AI)
3. Things you can steal from AAA
4. Securing funding in 2026
5. Concept to funded: Lessons for your first year
Event Agenda:
Wed, Feb 24th, 2026, 5:30 PM
Venue: NMM’s StudioLab xR, 201 Portage Avenue #c100
5:30 – 6:00 pm: Doors open and networking
6:00 – 6:15 pm: Welcoming remarks
6:15 – 7:15 pm: Presentation by Darryl Long
7:15 – 7:45 pm: Q&A
7:45 – 8:00 pm: Wrap up & Event concludes
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Haven’t visited StudioLab xR before? See directions to our space here: https://www.studiolab-xr.com/directions
Speaker: Darryl Long
Darryl Long is a 20-year veteran of the game development industry, who began his career as a programmer working on a wide variety of applications from real-time trading software to artificial intelligence systems. An avid gamer who made his own video games in his spare time, Darryl suddenly discovered that he could get paid for making games and immediately made the switch to join the industry.
Darryl is now Managing Director of Ubisoft Toronto, a studio of amazingly talented AAA game development teams dedicated to creating immersive and engaging games for some of the industry’s hottest brands. Darryl was previously Managing Director of Ubisoft Singapore, Philippines and Vietnam–where he worked with the Skull & Bones team to bring that game to release in February 2024–and the founder of Ubisoft Winnipeg in 2018, Ubisoft’s first dedicated technology studio.
Before accepting his role as Managing Director, Darryl was Producer of the blockbuster hit Far Cry 5. He worked on a number of titles during his 15 years at Ubisoft Montreal including Far Cry Primal, Far Cry 4, Far Cry 3, Far Cry 3 – Blood Dragon, Shaun White Snowboarding, and Rainbow Six: Lockdown.
Darryl takes his inspiration and daily motivation from working at one of the leading video game development companies in the world, determined that he will never need to make finance software ever again.
Join us for this free session with Darryl Long!
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New Media Manitoba is thankful to the Canada Media Fund and Ubisoft for their support of GameBiz Lab. This project is funded in part by the Government of Canada. Ce projet est financé en partie par le gouvernement du Canada.
