MONTREAL — Can Canada’s television and filmmakers make the transition to video games, the platform some observers have deemed the storytelling medium of the 21st century?

It depends who one asks. At the Montreal International Game Summit, an executive at one of the city’s biggest game developers, Artificial Mind and Movement (Iron Man, Kung Fu Panda) said he believes there is a major disconnect between the two industries.

‘TV and film is more about culture. There is no one who is going to make a video game just because they are passionate about it,’ said CAO Jean-Martin Masse. ‘For us, this industry is purely business. And it’s a global one — 100% of our clients are in the U.S. We think more like Americans. We’re selling a product.’

But Warren Spector would likely say that Masse, like so many game makers, is unimaginative. In 2005, the American game-making veteran stunned the attendees at this same conference with an indictment of the gaming industry — warning developers to stop limiting themselves to ‘adolescent male power fantasies,’ in order to rake in the cash.

Spector, who is the founder of Disney-Junction Point Studios, had a more positive message in his 2008 address. He believes that games are a perfect medium for storytelling and is pleased to see a new generation of creative and innovative games being developed. ‘The century is ours,’ he told the audience when he opened the summit Tuesday.

‘All game design books refer to graphic novels and film. It’s a major influence,’ agreed German game maker Guido Doublet, currently working on a $4-million educational game based on Jules Verne’s classic fantasy Around the World in 80 Days.

‘Verne’s novel is the baseline story for the game. The idea is to educate kids through storytelling, so they aren’t conscious of it,’ says Doublet. ‘We want them to choose us instead of Grand Theft Auto because the story is good.’

Doublet believes the time is ripe for innovative game makers to penetrate the traditional TV market. ‘In 2007, a study was released in Germany that said that 12- to 14-year-olds were spending more time in front of the computer than TV for the first time. TV has lost its important position.’

But narrative-driven games like Doublet’s aren’t easy to fund because they are a harder sell than traditional games. Almost the entire budget — $3.3 million — of the Jules Verne project is subsidized by the European Union.

Pointing to the online version of Laguna Beach as an example, Masse believes cross-platform projects can only work in large markets such as the U.S. ‘It’s a way to prolong the show. But in Canada the market is too small to make it worthwhile,’ says Masse.