In addition to companies relocating to northwestern Nevada, many companies are expanding within the Reno-Sparks market.
Rogue Gaming Studio, an independent studio that builds, creates and designs video games for the casino industry, recently expanded their office footprint from 6,614 square feet to 9,419 square feet within downtown Reno’s 50 West Liberty building.
“It’s great to see a software development company like Rogue Gaming growing in Downtown Reno,” Scott Stranzl, vice president of leasing for Basin Street Properties, the company that owns and manages 50 West Liberty, said in a press release. “A strong Reno economy needs a diversified job base and Rogue Gaming is a perfect example of success and growth outside of manufacturing and distribution.”
The company needed more office space after hiring additional employees.
“We got lucky,” Patrick Crawford, president of Rogue Gaming Studio, said in a phone interview with NNBW. “There was some open space that was adjacent to where we are so all we had to do was knock out a wall.”
According to Basin Street Properties, the vacancy rate in the 50 West Liberty building is currently below 8 percent. Crawford explained he likes the convenience that the location offers.
“We walk everywhere whether we are going to lunch, my accountant is right down here, our attorneys are right down here, all the services are right here,” he said.
“Because we are in the gaming industry we like to be closer to some of the casinos” to do market surveys, he added.
Rogue Gaming Studio has 11 employees and serves clients both locally and nationally. The company does everything from coming up with concepts for games, building the mathematical models, creating art, animations and sounds as well as implementing the software.
“We do everything from the ground up,” Crawford said.
As a smaller firm, the company focuses on offering personalized service to some of the smaller customers in the market such as route operators and smaller casino owner operators. He explained it is not profitable for bigger firms such as IGT or Scientific Games to offer that level of attention and resources to this smaller niche of the market since they are typically working with larger clients in the market.
“That is where we come in,” he said.
Crawford has worked in many different facets of the casino industry including working in casino operations, working with the gaming regulators and more. However, he said that his favorite job was doing game design in Las Vegas.
“When I had the opportunity to set up my own shop doing game design I just jumped at it,” Crawford said. “I thought it was a great opportunity and it has been a lot of fun ever since.”
He founded Rogue Gaming Studio in 2012. While there were several factors that lead him to open his business in the Biggest Little City, one of the reasons was the quality of life that Reno offers.
Since starting his business, he has noticed an increase in activity in downtown Reno.
“The energy downtown overall is just so much better,” Crawford said.
He explained that the company moved into the building in 2012 as things were starting to turning around for downtown. He has been able to see the evolution of areas like Midtown, the financial district and the brewery district in these past few years.
“It has been pretty cool to watch and have a front row seat to all the change that has been going on,” he said.
For the future of Rogue Gaming Studio, Crawford anticipates the company will continue to grow but wants to remain a smaller sized company.
“We just want to service our customers in the best way possible,” Crawford said. “For what we see coming down the pipe in the next couple of years will require a little more growth from us, but we want to keep (the company) small.”
