Industry Responds To Splash Damage Uni Comments

28 Jan 2010 at 16:04:56 by Tim McDonald

Richard Wilson, CEO of TIGA, and Professor Paul Harris, creative director of the Institute of Arts, Media, and Computer Games at the University of Abertay have responded to Splash Damage CEO Paul Wedgwood's comments about education for those looking to join the games industry.

When asked about his thoughts on developers releasing toolkits to universities and the public, Wedgwood told IncGamers that it's "absolutely healthy."

"Graduates coming out of universities - particularly with videogame development degrees - don't have strong portfolios," said Wedgwood, adding that "doing well in exams is no comparison to just having a great portfolio piece."

We contacted a few industry luminaries - Richard Wilson, the CEO of industry body TIGA, and Professor Paul Harris, the creative director of the Institute of Arts, Media and Computer Games at the University of Abertay - to see what they thought.

"The UK has some excellent universities," said Wilson. He added that "on some measurements, UK higher education is second only to the USA," despite the fact that "the UK spends about 1 per cent of GDP on higher education, whereas the USA spends about 2.9 per cent."

"Unless we invest sufficiently in higher education, some departments will not be able to use the most up to date technology, to the detriment of their students."

More specifically, Wilson told us that "universities do not typically aim to train people to enter a specific industry like the games industry," and notes that while "portfolios are crucially important," undergraduates wanting to enter the industry "should give particular focus to their portfolios and aim to study for a degree which gives them an opportunity to specialise."

Professor Harris of the University of Abertay notes that the courses at Abertay let students "benefit from the best of all worlds: a good undergraduate or Masters degree, and an appropriate portfolio of both relevant professional experience and industry-focused outcomes," with "cutting-edge" technology at hand.

"Get it right, as we believe we do at Abertay, and everyone gains: good experience; relevant qualifications; great portfolio; expertise on industry kit, and a leading reputation as a provider of graduates that are valued world wide," Harris told us.

"In my opinion, focusing on just exams, technology or portfolio is not going to be of best value to either the student or the future of the industry," Harris concluded.

You can check out our full interview with Splash Damage soon. Expect to see CEO Paul Wedgwood talking about the past, present, and future of Splash Damage, with plenty of details on Brink, as well as Richard Ham and Edward Stern - respectively the creative director and lead writer at Splash Damage - talking about how the company has changed and how development on Brink has been approached.

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