Gaming industry in Serbia is creating 330 new jobs, but there are not enough job candidates
Last year, the total income of the 15 most successful companies in the field of gaming industry in Serbia amounted to EUR 150 million, 10% more than the previous year. Currently, 94 games are under development, and Serbian games have been downloaded as many as 100 million times.
The gaming industry is opening 330 new jobs this year. Despite the fact that it is a profitable business, there is a shortage of people, so it is already estimated that these positions will not be filled.
In 2022, over 50 games made in Serbia, have been published. The report of the Video Game Industry Association of Serbia shows that our country is an increasingly important player on the gaming scene.
The biggest markets for Serbian games are the United States, United kingdom, Germany and France. In order for Serbia to position itself at the very top of the global scene, talents are needed.
Svetlana Mikic, the brand and communications manager of Playstudios Europe, says that considering that the industry is still young in Serbia, we did not have time to develop as many experts as we need.
– On the other hand, formal education cannot keep up with that pace, but there are various initiatives that are gradually making progress in that field – Mikic told Euronews Serbia.
Last year, the Faculty of Dramatic Arts opened a course for game art, which will train future experts in this field. First-generation students are between 17 and 43 years old.
– We have one student who finished philosophy, so this is now his second faculty, we have young people who come from art schools, we have a female student who studied at the Faculty of Technical Sciences, a young man who used to be a painter. Above all, they like to make complex video games with big worlds, with things that require a lot of knowledge and a lot of experience to be able to make it – Mina Cvetinovic Pavkov, a professor at the Department of Visual Effects, Animation and Game Art, told Euronews Serbia.
Through formal classes, students meet experts from different companies and start direct cooperation, and Cvetinovic Pavkov says that they announce a new registration deadline in September.
The Video Game Industry Association of Serbia states that there is a great interest among young people to get involved in the gaming industry, that a platform was recently launched where students, high school students and parents can get information about all the positions that exist in gaming, and that it is slowly gaining parents’ trust.
What are the most deficient profiles
Kristina Jankovic Obucina from the Video Game Industry Association of Serbia tells Euronews Serbia that most of the 330 vacancies in the gaming industry relate to various types of artistic positions.
– The most promising are those who are currently the most difficult to fill, those are monetization experts, those who find ways to make money from mobile games, which are otherwise free. Other positions that are very difficult to fill are producers, those are the organizers who take care of the budget, deadlines and teams and all kinds of managers – said Jankovic Obucina, talking about the most deficient profiles in the gaming industry.
Apart from the lack of professional staff, she stated that double taxation with the USA, which is the largest and most important market for video games sold from Serbia, is a big problem.
