The gaming industry is becoming a new and exciting career option for young South Africans to consider when they leave school.
This is the word from an expert at The Independent Institute of Education (IIE), who says gone are the days when gaming was seen as just a hobby and a lazy man's sport.
Nola Payne, head of faculty for ICT at IIE, says gaming has been quietly growing in the country in the past few years, and has now taken off with gusto as heavyweight degree courses come onto the market to provide professionals for the industry.
"Traditionally, learners would have been encouraged to go to state universities to study broad degrees, which would not necessarily prepare them for the workplace...This approach is no longer suitable in the 21st century."
Payne notes opportunities in the gaming industry are a perfect example of why learners assessing their study options should look beyond the old-fashioned mainstreams of study.
"Whether as a player, a developer, designer or writer, the gaming industry - also known as the interactive entertainment industry - provides an exciting, engaging and rewarding new opportunity for school-leavers."
Local prospects
In 2013, Gartner predicted the worldwide video game marketplace, which includes video game console hardware and software, online, mobile and PC games, would reach $93 billion, up from $79 billion in 2012.
Mobile games are the fastest-growing segment of the market, with revenue set to nearly double between 2013 and 2015 from $13.2 billion to $22 billion, said Gartner.
Moira De Roche, MD of e-learning company Aligned4Learning, says the gaming industry is huge globally, and offers developers an opportunity. "Develop a good game, and sell it anywhere."
Payne says globally, the revenue generated by the gaming industry now surpasses that of the movie industry. In SA, the gaming industry is also fast gaining on the movie industry, she says. "This phenomenal global growth has opened the way for many different careers in gaming, with new disciplines constantly emerging, including as developers, designers and testers, to name but a few."
Local career opportunities currently include software development, graphic and multimedia design, as well as plot design, map design and storytelling to create the game plan, says Payne.
"South Africa already has a thriving and growing game development and design industry, which is set to explode in coming years, as leading institutions start offering major gaming-related degrees," Payne notes.
De Roche says she has also noticed a few job ads for local game developers, mostly for the e-learning industry. "Possibly we are at a tipping point where once online gaming takes on to a greater extent in SA, entrepreneurs and existing companies will see the opportunity. The thing about games is there is money to be made on every good game. Players have to invest [money] as they get to new levels, and games are totally addictive. It's a really lucrative business."
She adds: "It is an exciting career. There are options for developing, graphics design (low end and high end). I am not sure that playing is a career option, but should be encouraged."
Jobs of tomorrow
According to Payne: "Institutes of higher education have realised this [gaming] is one of the most exciting new and growing options for a career, and it is expected that the current offering will dramatically increase within the next decade."
De Roche states schools should encourage learners to look far and wide, and beyond the old-fashioned mainstreams of study because exciting career opportunities are not mainstream.
"If we really want to create entrepreneurs and solopreneurs (people who work for themselves), then learners have to learn to be innovative.
"Education departments should also spend some effort in getting teachers to think differently, to embrace the new, and encourage their learners to do the same," says De Roche.
Education analyst and visiting adjunct professor at Wits University's Public and Development Management School, Graeme Bloch, echoed De Roche's comments and says jobs that exist today will not be there tomorrow.
Bloch is pleased new technologies are operating and there are new jobs available. "The young in SA have to and are getting with the programme."
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