[game_edu] Game studies and the economy

[Jose P. Zagal]

I also have the impression that any bad news in the games industry is 
automatically attributed to the economy. Truth is, game companies have 
always trimmed people, closed studies, and so on. I'm not sure that 
things are particularly worse than before. I'm not saying that they're 
rosy either, just that it easy to get caught up in the negative hype.

For example, I would have said that GDC seemed pretty empty...but the 
attendance numbers would clearly show me wrong. :-)


Jose


Ian Schreiber wrote:

> 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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