New York eyes a piece of the game development pie

New York Senator Martin J. Golden and the Polytechnic Institute of New York (NYU-Poly) will hold two panel discussions on Sept. 20 with 25 game industry leaders on how the state of New York can foster a bigger game development industry.

The panel, entitled "Growing Computer and Video Game Development in New York," will take place in front of government representatives of New York City and, according to a media release, will "offer opportunities for the public to question panelists and make suggestions on how to attract and support an industry that account for $4.9 billion of the U.S. GDP in 2009."

Among the panelists are chairman and CEO of Take-TWO Strauss Zelnick, executive producer of MTV Digital Tom Akel, co-president of Games for Change Asi Burak and head of community at Kickstarter Cindy Au.

Registration for the event, which is free and runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. EDT on Friday Sept. 20 is now open.

New York is among the top five states in the U.S. when it comes to game industry employment, providing 5,474 direct and indirect jobs.

"The gaming software industry is large and growing, and New York State can claim an increasing share for our citizens," Golden said in a statement. "At present, New York State lags behind California, Texas and Washington in the number of companies, employees and contribution to the economy ... Clearly, we can do better."