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Game development creates jobs in SA

Admire Moyo
By Admire Moyo, ITWeb's news editor.
Johannesburg, 11 Sept 2015
Globally, gaming is an industry valued at an estimated $91.5 billion, says Geoff Burrows, founder of Zero Degrees Games.
Globally, gaming is an industry valued at an estimated $91.5 billion, says Geoff Burrows, founder of Zero Degrees Games.

The world of gaming, although relatively small in SA, is showing a steady growth rate.

So says Geoff Burrows, founder of Zero Degrees Games, who notes while the unemployment rate in SA in the first quarter of 2015 was at its highest level since 2003, employment in the South African game development industry has increased by 5% from last year.

This shows great potential when a number of other industries are showing signs of economic strain, says Burrows.

"This means that sustainable career opportunities are being created, as well as an increase in revenue contributing to the gross domestic product," he adds.

According to Burrows, globally, gaming is an industry valued at an estimated $91.5 billion; with SA in dire need for job creation, gaming is well-positioned to provide the platform.

The US, UK, and Canada are leading the front in terms of numbers, but there are plenty of good studios elsewhere, like Germany, Poland, and Australia. Most established countries have some sort of game development industry, he points out.

He says the digital revolution is exposing technology and programming to a wider audience than ever before, while creating new career opportunities. Gaming enables the youth to become involved with coding and technology at a young age, and could even transform how businesses are run in the future, he adds.

"The biggest thing missing in the gaming industry right now, despite showing a lot of growth in recent years through crowd-funding, for example, is capital investment. More developers need to be given the opportunity to show the world what they have, but making games is a time-consuming and often costly experience."

At first glance, the current lack of diversity in the local game development industry looks like a major concern, with only 1% of game developers being black, and 3% women, yet Burrows sees this as a real opportunity for black and female developers to break into the market and radically transform where the industry is going.

Giving examples of locally developed games, Burrows says the two games that come to mind are Bro Force by Free Lives, the recently-released STASIS by The Brotherhood, Desktop Dungeons by QCF, as well as Viscera Cleanup Detail by Runestorm.

He points out there are various reasons for the steady growth of the gaming industry in SA. However, he says: "I think the biggest contributing factor is the ease-of-access for new and wannabe game developers. It's far easier for non-programmers, like artists, to make their own games these days. Of course that brings a lot of chaff with the wheat, but growth is growth.

"Anyone can do it if they put in effort time and effort. Take your existing skills, whether they're programming, art generation, or even just game design itself, and work on them. Then build the other skills, or meet people who have the skills you need."

There's a minefield of theory surrounding what makes a good game, says Burrows. "But in my opinion the answer is simple - fun. Games must be fun. How you as the creator or the player defines fun is a whole other bag, but if the player comes away from the game feeling like they're better off for playing it, then it's a good game."

This year at the annual rAge expo (9-11 October), NAG will once again be sponsoring the home_coded stand. home_coded is an initiative that was started by NAG in November 2012 with an aim to showcase the very best in South African game development talent, and promote local growth in this industry.

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