Video Games Industry Manpower Shortage
Are we looking at an industry that is poised to become self-sustaining, larger-than-life, moving pictures big? Or, is the entire industry teetering on a precipice due to the lack of quality hires? One high-ranking industry exec seems to think the gaming industry in Japan is, indeed, in trouble.
After a long sales slump, the gaming industry in Japan is faring quite better again in large part thanks to the booming portable market (DS and PSP). Despite the recent upturn, however, Wada is not pleased with the apparent lack of standards and shortage of technical experts in the industry. In fact, he feels that if things don’t change soon, the industry itself could fade away. “We are approaching a crossroads that will determine whether or not [gaming] can be established as an industry,” Wada cautioned, according to a partial translation of the interview by GameSpot. (Yoichi Wada is the President of Square Enix)
I’ve done some searching over the last few weeks, specifically for game developers and coders and the pickings are indeed slim. If our industry is to succeed it will do so on the backs of those talented designers, coders, testers, developers and general geeks.
With mobile gaming, online gaming, 3 next-gen consoles, 2 handhelds (3 if you count the GBA) and PC gaming, are we getting too large too fast? Are we too big for our britches?
Square Enix’s Wada has sounded an alarm. Is it a valid one?
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