Meet the British Columbia games industry at PG Connects London

• British Columbia offers a unique culture in its game development, digital media, film, visual effects, animation and postproduction companies
• They’re among the 1,200+ companies that will be attending next week’s PG Connects London
• The flagship event of the leading games industry conference series, Pocket Gamer Connects London returns next week on January 19th and 20th

British Columbia is leading the global creative economy offering a unique culture in its game development, digital media, film, visual effects, animation and postproduction companies.

With approximately 1,000 game studios, they are Canada’s west coast capital of opportunity. It’s home to Electronic Arts’ Canadian headquarters and other leading studios including East Side Games and Hyper Hippo.

They’re among the 1,200+ companies that will be attending next week’s PG Connects London, representing 57 countries from six continents. While 80% of attendees are from Europe, 14% are making the trip across the pond from North America - including these studios from British Columbia:

Untitled Advertising Labs

Untitled Advertising Lab is a boutique marketing, social and community agency for indie and mid-sized game studios. We act as a fractional extension of development teams, combining strategic positioning, creative production and community-first growth to help games stand out, build lasting audiences and succeed across PC, console and mobile.

A Thinking Ape

Surrounded by mountains and water in beautiful Vancouver, BC, we are smart people who like smart people. We create mobile games with a social core that engage players and provoke us with creative new problems.

Smoking Gun Interactive

Smoking Gun Interactive is a full-service game developer located in Vancouver. We have developed original concept casual and mid-core strategy titles for some of the biggest names in mobile; Microsoft, Netflix and others. With a proven track record of delivering high quality innovative games and exceptional technology, we can take your next product or IP to the top of the charts!

Buffalo Buffalo

Founded in Vancouver in 2021, Buffalo Buffalo is a future-forward game studio seeking to make immersive experiences that surprise and inspire. The studio released Fresh Tracks for Windows PCs and consoles in August of 2025. Birdseed VR is their second announced project, currently out in early access.

Greenstone Initiatives

Greenstone Initiatives is a Canadian strategic advisory firm focused on the global games, interactive entertainment and digital infrastructure sectors. Founded by James Hursthouse, Greenstone works with studios, platforms, publishers, and ecosystem partners to support international expansion, partnerships, and capital formation across North America, Europe, the Middle East and East Asia.

James Hursthouse brings over 25 years of experience in the global games industry. His career spans early online and MMO businesses in Japan, founding and scaling studios in North America, and senior leadership roles across games, digital media and industry organisations. He is a former CEO and co-founder of Roadhouse Interactive, former executive director of DigiBC, and a contributing author to The Metaverse Roadmap (2007). He has worked extensively with publishers, platforms, governments and trade bodies across Asia, Europe, and the Gulf.

Greenstone operates as an execution-first partner rather than a traditional consultancy. Its core model combines fractional executive support with business development-as-a-service, embedding directly with client leadership teams to drive partnerships, market entry and investor engagement.

Current games-related projects include decentralised cloud and instant-play infrastructure (YOM), global cloud game streaming and platform deployment (Well-Link), next-generation payments and monetisation (3thix), and consent-first data and fan engagement systems increasingly applied to live games and services (Appreciation Engine).

Coalcar Studios

We are an award-winning boutique studio based in Vancouver, making virtual reality more social and pushing the boundaries of immersive technologies.

Koolhaus

Award winning Koolhaus Games is Vancouver, Canada’s longest established independent cross platform game development studio, founded in 2005 and celebrating its 20th year in operation in October of 2025. With nine Number one-charted games, 22 successive 8/10+ critically reviewed games - 11 of which were top 10 - Koolhaus has a solid track record of developing high quality games that are on time and on budget.

Koolhaus has developed games for most video game platforms including iOS, Android, Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo, PC and Mac. Koolhaus Games is a community of like minded individuals whose goal is to create innovative entertainment products that are both critically and commercially well received.

Hyper Hippo

Hyper Hippo is an award-winning mobile game studio creating short-form digital experiences that entertain global audiences and leave a positive impact on the world. 
They are the creators of the popular game, AdVenture Capitalist, which has received multiple awards including a Google Play Editor’s Choice Award and Best Instant Game of the Year on Facebook. 

Along with AdVenture Communist and AdVenture Ages, Hyper Hippo’s titles have been installed over 80 million times globally. Hyper Hippo is committed to creating entertainment that resonates with audiences around the world, and currently supports 11+ languages in 170+ countries across their live games. Hyper Hippo is a proud recipient of the GamesIndustry.biz Best Places to Work award in 2021 and 2022.

LBC Studios

LBC Studios is a mobile games developer and publisher based in Vancouver, BC, known for creating engaging free-to-play simulation games that inspire millions worldwide.

Guided by our core values of people, passion and play, we continuously define what it means to be a leading gaming studio both in Canada and globally.

At LBC Studios, we balance pioneering game development with strategic business practices, ensuring we continue to make a significant impact across the global gaming community.

Phobies

Phobies is a tactical CCG where players duel one another in the surreal realm of the subconscious, where the most ridiculous fears manifest. Summon terrifying Phobies and use devious tactics to unleash a dazzling array of attacks to achieve victory!

Nightmarket

Since igniting our journey in 2017, Nightmarket Games has evolved into a beacon of innovation in the gaming world. Our story is crafted from a blend of passion, creativity, and a relentless dedication to developing mobile gaming experiences that captivate the heart and stimulate the mind.

Simply Sweet Games

Founded in 2023 by industry veterans Carina Kom and Tina Merry, we’re on a mission to revolutionize the gaming industry. 

Our vision is to prove that there are better, more inclusive ways to build high-quality games that appeal to diverse audiences. As a globally distributed, remote studio, we specialize in creating mass-market, deeply polished casual games that prioritize accessibility and redefine the gaming experience across genres.

About PG Connects London

You could meet all these British Columbia games businesses next week, when the flagship event of the leading games industry conference series, Pocket Gamer Connects London returns on January 19th and 20th. Some 3,000 attendees from the games industry will gather at The Brewery and – new for 2026 – Barbican Centre for two days in January to network, discover, pitch, deal, and learn from 290 of the world’s leading voices.

The event covers mobile, PC, console, AI, blockchain, XR, HTML5, cross-media and apps through the inclusion of the Beyond Games: Transmedia Summit and Apps Business Summit (partner events, fully accessible with a PGC ticket), and more topics across 30+ unmissable conference tracks.

London is always our biggest and most popular conference of the year and the new additions for this edition will significantly elevate an already unmissable games industry offering. Tickets are available now from the official event website.