[game_edu] Game studies and the economy

[Ian Schreiber]

This is a great question, and in fact one of the big things I was hoping to get out of GDC this year was an answer to the question: why all the layoffs when games (judging by revenue) are still a growth industry?
 
This is just my opinion (based on talking to a lot of people and trying to "read between the lines" on the expo floor), but I think it comes down to two things:
 
1) A lot of game developers are, frankly, not superstars. Game companies with a lot of mediocre employees are trying to cut the deadwood.
 
2) Since everyone is doing this at the same time, it causes a cascade effect that is really benefitting development shops. Want to lay people off, but afraid of cutting the staff too much? No problem, there's lots of people looking for work, so you can cut deep and then staff up fast if you need to later on. Want to hire people? That's also no problem, lots of talent in the job market right now.
 
Now, I did see some companies hiring very aggressively. I also saw a number of geographic regions heavily incentivizing developers to move to their region (seriously, probably a third of the booths in North Hall were a location).
 
Corollaries:
 
* Students are going to have a rough time of it for now. The bar has officially been raised. I think the industry will always have a place for people who are genuinely skilled and talented, but the marginal students should be thinking about another line of work that's less demanding.
 
* The regions that are trying to attract developers (such as those with booths) are worth looking at for students who are willing to move out of the country AND start their own independent studio while their burn rate is low. I don't normally advise this to my students (starting a business when you have no experience is a great way to lose everything you have) but in the rare case when a student is ready to take this step, it seems to be a great time for it.
 
* If your institution is looking to hire industry-experienced people for teaching positions, this is a really great time to staff up your department. A lot of people are getting sick and tired of the layoffs and would like something that at least has the appearance of stability :)
 
* With so many schools churning out game-related degrees each year and the industry growth not keeping pace, I can't see this changing in the near future. But it does mean that as schools, the bar has been raised on us as well; the schools with mediocre programs that produce mediocre graduates will find their students unable to find work.
 
- Ian

--- On Wed, 4/1/09, Brena Smith <brena.smith at gmail.com> wrote:


From: Brena Smith <brena.smith at gmail.com>
Subject: [game_edu] Game studies and the economy
To: "IGDA Game Education Listserv" <game_edu at igda.org>
Date: Wednesday, April 1, 2009, 12:54 PM


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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