Last year, the total income of the 15 most successful companies in the gaming industry in Serbia amounted to 150 million euros, which is 10 percent more than the previous year. Currently, 94 games are being developed, and Serbian games have been downloaded over the Internet 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 lack of people, so it is already estimated that these positions will not be filled.
In 2022, more than 50 games from Serbia were made by domestic teams and companies. 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 domestic game markets are America, Great Britain, Germany and France. In order for Serbia to position itself at the very top of the global scene, talents are needed.
Svetlana Mikić, the brand and communications manager of Playstudios Europe, says that considering that the industry is 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,” Mikić told Eurones 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 graduated from 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 from painting. They like to make complex video games with big worlds, with things that really need a lot of knowledge and a lot of experience to be able to do it,” Mina Cvetinović 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 Cvetinović 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 discouraging parents’ mistrust. according to the possible future occupation of their children.
What are the most deficient profiles
Kristina Janković Obućina 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 the ones that are currently the most difficult to fill, those are monetization experts, those who find ways to make mobile games, which are otherwise free, earn money. Other positions that are very difficult to fill are producers, those are the organizers who take care of the budget , about deadlines and teams and all kinds of managers,” Janković Obućina said, 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. “It is a big problem for smaller teams, but also for big companies. Until it is solved, people will have to pay the standard tax and another one that is paid in the USA for every game sold,” said Obucina Janković.
Speaking about the benefits provided by the state for the gaming industry, she says that currently there are useful benefits, mostly for development and research, for which companies and teams involved in the development of video games in Serbia can apply, but that apart from that there are no significant benefits.
“What we would like to see is the creation of some funds dedicated exclusively to financing gaming teams to help young ideas reach the global market,” she added.
People of different backgrounds join the gaming industry, and Janković Obučina says that there are plenty of architects, psychologists and pharmacists, people who studied Japanese, German and Chinese, but also a butcher who left the family business and is now a senior in the industry.
When a hobby turns into a business
Nikola Đukić graduated from the Aviation Academy as an aircraft mechanic, but his path led him to the field of game creation.
“All this was about software and computer graphics as a hobby and I never thought that one day this would be profitable and actually my hobby turned into a business. It is important that people know that game studios are open, they will always accept your work , no one will even ask you what you have completed, what matters is your experience and how much time you put into yourself,” Nikola Đukić, Playstudios Europe animator, told Euronews Serbia.
PlayStudios games alone have over 13 million users, and the most popular are the free so-called “casual” games, for the 7-77 crowd.
The dominance of professional staff is expected in a few years. Experts say that they now know that the newly opened positions will not be filled, but it is very possible that there will be a lot of competition in five years.
Sign up for business updates & specials.
