14 DAY TRIAL // Videogames industry websites GamesIndustry.biz and Gamasutra.com announced they have received widespread support for their inaugural London Game Career Fair today, the two-day event that is to take place on the 3rd and 4th of October 2006 alongside this year's London Games Festival.
The Game Career Fair will be attended by games industry professionals, recent graduates and individuals from related industries, such as film, computer graphics and animations, providing an ideal opportunity for attendees to speak with leading companies in the games industry about career opportunities.
"It's a fantastic time to be in the games industry right now, particularly with the impending launches of the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii," commented GamesIndustry.biz Managing Director Rupert Loman.
"A wide range of companies have already committed to the career fair, and they're looking for new talent in all kinds of areas, including development, design, marketing and sales. It's set to be a highly successful event."
With average salaries now around ?42k (average salary for UK game developers according to ITJobswatch.co.uk), game development has become a really rewarding career, both financially and creatively. In a speech delivered recently at the BAFTA headquarters, Shaun Woodward, minister for creative industries and tourism, described the games industry as "one of our most important creative industries, and one at which the UK excels", after which he went on to observe that the UK is the world's third largest market for games, and the third largest producer of them, responsible for the creation of multi-million selling titles such as Grand Theft Auto, Championship Manager, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Project Gotham Racing.
Studios including Blitz Games, Evolution Studios, Lucas Arts and Real Time Worlds will be in attendance to talk to potential recruits about careers as artists, animators, programmers, designers, audio engineers etc. The Game Career Fair is the first event of its kind for the videogames industry, and let us hope others will follow.