Obviously budget will play a part in this but in 2013 I am completing my move to the US and as far as choosing a city to set up a game dev office I have next to no idea where to start.

I would really appreciate some advice from the American members out there.

Here are the questions I have -

Which state/city has the most game dev workers (if this makes sense)?

Would I be able to get a 6 man office in somewhere like Dallas/NY/Seattle with a budget of $3-4,000 a month if not how much am I looking to spend?

Any suggestions for office location?

Any other tips that you think might help me out both in personal and business life in the US?


Thanks so much and I hope this isnt too much to ask.
Nath

Which state/city has the most game dev workers (if this makes sense)?

Technically California if I'm not mistaken, but there's so many studios there too that I doubt you'd be able to get your share.

But I'm not american so...

1. Which state/city has the most game dev workers (if this makes sense)?
2. Would I be able to get a 6 man office in somewhere like Dallas/NY/Seattle with a budget of $3-4,000 a month if not how much am I looking to spend?

1. Use gamedevmap and gameindustrymap.
2. Use the office space / real estate listings for the city you pick from #1 above.

Pittsburgh, PA. You have fresh grads from Carnegie Mellon that you can hire + a cost of living that is an order of magnitude cheaper than San Francisco or Seattle.

Yea, the Bay Area is the highest density of Game developers in the USA. Austin is also pretty huge but nothing beats the Bay area. Of course all of these areas pale in comparison to Montreal especially when you consider that being in Montreal means that you get up to 35% of your labour costs refunded to you at the end of the year and in terms of game dev's per capita it's even higher than California.

It's an amazing feeling to be running into game devs everywhere you go in this city, to have game posters be proudly displayed alongside movie posters at government buildings at demonstrations of the city's accomplishments for the year. The game dev culture here is pervading and everywhere you go, I wouldn't recommend any other city besides montreal to a development looking to setup shop here.

The thread is closed because it was a necroed old thread. If someone wants to add something, please start a new thread -- if it warrants it.