Identifying Employment Opportunities in the UK Gaming Industry Report

This report provides a detailed analysis of the employment landscape within the UK gaming industry, focusing on identifying suitable career opportunities. It begins with an overview of the industry's growth, highlighting the expansion of the online gaming sector and the increasing number of organizations. The report examines the current market situation, emphasizing the significance of video games and the demand for skilled professionals. It explores various job roles, including game programmers, IT technical support officers, game designers, QA testers, and animators. The report also discusses the recruitment processes used by organizations, such as skill tests and gamification techniques, and suggests suitable strategies for career development, including the importance of work experience and relevant degree courses. The report concludes by emphasizing the industry's potential for continued growth and the opportunities it presents for individuals seeking to build a sustainable career in the gaming sector.

Running head: MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS
Media and Communications
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Content
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Overview of the industry.................................................................................................................3
Employment opportunities in the industry......................................................................................6
Type of job roles in the sector.........................................................................................................8
Recruitment process used by organizations in the sector................................................................9
Suitable strategies for developing or professional career development in the sector....................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................13
References and Bibliography.........................................................................................................14

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Topic- Identifying employment opportunities in Gaming industry
Introduction
The following report presents a detailed assessment of employment opportunities in
media and creative industry. In order to make the assessment clear and specific, gaming industry
has been considered in the report. Gaming sector is one of the rapidly growing sectors with
increasing number of organizations. Due to the entry of several organizations, the employment
opportunities are increasing in the sector. However, due to economical turndown, the sector
observes a slow growth in the recent time. This report provides a review of current situation of
the gaming industry in United Kingdom and based on the review, suitable employment
opportunities are identified which can be useful to build a sustainable professional career. The
purpose of the report is to identify suitable employment opportunities reviewing the current
scenario of the industry.
Overview of the industry
Evidences making it clear that gaming industry in the UK observed a consistent period of
rapid growth. The National Statistic Business report indicates that an increase of 11.1%
particularly in consumer spending in the digital and online market in 2016. More specifically, it
is observed that the other related areas of gaming industry show that a similar rise in 2016 from
the previous years. As put forward by Markham and Young (2015), one of the major factor that
drive the growth of the gaming industry is the expansion of online gaming sector. On the other
side, Mateos-Garcia, Bakhshi and Lenel (2014) mentioned that increasing number of casino site
available to deliver more ways to access the gaming world in a more relaxed manner.

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Icey Games Studios
It is identified that Icey game studios have an increasing market exposure, as the studios applied
the digital methods of creating market awareness. By understanding the demands of service and
market, the organizations in the sector prefer to hire people who have real-world experience
instead of hiring individuals having a qualified degree. Icey game studies hire skilled and
experience people to minimize the cost of training and envelopment; however, hiring process is
not similar to traditional interview process, Hence, the users have to give online intelligence test.
Nonetheless, the categories of fun games, especially in the slot game niche are adding the
choice and strengthening the glamorous image, which provides gambling offers to customers. On
the other side, the advancement and growth observed in the recent time, the entry of live dealers
and casino sites probably increase their popularity and market share with the consumers in UK.
A research conducted by PWC, indicates that in the coming years, gaming sector in UK could be
worth around £5.2 billion (Loh, Deegan and Inglis 2015); thereby, it can be mentioned that such
amount of money following into the economy remains as a great asset. From this figure, it can be
estimated that increasing bonuses of money is spreading into other areas such as merchandising
and employment makes UK gaming sector a significant cog in the nation’s economy.
Derevensky and Gainsbury (2016) in their article on “Social casino gaming and adolescents”
mentioned that the upward trend in UK’s gamin sector show no clue of reversing because more
people start to gamble online and purchase video games.

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Figure 1: Gaming Design
(Source: Derevensky and Gainsbury 2016)
While digging into UK gaming industry, it has been found that UK’s gaming sector is
highly concerned with video games, as this section has played its crucial part in £4.33 billion
(Griffiths, King and Delfabbro 2014). When comparing the demography of UK, it has been
found that almost half of total population in UK prefers the thrill and excitement of playing video
games. This has been easy due to the entry or availability of advanced mobile devices. The
organizations in the sector have observed a rapid shift to video and online gaming. Hollist (2015)
estimated a stable journey of UK’s gaming sector as more titles are being developed and released
on a very frequent basis; consequently, the gaming events have become more prevalent.

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Employment opportunities in the industry
As put forward by Mateos-Garcia, Bakhshi and Lenel (2014),UK remains as the third
best nation at retaining, attracting, training the skilled labor in the digital sector with London and
Birmingham as the major support. When it comes to growth, Hing et al. (2014) commented that
the major reason behind such unexpected growth in employment is the investment made by the
government as well as the way that has enabled new gaming companies to start up. For example,
the initiative like Creative England helps the new gaming organizations to obtain the necessary
funding to manufacture games (Wan, Wong and Kong (2014). Martin and Billy (2015)
mentioned that gaming industry is a great driver for the job market within in UK.
The key to this sustainable gaming sector is, the retention of talents in UK economy since
it has hired. This scenario provides excellent opportunities for many people who want to develop
their career in the gaming industry. Additionally, due to the estimated growth (6.7 by PWC), the
scope and the number of jobs may continue to increase as well as allow more people to enter UK
gaming sector (Keune et al. 2018). As commented by Leung and Gray (2016), gaming industry
is not the only sector that have the opportunity to gain benefits, other related and dependent
sector such as popular inline casino sites applying marketing campaign to excel which also
creates employment opportunities.
As people become more equipped and intended to work in the sector, some universities
in UK provide a series of well-respected gaming degree courses. For example, University of
South Wales in Glamorgan provides work experience opportunity to students who are pursing
relevant courses such as BA Game (Lugmayr and Grueblbauer 2017). Therefore, the gaming
companies in UK hire skilled candidates to increase the strength of their teams. In addition to

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this, the directors of Dojo Arcade mentioned that they are now able to employ few local
graduates through the Jobs Growth Wales fund (Leung and Gray 2016).
Figure 2: People working in UK’s gaming sector
(Source: Leung and Gray 2016)
Particularly, the video gaming sector employees nearly 5500 people in UK and they are earning
average salary of £30,755 (Hollist 2015). As put forward by Wan, Wong and Kong (2014),
almost half of the employees are recruited directly from education. Particularly, the employment
is especially focused in West Midland s (39%), Scotland (19%) and the East Midlands
(14%) and London (14%) (Griffiths, King and Delfabbro 2014).

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Type of job roles in the sector
If a candidate wants to work in the games development, the candidate has to be involved
in the creation as well as production of games for personal computers, online games, arcade
game, tables, mobile phones as well as other hand-held devices. Workers’ work will usually be
concerned with either design or programming. As mentioned by Wan, Wong and Kong (2014),
making of a game from the concept to finished product may take years as well as involve teams
of professionals. The following are some of the available jobs roles in the gaming sector of
United Kingdom.
Game programmer- The major role of a programmer is to take the ideas of the designers
and write codes necessary to develop playable game. Thereby, it is significant for the candidates
to understand and follow instructions to form creative visions of the designers to life. The
candidates usually work in a team headed by the lead programmer.
IT technical support officer- The role of technical support office is to link video game
publishers to their customers. Hence, the candidates remain as the point of contact for the gamers
who have issues with the gaming product. As put forward by Keune (2018) communication
skills are essential to develop career in thin particular job role because the candidates have to
listen to the customer complaints and questions and resolve them in a professional manner.
Designer: Game designer plays a wide role in developing games. Lugmayr and
Grueblbauer (2017) particularly, mentioned that game designers play the role like a movie
directors. A game designer has to define the style and ensure consistency of games’ look and
appearance. Game designers stand as the visionaries but when designing a game; they must have
to come up with an exciting story that could manufacture a good game play. On the other side,

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Derevensky and Gainsbury (2016) mentioned that game development career can challenge the
designers sometimes by stretching their imaginations. As the technology is continuously
growing, the new possibilities such as motion sensing as well as full-body recognitions are the
demands of the customers in games. Thereby, the designers often have to face the challenge of
developing new ideas and imagination to design the games the way end-users want them to be.
QA tester: When the designer is done with designing the entre the structure of the
games, tester’s job is to verify programming free of flaws and bugs. This has to b done by
repeatedly playing the games with a different level with the help an automation tools to
regenerate different scenarios.
Animator: The role of animator is to create and develop the graphical elements of the
game from the backgrounds and scoreboards. The game animators have to use different
computer based tools and painted 3D programs to create a richly texture elements
Recruitment process used by organizations in the sector
Some organizations have been adopting the values as well as goals of gamification in
their recruitment process with advanced innovative approaches. Hence, gamification remains as
the concept of applying different game mechanics as well as design non-game context (Kerr and
Kelleher 2015). Thereby, the organizations use this method to engage people with the brand and
personalize the jobs hunting techniques for the potential talents. Following are some of the
recruitment techniques used by large and top companies in UK such as ustwo, Rockstar North
and CD project.
Google inviting the best programmers to compete

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Google organizes a Google Code Jam Software –writing competition for the period of 12
years, as the way to find fresh and new talents to work for the organization, So, the programs
developers as well as the engineers who take part in the contest are competing in a game to avail
the monetary benefits. However, the tech monster Google uses it as a way to attract key talents
with the appropriate skis for the job and the organization.
Rockstar North: As put forward by Fusar-Poli et al. (2015), the Rockstar North are
struggling to retain employees. After a short period of trial, which did not provide any positive
outcome, the company adopted the method of the gamification. Form post introduced Jeu
Factuer Academy, which enables the player to remain in the job post for a week.
Skill test: According to Kim et al. (2017) some large gaming companies in UK rely on
skill test when the organizations need to hire employees. In the skill test, the candidates have to
resolve few mathematical problems relating to gaming, which the candidates have to resolve in a
limited time. However, Woźniak (2015) mentioned that this “skill test” method does not provide
any efficiency now days due to the growing needs of gaming. On a very frequent basis, the
gaming organizations are observing the need of including new programming languages, themes
and ideas that are taught by the universities in UK. Thus, the candidates find it difficult to cope
up with newly appearing challenges. On the other side, the organizations using this “skill test”
this method also have to make further investment for training and development for employee
skills development.
Suitable strategies for developing or professional career development in the sector
The above presented report helps to observe and understand that UK gaming sector is
rapidly developing with extended employment opportunities. The government is backing up the

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organizations in the sector as the purpose of increasing employment opportunities. However, due
to this growth and demand in the market, the industry observes an increasing competition with
respect to recruitment and retention. In order to start a professional career in the gaming sector in
the United Kingdom, the following strategies should be developed:
Laying the ground work with a related degree: As put forward by Kerr and Kelleher
(2015), most of the organizations in the video game sector usually do not place a lot of weight on
their particular college degree. Hence, the most important aspect here, is the candidate has to
demonstrate skills that they are able to do their work. The candidates need to gain knowledge or
teach him/her, the basic of the designs and coding. These things usually remain easier to learn in
the structure setting of particular degree programs.
Taking part in a game design competition- Joining a game design competition is a
significant way that candidates can stand out from the crowd. Hence, the candidates can gain
some significant advantage such as the first thing is that competition holders provide incentives
to work on and finish the project for their portfolio (Keune et al. 2018). Without a completely
finished project, candidates cannot take part in the competition to submit the work. Most
significant point here is that by taking part in the competition, the candidates receive the
opportunity for working with large and popular future employers.
Join a gaming course: As discussed above, due to the increasing demand of gaming jobs
in UK, some universities in the sector offering gaming courses for the students who want to
develop their career in this sector. Thereby, availing this particular course would help the
candidates to gain knowledge about the elements required to develop and design games.
Particularly, this gaming course helps candidates to learn new programming and gaming

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languages. The universities include the learning elements on the basis of the demands in the
industry. This means that as per the trends in the sector, the universities are offering the courses.
Thus, taking such additional courses help candidates to crack the test; this test is supposed to be
taken as an interview during the time of joining.
Skills development: The candidates have to remain in touch with the recent trends to
learn about the type of games designed and developed presently in the sector. Based on this
analysis, the candidates can increase their knowledge. Gaining knowledge and skills in
designing is not the only requirement that candidates should posses to work in the gaming sector
(Wan, Wong and Kong 2014). The candidates should gain knowledge in each section such as
coding, script preparing, findings bugs in the program and design. Another strategy that
candidates can apply to develop skills is, develop and design a demo projects. Demo projects or
internship often helps the candidates to get selected in gaming sector. The demo projects often
help to impress the recruiters.
Gaining knowledge about market: The candidates have to conduct online market
research to learn about the needs and demands of game lovers. This would help the candidates to
learn the current and future needs of games in the sector (Lugmayr and Grueblbauer 2017). On
the other side, the candidates can conduct a research to learn about the organizational demands in
the gaming sector when it comes to recruitment. With the help of a market research, the
candidates can learn what are the sill and elements that organizations looking for to develop their
projects.

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Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be mentioned that gaming industry is a rapidly changing industry,
because the needs and demands of the industry is changing due to the technological advancement
in the sector. Therefore, the requirements for hiring and retaining employees are also changing
on a frequent basis. So, the candidates should not rely on long-term career development strategy.
They could rather focus on the short-term approaches such as the recent trends of gaming, which
would help them to build their career as per the industry demands.

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References and Bibliography
Derevensky, J.L. and Gainsbury, S.M., 2016. Social casino gaming and adolescents: Should we
be concerned and is regulation in sight?. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 44, pp.1-
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Fusar-Poli, P., Schultze-Lutter, F., Cappucciati, M., Rutigliano, G., Bonoldi, I., Stahl, D.,
Borgwardt, S., Riecher-Rössler, A., Addington, J., Perkins, D.O. and Woods, S.W., 2015. The
dark side of the moon: meta-analytical impact of recruitment strategies on risk enrichment in the
clinical high risk state for psychosis. Schizophrenia bulletin, 42(3), pp.732-743.
Griffiths, M.D., King, D.L. and Delfabbro, P.H., 2014. The technological convergence of
gambling and gaming practices. The Wiley-Blackwell handbook of disordered gambling, pp.327-
346.
Hing, N., Cherney, L., Blaszczynski, A., Gainsbury, S.M. and Lubman, D.I., 2014. Do
advertising and promotions for online gambling increase gambling consumption? An exploratory
study. International Gambling Studies, 14(3), pp.394-409.
Hollist, K.E., 2015. Time to be grown-ups about video gaming: the rising eSports industry and
the need for regulation. Ariz. L. Rev., 57, p.823.
Kerr, A. and Kelleher, J.D., 2015. The recruitment of passion and community in the service of
capital: Community managers in the digital games industry. Critical Studies in Media
Communication, 32(3), pp.177-192.

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Keune, M., Payton, N., Rehnström, C.W. and Wright, S., 2018. –Innovation and Job Quality in
the Games Industry in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK. Virtuous circles between
innovations, job quality and employment in Europe? Case study evidence from the
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Kim, J.S., Song, H., Lee, C.K. and Lee, J.Y., 2017. The impact of four CSR dimensions on a
gaming company’s image and customers’ revisit intentions. International Journal of Hospitality
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Leung, T.C.H. and Gray, R., 2016. Social responsibility disclosure in the international gambling
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Mateos-Garcia, J., Bakhshi, H. and Lenel, M., 2014. A map of the UK games industry. Nesta,
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