Massachusetts Digital Games Institute Launches

Massachusetts Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray announced that the Massachusetts Digital Games Institute is now an official establishment, hosted at the state's own Becker College. The institute will help prep students for industry jobs, and aims to make Becker the center of the state's public, private and academic interests in the video game industry. In order to fund the institute, Becker will offer $1.5 million up front for renovation and construction, and will provide between $300,000 and $350,000 in annual support. Partnering with Becker, the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative’s John Adams Innovation Institute has also pledged $15,000 to fund a working group that will help the institute promote academia as well as business opportunities. The working group includes Vivox Inc. co-founder Monty Sharma, Turbine veteran and Sanrio Digital's VP of business and publishing Robert Ferrari, and Linden Lab's director of software engineering Kent Quirk. According to the working group, the lab aims to not only teach students about game development, but to create intellectual property that the lab can license to bring in funding. The group says it will also consider bringing industry experts to MassDigi to work with students and faculty to develop new game technologies. Local high schools Mashpee High and Worcester Technical High School have also expressed interest in supporting MassDigi, and will help develop curriculum for the institute to share with other schools in the state.