The digital distributor BitRaider announced last week that it is moving its badass operations to Baton Rouge. The company, which was previously based in Jacksonville, Florida, is set to launch this week from their new location at the Louisiana Technology Park located on Florida Boulevard.

The company has patented exciting technology that allows gamers to download and play online video games almost immediately, before the game has finished downloading, in what CEO Royal O’Brien describes as “Netflix-style.”

“We take about five to 10 percent of the game and send it down the wire and allow someone to start playing it right away,” O’Brien explained in a phone interview last week. “Most of the game is actually missing, and it’s completely transparent. The game has no idea that anything is missing.”

“Normally, you’d have to go to a website, and then you’d have to download their game. You could wait an hour, two hours to play, whereas with our technology, that download goes straight into – it goes ahead and starts playing. You’d wait about 10 minutes.”

The company does not provide the games itself, but will license the technology to online video game companies.

O’Brien said the state’s digital media tax credits – which were revised in 2009 to include software companies and video game development firms – were one of the factors that drew the company to Baton Rouge.

“There were a couple points we were trying to accomplish in regards to bringing more technology to the area,” O’Brien said. “I started running the numbers, the tax break, the Tech Park, the economic development, and everything that we could actually put to it. And things made a lot more sense.”

The credits include a 25 percent rebate for digital interactive media expenditures made in the state, and a 35 percent tax credit for payroll expenditures on Louisiana residents, with no annual cap. The credits are something to be proud of; Forbes Magazine has called them the “most lucrative incentives in the United States.”

Needless to say, everyone from Mayor-President Melvin “Kip” Holden, to communications director Jesse Hoggard of the LA Tech Park, are practically wagging tails at the news of the relocation.

Holden described the move as a “huge win” for East Baton Rouge, while Jese Hoggard declared that Baton Rouge was getting a place “on the digital media map.”

“BitRaider is the latest in a line of recent wins for Baton Rouge,” Hoggard said in an e-mail, “including Firebrand Games also at the Tech Park, and the location and expansion of EA’s North American Quality Assurance Center at LSU.”

“We find that Louisiana’s industry leading tax incentives make an extremely convincing business case for companies looking to expand or startup in Louisiana,” he added.

O’Brien said he’s ready to fill the 22 positions the company will bring from our pool of locals in the industry.

“You’d be surprised. You don’t really have to go anywhere to find the talent to hire,” O’Brien said. “You can actually get it locally. And you can also create a higher level of education that goes out in the work force.”

Video Games: The new “catch?”

“Today the games are a lot more real,” BitRaider CEO Royal O’Brien said. “So you’ve got to embrace what the culture is, and try to work with them on it. Parents need to keep an eye on the kids. Games can be used as a tool to analyze their surrounding environment, of how to interact with people.”

Gaming Stats

33: Age of the average gamer.

13: Average number of years adult gamers have been playing.

Women > 18 > Boys < 17: Thirty percent of women over the age of 18 play video and computer games, while only 20 percent of boys under 17 play video and computer games.

48: Percentage of parents who play computer and video games with their children at least once a week.

Source: Entertainment Software Association