Opportunities galore in gaming

In India, aspects such as increasing disposable incomes, large wireless user base and rise in the number of game developers and publishers have, over a period of time, contributed to the tremendous growth of the gaming industry.

Mobile gaming dominates the segment with over 71% share, driven by growth in the high-end segment of mobile users, the need for valuable game content by mobile operators and the availability of 3G spectrum.

Online gaming is the next highest growth segment, fuelled by the growth of internet users among the target segment of 15-34 years. The reach of online gaming portals to social networking audiences has definitely contributed to the worldwide growth of the gaming industry.

The presence of EA Sports in Hyderabad for the last 7 years has been a great motivation for passionate youngsters to join this industry.

The company, famous for its NFS (Need for Speed), has been developing quality mobile games for both Indian and international markets. Other notable companies in the country include Dhruva (Bangalore), India games (Mumbai), FX Labs (Hyderabad), etc. Los Angeles-based Zynga opened up its game development centre in Bangalore recently.

This is the company's first development centre outside the US and will hire about 100 Computer Engineers in the first year of its operation here.

Even though Gaming has immense career opportunities, a key factor restricting the growth of gaming in India is the scarcity of skilled professionals. Lack of awareness among youngsters, including game players and technology graduates, has been a major factor of concern for India.

The National Association of Software Companies has been taking aggressive initiatives to educate youngsters and general public on the huge scope gaming industry offers them.

Institutions imparting Gaming courses in the country are also very less. Full-time college level education is the recommended solution to become a Game Designer or Game Programmer. Currently, Image College (ICAT) in Bangalore is a premier Media College offering full-time one year Postgraduate Diploma courses for graduates of any stream.

The gaming industry in the country is expecting a repeat of the IT wave in the 90's which resulted in Engineers getting into IT in large numbers, resulting in bridging the gap between the demand and supply of manpower. For details, contact 99160 79118 / 080 - 41107755 or visit www.icat.ac.in.