Why do we like reinventing the wheel? This is one question that is difficult to answer in the Nigerian context because it seems we derive pleasure from doing things our own way, particularly, when our government is in the picture.
Now, there is nothing wrong with us doing things our own way as long as we are serious with the project and we work towards getting the desired results.
You may probably be wondering why I am starting a piece that clearly refers to Germany with Nigeria. Well, I will explain why: the German gaming industry is still growing and her citizens started seeing games as good less than a decade ago; so, there is a lot to learn from them.
Some of the most advanced gaming countries are the United States of America, Japan, Canada, South Korea etc. and they already have full degree courses in gaming.
My good friend, Bill Kapralos, is an associate professor and programme director of the game development and entrepreneurship programme, University of Ontario’s Institute for Technology, Canada and his job is not only to teach students but to nurture their ideas. This is an example of how mature some markets are.
As for Germany, her gaming industry is more or less developing and that is why you have very few games of German origin doing well in the international market unlike games from some of the countries I mentioned above.
Back home in Nigeria, we complain of how bad unemployment is, yet we neglect certain areas, especially in technology, that can really assist us in creating jobs for our teeming youths, such as games and all the other industries that naturally go with it.
A report by Venturebeat, a foremost market research firm, states that the global gaming market will be worth $99.6bn in 2016. That is up by 8.4 per cent when compared to last year’s value.
It expects the market to make $36.9bn in 2016, up by 21.3 per cent from 2015; 47 per cent of that will come from Asia. It concludes by stating that the global gaming market will reach $118.6bn by 2019.
Does this report not reveal that this is one industry we should take seriously as a country? Realising this, the Germans have already started to take some measures that will re-position her gaming industry and enable her and her young game developers to get a bite of this huge cake.
The first thing that the Germans did was to kick-start a national discourse on gaming, analysing the benefits and whether or not it adds any value at all. Trust me, this is one conversation that I think parents and — Finish Reading on the Punch Website
