In the previous five years, the gaming industry worldwide has experienced explosive growth. Growth was observed in all segments, but the main drivers during this period were mobile games on the two main platforms iOS and Android.
It is worth noting that the U.S. and China are the largest contributors to the gaming industry, but the market structure of these favorites is very different. In the U.S., the largest segment is console games, while China has MMOs.
The reason why the Chinese game market is so specific is interesting. Until 2013, there was a moratorium on the sale of game consoles in China. This ban became a catalyst for the rapid development of MMO games. As a result, China has become the main producer of a huge number of often very similar to each other, but at the same time quite high quality MMO gaming projects. China’s gaming market in 2014 was estimated at almost $18 billion, and the number of gamers at 173 million.
Microsoft’s purchase of the game Minecraft for $2.5 billion.It was originally an independent project by a lone programmer. But as it developed, it gained an army of fans. Being built on open source technology, it has seen explosive growth in content and has surpassed all other entertainment for children of the digital generation. As of fall 2014, the number of registered players exceeded 10 million, with absolutely no advertising involved.
The purchase of Oculus VR technology for $2 billion. It is clear that the technology can be used in many areas and for different tasks, but for the gaming industry – this technology was a fundamental breakthrough to form a new VR direction.
JOBS IN GAMEMODE
Currently, getting a job in gamedev offers great opportunities and prospects for growth for the following reasons:
Jobs in gamedevHigh salaries because of the specific requirements.
Quite a large shortage of good professionals in the industry.
The rapid growth of the industry, the growth of regional markets, the emergence of new technological areas offer good prospects for new companies to enter the market and stimulate the expansion of business in large game companies.
With the right persistence and talent can grow to international projects. There are already many precedents in the gaming industry when the best specialists get jobs in the world’s leading companies.
But it is very important to get qualitative knowledge and skills to sell yourself to the employer and grow fast, or successfully implement your game project.
У There are many educational institutions which give high-quality education in the field of game design in the USA, England, Australia and France. The most famous of them: Guildhall at SMU, DigiPen.