[game_edu] Game studies and the economy

[Dan Rosenthal]

I found the career pavilion at GDC this year to be an absolute waste  
of time. It was extremely small, with several of the booths being used  
for extra media interview space and not career space. Someone had the  
great idea of handing out free beer to everyone who walked by, meaning  
that half the people jostling for space were drunk (including one  
particularly rude CA from Digipen who literally bumped me out of the  
way so she could gush to a THQ rep about how much she loved his  
games). There was a huge crowd of students jostling about, sitting  
around playing games at the Activision booth, making it harder for the  
rest of us to get around. Combined with the fact that some of the  
career booths weren't even taking resumes, I got the impression that  
the whole thing was just a waste of time.

Next year, GDC could definitely use a career pavilion that either has  
exclusive events, or separate areas,for: 1) members of the industry  
looking for work, and 2) graduate students, who don't want their  
resumes and the like to be lumped in with high schoolers, and given  
the same talkings-down that the rest of the industry.

-Dan

On Apr 1, 2009, at 1:50 PM, Tom Dowd wrote:


> Our students returning from GDC also reported a smaller job fair,  

> both in terms of scope (number of companies present) and the size of  

> the team the companies that attend the show brought with them. I  

> cannot say whether this was perception or reality as I was not there  

> either. My not being there was a result of the economic troubles and  

> the slashing of travel budgets across the college.

>

> As for the state of the industry, three things are happening –  

> publishers are getting conservative on projects with higher levels  

> of uncertainty (developmentally or in terms of marketability) and  

> cancelling these “on the bubble” projects, developers are losing  

> projects, throwing their financial situation into chaos (too many  

> mid-sized and small developers run in a very risky financial state,  

> and with the current credit crunch the bridge loans that they used  

> to finance themselves during project transitions are not available),  

> and lastly some developers are trimming the fat and running a leaner  

> ship (to abound in metaphors) in case things continue to worsen.

>

> The big things students need to understand is that the competition  

> for entry-level positions is intensifying. In addition to competing  

> against their student peers, they are now competing against laid-off  

> members of industry who are applying for those jobs. More than ever  

> it is imperative they have a solid, appropriate, portfolio and  

> strong interview skills when they step out into the field.

>

> Tom Dowd

>

> -----

> Tom Dowd

> Columbia College Chicago

> Faculty/Interactive Arts and Media (Game Design Major)

> tdowd at colum.edu

>

> From: game_edu-bounces at igda.org [mailto:game_edu-bounces at igda.org]  

> On Behalf Of Scott Maddock

> Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2009 12:05 PM

> To: IGDA Game Education Listserv

> Subject: Re: [game_edu] Game studies and the economy

>

> Anecdotally...

>

> I understand that the career fair at the GDC was considerably  

> smaller than it was last year (I wasn't in attendance last year, but  

> it's something I heard from multiple sources who were present then  

> and now).  I know of at least one school with a dedicated game  

> development program that was supposed to see at least four new hires  

> directly into the program faculty, but was then denied such because  

> of the economic hardship.

>

> A number of companies have had non-trivial layoffs in the last few  

> months, or are threatening to go under.  Cheyenne Mountain  

> Entertainment, developer of the Stargate Worlds MMO, all but did go  

> under, but has since managed to find some investors and appears to  

> be on track again.

>

> Midway, I think we all know about.  Big Huge Games also seems to be  

> in trouble.  EA and Activision have both laid off large numbers.

>

> In short, I think the whole industry is feeling the pinch to some  

> degree, in the professional and academic sectors.

>

> 2009/4/1 Brena Smith <brena.smith at gmail.com>

> Hi all,

> I have two questions: First, I know that all educational  

> institutions are not untouched by the economy these days - but have  

> any of you seen any specific impact on game studies departments?   

> Second, any thoughts on how the economy has impacted the electronic  

> game industry in general?  Are game companies seeing a lot of  

> layoffs?  Are students still able to find jobs?

>

> Many thanks!

> Brena

>

>

>

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