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Nevertheless, Lee sees new potential for video game designers in Greater Philadelphia emerging from a confluence of recent factors. It once took hundreds of workers as much as five years to create a game for a video game console, much in the manner of making movies.

As a result, a fledgling industry of small, independent companies has emerged. (Among them are Cipher Prime, Burst Online, Final Form, Play Eternal and Space Whale Studios, all Philadelphia-based game developers. Much larger companies include AMI Entertainment Network, based in Bristol, PA.)

Now Drexel has made a significant commitment by creating a new degree program in games under its Digital Media department, with the first graduates in 2016. The program has also added two new faculty, Lee says, doubling the number of positions.