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Vancouver — Organic cheese, bamboo trees, and even punk poetry readings are turning out to be the weapons of choice in Vancouver as rivals in an increasingly competitive video game industry try to hang on to their prized creative talent.

Veteran players in the fast-growing sector say the scarcity of technical artists and experienced computer programmers is becoming so acute that some companies are going to extreme lengths to attract workers and keep them happy.

For instance, after rejecting the idea of exotic butterflies to spruce up the workplace, Electronic Arts Canada hired a helicopter last year to lower a 12-metre-high bamboo tree through the roof of its new video game development centre in downtown Vancouver.

To create the exotic ambience it was seeking, the company built a glass-enclosed stairwell so that the tree is visible to 200 employees working on four floors of an office tower overlooking the city's scenic North Shore mountains.

Electronic Arts is not alone in attempting to retain staff through the creation of eclectic and sometimes exotic working environments.

Radical Entertainment Co., a small independent firm that prides itself on its art school culture, recently moved into spacious new studios that are a regular venue for some of the leading figures from Vancouver's entertainment world.

Next week, Joey Shithead, the lead singer from legendary Vancouver punk bank DOA, will give a morale-boosting poetry reading to some of the company's 175 employees.

The move by Radical to keep staff entertained comes after company officials arrived at work last year to find a recruitment sign, paid for by Electronic Arts, located just down the street from its production studio.

“It is hard to find talent that is looking for work,” said Iain Ross, a producer at Radical, which is best known for action adventure video games such as The Hulk and Simpsons Road Rage.

The demand for creative employees is being viewed as a sign that Vancouver has matured into one of the leading development centres in North America's video game production industry, which pulls in $9.5-billion (U.S.) a year in revenue.

According to New Media BC, an association that speaks for the province's digital media industry, 2,402 people are employed by roughly 100 companies in B.C.'s video games sector.

B.C.'s importance to the industry will increase when Electronic Arts completes a new 200,000-square-foot extension to its existing studios in Burnaby, B.C. The expansion is part of a plan by its California-based parent to double its work force in the province from just over 1,000.

But given that former Vancouver independents such as Black Box and Barking Dog Studios Ltd. have been swallowed recently by Electronics Arts and U.S. giant Rockstar Games respectively, officials are quietly wondering where fresh talent will come from.

The pressure to recruit talent was raised a notch this week when Vivendi Universal signed a deal that gives the U.S. entertainment giant the right to publish six new titles developed by Radical.

The deal gives Vivendi an option to buy the Vancouver company outright.

“Experienced programmers are the hardest to get,” said Ron Moravek, chief operating officer with Relic Entertainment Inc., a Vancouver company that has had to recruit programmers from as far away as Holland and Australia.

Mr. Moravek attributes the shortage of talent to the growing demand for quality on the part of consumers.

This, in turn, has raised the cost of producing new video games to anywhere from $3-million to $30-million.

It means companies such as Relic, which is best known for its Homeworld title, are facing increasing pressure to deliver new product on time and within budgets.

Major players such as Electronic Arts are having to recruit much larger project teams. During the production phase of its Need for Speed Underground game, Electronic Arts hired a firm in India to create 8,000 objects that were needed for background scenery.

“It's pretty tough for a smaller developer like ourselves to compete against that,” Mr. Moravek said.

Smaller companies are fighting back by investing in supportive working environments.

Radical's, for example, features an in-house kitchen where staff can dine on catered meals featuring long-grain rice and organic cheese. The company has also installed a television lounge resembling a production set from the western series Bonanza.

“Everyone here takes advantage of the natural environment,'' said Mr. Ross, a 38-year-old former CBC producer, who spent a recent afternoon taping power boat sounds for the company's latest video game. “It's just part of our culture.”