Avatar photoSteven Savage

Worldwide Geekonomics and Immigration

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So as I noted yesterday at GDC, part of what intrigued me was aggressive recruiting by groups employed by or part of their nation's governments to recruit gaming talent and companies.  I mentioned the Canadian group, the Scottish group, and others.  All were quite nice people, and many got a kick out of the fact that I actually tracked economic issues, and I had some great conversations. 

I'm such an econogeek I actually had a discussion of the possibilities of Scotland using the pitch of dual urban-rural lifestyles to attract young talent, and had a discussion of Canadian entrepreneurship with the Canadian contingent (it's quite an entrepreneurial country).

This and recents article by Richard Florida on changing immigration had me thinking:

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Metal Card! I Choose You!

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I was at GDC when I ran into a gentleman discussing a hard truth about programming – that a game developer (and I'd say any developer) should get some experience in computer languages that get their "hands dirty" as opposed to doing all the work for them.  .NET, Java, Flash, etc. are all good, but a little experience with C, C++, or gods help you assembly will quickly teach you the reality of technology.

(For those of you not initiated to the mysteries of programming, simply there are some languages that do a lot of work for the programmer such as managing memory, etc.  Other languages give you finer control over what you do, but also expose you to the guts of the operating system and things like managing memory, accessing resources, and more.)

The gentleman I talked to then gave me his business card.

It was made of metal with his name, email address, and website printed on it.

Yes.  His business card was made of metal.

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Game Developer’s Conference Roundup

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OK, the GDC, the Game Developer's conference is over, and it's time for my geek-career roundup.

Now a bit of a disclaimer – I went for half a day mostly to hit the trade floor.  I'm very busy right now and the management track panels weren't anything I hadn't already done or taken.  The panels there looked quite good, it's just I've been doing the IT PM thing for . . . about six or more years.  In fact one of my teachers was there anyway.

So I wandered around, got my impressions, and analyzed what was going on in gaming and peripheral tech.  You know me – business via naturalistic observation.  Here's what impressed me.

  • It was lower-key than last year.  I'm not sure why this is, but I'm pretty sure it's the economy.
  • I saw a lot of new companies, some 1-3 years old, who provided services to gaming companies.  Most of these impressed me, some quite a bit, and many had very young staff.  I think it's clear people get that gaming is an industry with a lot of opportunity for "service" – consulting, mocap, testing, etc.  This shows many opportunities – and the maturing of the gaming industry.
  • Sony 3D and Move.  The Move was OK, looked decent, and interfaced OK with a camera.  The PS3 3D actually looked really good.  Good for Sony.
  • Saw lots of indie games, but nothing really sent me this year.  I'm wondering if the indie/retro scene is burning itself out.
  • Aggressive recruiting by other countries looking for companies and/or individuals willing to relocate temporarily or permanently to work there in the gaming industry.  The Canadians of course had this down to a science, but Scotland's reps were really good and savvy.  Northern European countries also had a strong presence.  This seemed more aggressive than last year, and I think fits the theory that some countries realize America's economy leaves it vulnerable to a brain drain.
  • Recruiting was surprisingly active for companies – I think that's a good sign job-wise.
  • I ran into the person who manages Charisma Plus 2 Models – a company that provides models for game events.  By models they don't just mean pretty faces – they mean people who know gaming, performances, and cover the different looks and knowledge a presentation may need.

My overall impression was positive, with some up-and comers and savvy people looking to adapt and take advantages of the worldwide economic changes and changes in the game industry.  I especially believe in the next few years (especially with attempts to save money by outsourcing) that "game industry service companies" have a bright future – even more than I believed last year.

Though they may be in Scotland, Canada, or Sweden if those recruiters have any say.

– Steven Savage