The game industry is the shining star of the last period. It is proud of achieving the long-awaited success. BUG Founder Assist. Assoc. Dr. Güven Çatak talked about the gaming industry, where he came from, why he has come to the fore now, and the industry's footsteps in Turkey, in an interview with IBE's Burak Reserve.
How is the game industry in Turkey? How has it changed in the last 10 years?
Our industry is like a bomb right now. We are in a period when many game companies have emerged and investors see Turkey as a stage of the global game industry. In the last 10 years, we have gained a great momentum especially in mobile platforms, and we have crowned this with the sales realized in the last 3 years. Our first unicorn in Turkey is a game company, Peak Games 😊
In an academic sense, how does game studies feed the game industry in Turkey?
In a sense, our academic game work flourished at the same time as our game developer communities. Because, academics had to find each other in order to be able to sign joint works. Currently, especially game design undergraduate programs have started to meet the human resources of the sector in terms of production; game studies-oriented master's programs, on the other hand, focus on areas of the industry other than production. In other words, he wrote a thesis on games in many fields from game marketing to playwriting, but we can see different profiles in the background. In terms of academic R&D, the sector is particularly interested in some hot topics such as gamification, player behaviors, artificial intelligence.
What kind of path should those who want to start their career in the game industry follow?
Game development tools are free right now. There are many training videos available on the internet. Only in this way can you learn the means but not the ends. In this sense, I think it is very important to go through the university lathe by studying in a game design department and to gain the necessary vision. While there were no such departments in the past, of course, there was no choice but to find your way by reading in other fields. Now times have changed. In addition to the game design departments, all the experience and knowledge transferred, it is also very important to enter the relevant business and communication network and to find the team to establish their own company. Also, my advice would be to follow the communities; They are still the most active after all.
How does the business world view the gaming industry? How is it approaching? Do they know the dynamics of the industry?
The business world is very hungry right now. There are investors and entrepreneurs from many other sectors who want to enter the gaming industry. Unfortunately, they do not have very detailed information about the sector, we cannot generalize, of course, but I am not sure what kind of plan they have or if they have any plans just after this heat wave passes.
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