Warframe, the most well-known video game you’ve never heard of, is created in London, Ontario.Warframe is not the kind of video game that frequently makes headlines. Even some players may not have known about it.
However, the London, Ontario-based company Digital Extremes’ online multiplayer action game has persevered for ten years thanks to a devoted global fan base.
Even though it is older and has outlasted several games with much more excitement, it is not widely popular, according to creative director Rebecca Ford. “I believe that we have remained in this small cohort of the gaming industry because of our [aversion] to the spotlight.”
The longevity of Warframe’s popularity is unusual in a market where many online games can lose their appeal in as little as a year. Even less common still is a mid-sized business with a Canadian basis outside of the major gaming hubs of Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal.
TennoCon, the yearly fan convention for the game, had over 2,000 attendees last week at the RBC Place in the heart of London; this one was celebrating its tenth anniversary. TennoCon returned to its physical location for the first time in three years after turning virtual due to the pandemic in 2020.
The Tenno, the heavily armed and mobile soldiers that players command in Warframe, are the inspiration for both the occasion and the fan community as a whole. Imagine them as futuristic ninjas with weapons like guns, swords, and magic.
One of those games with the depth of an ocean is Warframe. There’s certainly a lot going on, even when it’s just getting started, according to Cass Marshall, a reporter for the gaming website Polygon.
It has a post-sci-fi tone that is similar to Dune and Warhammer 40K, but less speculative and more of a pulpy far-future scenario.
Digital Extremes doesn’t say how many people regularly play Warframe, but in 2021 it said there were 70 million users who had registered.
A website that monitors publicly available player statistics, Steam Charts, estimates that there are between 40,000 and 60,000 active Warframe players on PC at any given moment. Players using Xbox, PlayStation, or the Nintendo Switch are not included in that.
Marshall attributes the game’s appeal and endurance in part to its narrative and consistent stream of brand-new, unexpected expansions.
“I enjoy the incredibly enormous swings that Digital Extremes take. They said, “I think they take on a lot of ambitious projects.
With his buddies, Kitchener, Ontario resident John Petersons attended TennoCon. He attributes his ongoing interest in the game to the friendly player and development communities.
“If you’re a new player, it wouldn’t be that uncommon for someone to just give you something that would actually cost the premium currency because they’re like, ‘Hey, glad to have you here,'” said Petersons, who claims to have logged more than 3,000 hours in the game.