By Natasha Lomas, 19 June 2008 16:58
NEWS
A skills shortage in the video games industry could mean game over for developers in the UK, a campaign group is warning.
Difficulty sourcing talent is a regular complaint of the UK tech industry - just last week a leading academic warned the IT industry is 'going to hell' as computing student numbers continue to drop year-on-year and the resulting calibre of grads declines.
And it would seem the video games industry is no exception.
Industry lobby group 'Games Up?' says UK developers can't get the staff as dedicated video games courses are failing to equip university grads with the right skills for the workplace.
Of the 81 courses on offer in the UK, only four are accredited by government body Skillset, according to the group. And it claims many courses do not offer the kind of depth of focus the industry needs.
The problem is being exacerbated by the increasing popularity of gaming, moving away from geek pastime to mainstream entertainment option, which is driving industry growth and demand for staff.
But one games industry insider told silicon.com the industry's problems should not be blamed on universities - not least because dedicated games development courses are a relatively new invention.
He said: "Anyone that's over 28 or so hasn't really come through that education path. They've taught themselves, they've been on courses that aren't necessarily video game courses - they may be maths or engineering or more general purpose software engineering."
Many of the current crop of games industry employees learnt to create programs by getting creative with the home computers of the 1980s and 1990s - hardware such as the Atari ST and Sinclair Spectrum - so the rise of plug-and-play games consoles is likely to have contributed to the partial demise of 'bedroom coder culture'.
The games expert said the difference is that previously people would have to learn everything about every aspect of a machine, including hardware and software "whereas now people don't really understand all those basics; they don't really know what's going on under the hoodÂ… That's where the real discrepancy comes."
He added: "The industry's aging. The older people are sort of staying with it. It used to be all 20-year-olds or whatever but now it's a lot of people in their late 30s."
But he warned: "Because the US economy is depressed it's cheaper to develop there and people are looking at other places - everyone's setting up studios in Shanghai and Eastern Europe at the moment."
Comments
There are 13 comments. Join the discussion
1. Karen Challinor
would this be because the focus has shifted to using existing software rather than teaching the pronciples of software development and logical analysis ?
well the older generation has that particular skillset in spades and would be quite happy to work on video games
how about asking us
2. Andrew Fish
Part of the problem is that commercial games now revolve on 3D engines and huge production values. Whereas our generation used to look at the latest Codemasters simulator and say 'I can do better than that', the current youth would have to be extremely arrogant to do so - even if their machine allowed them to write games straight out of the box.
If the games industry wants to nurture talent for the next generation, what they could look at is running competitions for youngsters to write simple games for mobile phones. These games tend to be as simple as those of the Speccy era, but the tools aren't immediately to hand for most kids. Give them a little incentive and you might create a craze with the potential to create vastly more games developers than the speccy age ever generated.
3. Me Myself
Wah, F&*£ing wah. You want decent coders, pay more money ! I know at least 6 outstanding developers - all with advanced degrees in either physics or math - working for financial institutions.. They hate the work, but the pay is too good to pass up. They have all expressed the opinion that they will happily move to any other type of company as long as the pay cut isn't too severe.
Games companies are making plenty of money, if they want better coders - they need only pay for them.
4. Neil McBride
I agree with thei analysis. There must e radical changes to UK A level syllabus
5. anonymous
Long in the tooth, perhaps with the older crowd who just know how to make generic FPS 9000 and soccer game 4billion. Look further afield.
6. Richard Southern
Totally agree with "Me Myself" - a starting salary games industry salaries are about £10k less than other services industries (at last check). What a joke. It harkens back to the day when games were hacked together by 17-19 y/o kiddies for tuppence.
Personally I think that the emphasis on technology is misplaced - I think the biggest problem with games development is lack of creativity. Nothing wrong with licensing an existing game engine(s) as long as the content is fresh.
7. Karen Challinor
Anonymous - Dublin
you may be surprised at what the "long in tooth" generation can come up with
8. Mark Hosey
Universities are hard pressed these days by the persistent claims that they are not “producing” enough graduates to satisfy their needs. Personally, I’m sick and tired listening to their winging! They need to get over this idiotic idea that universities are there to provide it with the finished goods industry requires. They must stop treating universities like “customer orientated people factories” turning out tailor made products, e.g. games writers. (I hate the commoditisation of human resources implied by the terminology but since it’s the only language these idiots understand I’ll continue in the same vain).
Universities have the task of taking raw product (partially educated people) and increasing its value by producing value added raw product ready to be developed into finished goods.
There are so many different professions in computer related technologies alone to make it impossible for universities to satisfy all the “customer orientated” demands. To try to do so just stretches the educational rope to the point of breaking.
Industry is being unfair to universities in expecting them to turn out finished product for all their requirements.
It is also unfair to expect graduates to leave university ready to embark on only one career. The university education is supposed to open doors, not close them.
Industry must face facts and live up to its responsibilities. If industry wants specialists there is plenty of raw product. However, they have to pay for it with decent wages which encourages students to adopt the appropriate courses and they must follow that up by finishing the raw product (graduates) with appropriate training. They should look on the training as an investment.
9. Jeremy Wickins
Ummmm, maybe I'm not qualified to speak, what with the last video game I played being one of those "shoot the aliens as they come down in lines" games, but why does anyone need a university education to program a game? Surely a university degree in video games is to the games industry what a film studies degree is to the movie industry. Practical experience, not theory, is what is needed, and universities are not good at providing the skills needed to actually do things. As Karen says, maybe the industry is looking in the wrong place ...
10. Mark Hosey
If they want to stimulate student demand for these courses why not start paying the developers and designers on a royalties basis.
I'd say 0.01% of all sales plus royalties on all intelectual property they (help) develop and a share in all patents and copyright material.
Seems fair to me! It works for the music industry!
11. Ian Springham
As a 40 year old who started programming over a quarter of a century ago, predominantly in the fields of maths, statistics and data analysis, my initial thoughts on this article were "read 'em & Wii"
12. Chris Holland
We saw this one coming *years* ago (sigh!)
The conditions which created the original wave of bedroom coders were accidental, and thanks to the efforts of a games industry determined to impose central control, to make things easier to manage from a business model perspective, a one-off, never to be repeated.
Now having dumbed down the user culture from the mid-nineties on, the games industry are bleating about a talent shortage! You got what you deserved in the end!
13. Anthony Hunt
For years giant companies have been buying out their small competitors and then closing them down.
They reduce risk and kill creativity in a single blow. The practice of sacking the development team at the end of a project seems to have also become the norm.
It's no wonder graduates look at the gaming industry without much enthusiasm.
A generation of youth dumbed down by consoles hasn't helped the pool of creative talent much either.
Small developers need tax breaks from the government to protect them, so they can afford to train staff and retain them.