For a few years before it shut down in 2016, the Philadelphia Game Lab (PGL) was a hub for those interested in building video games locally.

Originally, the nonprofit — not to be confused with the Philly Game Forge — was meant to be a kind of branch of another organization, the Grassroots Game Conference, before PGL founder Nathan Solomon concentrated on working with university students in game technology and development, which would eventually led to the founding of PGL. It shut down largely due to difficulties with its funding model and university partnerships.

There are a number of indie game development studios operating in Philadelphia right now, including PHL Collective, Cipher Prime, Gossamer Games and JumpButton Studio. But could the city still have aspirations for being a hub for the video game industry? Solomon says no.

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE